“SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – After 12 months of naked partisanship on Capitol Hill, on cable TV and in the blogosphere, the word of the year for 2006 is . . . “truthiness.”

The word—if one can call it that—best summed up 2006, according to an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

“Truthiness” was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as “truth that comes from the gut, not books.”. . .

Colbert, who once derided the folks at Springfield-based Merriam-Webster as the “word police” and a bunch of “wordinistas,” was pleased.

‘Though I’m no fan of reference books and their fact-based agendas, I am a fan of anyone who chooses to honor me,’ he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.”

—Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer, Friday December 8, 2006.