More fun, my hiney

The New Oxford American Dictionary has declared "carbon neutral" the word (or words) of 2006. The dictionary defines carbon neutral as calculating your total climate-damaging carbon emissions and reducing them where possible.

Carbon neutral is "more than a trend it's a movement," gushes New Oxford. It will be included in their 2007 edition.

They also tap another "movement," "islamofacism," as one of their runner-up words. For better or worse islamofacism (as islamofacism and islamo-facism) is a more commonly used word than "carbon neutral." But it isn't really surprising the dictionary went with the PC pick.

Other runner-ups include "dwarf planet," a word created when Pluto was kicked from the planetary big-boy table, and "elbow bump," which is how the germ-conscious World Health Organization recommends the human beings greet each other. Of all the runner-up words "elbow bump" is the least likely to ever be elevated to word of the year. Or to be spoken by an actual human being.

My favorite runner-up word was "funner." I've been lobbying for its inclusion since I was five years old.