A word for our times?

The Age reports that a panel of linguists in the USA has voted"truthiness" as the best new word for 2005. It is defined as "the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts".

Words such as "doublespeak" at least assume that the user is conscious of the deception inherent in what they are saying. "Truthiness" gives liars, dissemblers and prevaricators a free hand to say what they like as long as they wish (not necessarily believe) it to be true. Will the "truthiness" defence come to be accepted in legal proceedings?

For other examples of trends which need watching see here .

Let's not forget that this year is the 60th anniversary of the publication of Geroge Orwell's Politics and the English Language an incisive essay which still scrubs up pretty well.