The linguists and lexicographers of the American Dialect Society have picked a Word of the Year for 2006, and the winner is ... plutoed.

* The linguists and lexicographers of the American Dialect Society have picked a Word of the Year for 2006, and the winner is ... plutoed. To "pluto" is to demote or devalue a person or thing, as was done to the unfortunate Solar System body of that name at an August 2006 meeting of the International Astronomical Union. Pluto was formerly the ninth planet. Now it is merely a "dwarf planet," and the number of true planets is eight. "Mrs Montagu has dropt me," grumbled Samuel Johnson, the greatest of all lexicographers. "Now, Sir," he added, "there are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by." We feel the same way about plutoing and being plutoed. May our readers feel free to pluto, when occasion demands it, but may they never be plutoed.