Lab+9

I did not really get the gist of the article at had. What was the point?

Steven Colbert coined the 'truthiness' as a term that refers tot he approximation of truth. Colbert's term was a satirist reference to today's news and what the media portray's as 'facts'. What I understood from the article is that the Term 'truthiness' has been adapted as a new word. Some critics have stated that truthiness shouldnt be considered a word.

I think their shouldn't be a board that ultimately decides what is a word and what is not. Words are the most arbitrary, abstract and symbolic mediums of communication. All words have been invented by someone else. No one can decide on what constitutes a word or not. Words are created through social convergence and cultural influences. In the case of Colbert's 'Truthiness'. It could be easily considered a word. We live in times where most of the information people recieve has been predigested and analyzed. Therefore, one can argue that there is no real 'truth' anymore, but rather what someone else percieves as truth. Fpr this matter, truthiness can be perfectly used to describe such phenomena.

So if Colbert wants to create a new word, and the majority of the population are supporting, then by all means, coin it down!