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And that brings us to tonight's word: Truthiness. Now I'm sure some of the word-police, the 'wordanistas' over at Websters, are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word!' Well, anybody who knows me knows that I am no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen.
Stephen Colbert
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Truthiness refers to the quality of being based on what one feels to be true, rather than facts.

In this quote, Stephen Colbert humorously critiques the conventional view of truth by introducing the concept of 'truthiness', which emphasizes subjective belief over objective facts. He expresses a disdain for traditional dictionaries that attempt to define and limit our understanding of language and truth, suggesting that personal interpretation holds significant value.

Themes

TruthinessTruthSubjectiveBeliefLanguageHumor

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a comedy routine about language and truth.

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Quote by Stephen Colbert | QuoteProject