[meteorite-list] Pluto's Demotion Tapped as 2006 Word of the Year

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 23:56:12 -0600
Message-ID: <013101c733b2$dedbcad0$b421e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

http://www.space.com/news/ap_070108_plutoed_word.html

ANAHEIM, California (AP) - Pluto is finally getting
some respect - from wordsmiths.
    "Plutoed'' was chosen 2006 Word of the Year by
the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting on
Friday.
    To "pluto'' is "to demote or devalue someone or
something'' much like what happened to the former
planet last year when the General Assembly of the
International Astronomical Union decided Pluto did
not meet its definition of a planet...
    The 117-year-old organization includes linguists,
grammarians, historians and independent scholars.
In conducting the vote, members do so for fun and
not in any official capacity of inducting words into
the English language.

Sterling K. Webb
    PS: If only the IAU operated the same way...
Received on Tue 09 Jan 2007 12:56:12 AM PST