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The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it."[1] The Society publishes the academic journal, American Speech.

Since 1991, the American Dialect Society has designated one or more words to be the word of the year, the year's most important word or expression in public discussion. They include:

• 1990: bushlips (similar to "bullshit" – stemming from President George H.W. Bush's 1988 "Read my lips: no new taxes" broken promise)
• 1991: mother of all (as in Saddam Hussein's foretold "Mother of all battles")
• 1992: Not! (meaning "just kidding")
• 1993: information superhighway
• 1994: cyber, morph (to change form)
• 1995: Web and (to) newt (to act aggressively as a newcomer)
• 1996: mom (as in "soccer mom")
• 1997: millennium bug
• 1998: e- (as in "e-mail")
• 1999: Y2K
• 2000: chad (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida)
• 2001: 9-11 [2]
• 2002: weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) [3]
• 2003: metrosexual [4]
• 2004: red state, blue state, purple state (from the 2004 presidential election) [5]
• 2005: truthiness, popularized on The Colbert Report [6]
• 2006: plutoed (demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto) [7]

In addition, the ADS has selected web as the Word of the 1990s Decade, jazz as the Word of the Twentieth Century, and she as the Word of the Past Millennium.

"Plutoed" beat "climate canary" in a run-off vote for the 2006 word of the year. If you have been "plutoed" you have been demoted or devalued, just as happened to the former planet Pluto when its status was downgraded.

A "climate canary" is something whose poor health indicates a looming environmental catastrophe.

This is the 17th time ADS members have voted to choose a word of the year.

"It was good that the society focused on a genuine scientific concern, though I believe the nomination came in from outer space," said committee chairman Professor Wayne Glowka.

Other words in the running were:

• flog - an advertisement disguised as a blog or web log
• prohibited liquids - "fluids that cannot be transported by passengers on airplanes"
• macaca - "an American citizen treated as an alien"

The society says its vote is for fun only and they do not act in any official capacity of introducing words into the English language.

The society also selects words in other categories that vary from year to year, such as most original, most unnecessary, most outrageous, and most likely to succeed.

• American Dialect Society home page
• American Dialect Society: Words of the Year