Neologism: Wikiality (Colbert) combined the words Wikipedia and reality to make “Wikiality”. Wikiality, by his definition, is a definition of “truth by consensus,” (rather than fact) modeled after the approval-by-consensus format of Wikipedia. He praises Wikipedia for following his philosophy of “truthiness”, that intuition and consensus is a better reflection of reality than fact. As he states, “if enough people believe something” it must be true. (Source: Wikipedia)

5 thoughts

  1. Isn’t this democracy? Wikipedia is democracy. Judging information to be true, as in the case of Wikipedia, is like voting for it. If you believe the information to be false, change it, do something about it. That’s what’s so great about this country. We have the power to do something.

  2. I vaporize Kool-aid. I am so not corporate, that I may have sounded a little you-didn’t-get-the-memo in my comment, but I work in the Web 2.0 industry. So I, like you will inevitably do one day, have already embraced my inner Wiki. bk

  3. Dear Lamar

    I wondered if you might like a link to both my Foreign word site and my English word website or press release details of my ensuing book with Penguin Press on amusing and interesting English vocabulary?

    http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com

    with best wishes

    Adam Jacot de Boinod

    (author of The Meaning of Tingo)

    (www.themeaningoftingo.com)

    adamjacot@fastmail.co.uk

    or wish to include:

    1) THE MEANING OF TINGO
    When photographers attempt to bring out our smiling faces by asking us
    to “Say Cheese”, many countries appear to follow suit with English
    equivalents. In Spanish however they say patata (potato), in Argentinian Spanish whisky, in French steak frites, in Serbia ptica (bird) and in
    Danish appelsin (orange). Do you know of any other varieties from around the world’s languages? See more on http://www.themeaningoftingo.com

    2) THE WONDER OF WHIFFLING

    The Wonder of Whiffling is a tour of English around the globe (with fine
    coinages from our English-speaking cousins across the pond, Down Under
    and elsewhere).
    Discover all sorts of words you’ve always wished existed but never knew,
    such as fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and
    petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a
    dry spell.
    Delving passionately into the English language, I also discover why it
    is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow
    seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and
    why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else. See
    more on http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com

    with best wishes

    Adam

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