Podcast named 'Word of the Year'

In the US, we hasten to add

The rather unpleasant "podcast" has been named as Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, according to the Beeb.

The wordsmiths define podcast as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player" and will add it to their online dictionary early next year.

New Oxford American Dictionary supremo, Erin McKean, 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."

Interestingly, while podcast made the cut, "sudoku", "bird flu" and "rootkit" were not considered worthy of inclusion. Gratifyingly, the BBC report makes no mention whatsover of "blogging", so we can be thankful for small mercies. ®