"Truthiness" is a satirical term created by U.S. television comedian Stephen Colbert to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts. Colbert popularized this definition of the word during the inaugural episode (2005-10-17) of his satirical television program The Colbert Report, as the subject of a segment called "The Wørd". It was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster. Similarly, the term strategery was previously popularized by Will Farrell as a dig against Bush's frequency in which he flubbed words.
By using the term as part of his routine, Colbert sought to satirize the use of appeal to emotion as a rhetorical device in contemporary socio-political discourse. He particularly applied it to U.S. President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Colbert later ascribed truthiness to other institutions and organizations, such as Wikipedia.
The full article can be read at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruthinessAdded: I did not realize that today is the second anniversary of the first use of the term. Congradulations, Mr. Colbert!
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