The American Dialect Society just voted on its 2005 words of the year. The winner, edging out Katrina and Katrina-related words? Truthiness. Stephen Colbert’s head will get even swellier.
Other winners:
Most Useful: podcast
Most Creative: whale tail (the appearance of thong or g-string underwear above the waistband of pants, shorts, or a skirt)
Most Unnecessary: K Fed
Most Outrageous: crotchfruit
Most Euphemistic: internal nutrition (force-feeding a prisoner against his or her will)
Best Tom-Cruise-Related Word: jump the couch
Most Likely to Succeed: sudoku
Least Likely to Succeed: pope-squatting
Note that “Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item”—not just words but phrases. The words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year.”
You can read the press release in PDF form (220K), which includes all nominees and vote totals in each category.