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

[Sterling K. Webb]

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...