Since being ousted from the solar system’s elite this past summer, Pluto seems to have flourished in its new role as poster boy for the ever growing category of “dwarf planets.”  

Pluto’s most recent accolade comes from outside the world of astronomy, a discipline that has recently been less than kind to the 70-year-plus planet simply because its oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's range (some would say that it’s Neptune that is truly in the way). The now "ex-planet" steamrolled over the competition becoming the American Dialect Society’s 2006 Word of the Year.

With a Matt Roloff type of intensity, "Plutoed," defined as "to demote or devalue someone or something,” defeated "Climate Canary,” (“an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon"), in a competitive but fairly one-sided runoff.  

One by one strong contenders such as "YouTube" and “flog” ("a fake blog created by a corporation to promote a product or a television show") fell to the small by mighty prototype for all trans-Neptunian celestial bodies to come.

“Pluto is an inspiration to all objects on the dwarf planet watchlist,” says Eris the newest dwarf planet formerly known as 2003 UB 313.  “Look out Neptune, Venus, Earth and the like; all of a sudden it’s cool not to have official planetary status!”