Ladies and gentlemen: The Word of the Year

There are some jobs Houstonist just wouldn't want to have: scraping encrusted matter off the floor of a movie theater, for example, or picking the Word of the Year. See, we think it would be really hard to pick the Word of the Year — first, you'd have to think of all the really great new words, and then you'd have to decide which one was better than all the others. Considering the nitpicking and arguments bound to ensue, we'd almost rather be on the floor of the cineplex prying up popcorn spilled during the Carter administration. That's why we're glad the people at The New Oxford American Dictionary take it upon themselves to consider new words and pick the worthiest.

The Word of the Year for 2005? "Podcast."

Erin McKean, editor in chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary, said: "Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept. This year it's a completely different story. The word has finally caught up with the rest of the iPod phenomenon."

That's the truth. A year ago, only Houstonist's most savvy friends were dealing in podcasts; now it seems like everybody's grandmother is doing one. This week, we got our first link to a holiday family update podcast, which is nothing more than a clever way to lure us into a dreaded holiday family update letter. But it's so trendy!

Runners-up for Word of the Year included "bird flu," "IED," "trans fat" and "lifehack," a word Houstonist hadn't come across — it means "a more efficient way of completing an everyday task."

"Choosing the Word of the Year is incredibly difficult," McKean confided. "You'd be amazed at how hard our editors campaign for their favorites." Fortunately for us, McKean and the dictionary editors picking the best word of 2005 was, like, a total lifehack.

Yeah, we're not sure if we're ever going to get used to that one.