It was not red, white and blue but red, blue and purple the American Dialect Society recognized as hues that represented America in 2004.

In the society's annual vote, "red state, blue state, purple state" was deemed word of the year. The phrase is defined as "together, a representation of the American political map."

Wayne Glowka, chair of the American Dialect Society New Words Committee, said "red state, blue state, purple state" was the phrase that best reflected the year's political atmosphere.

"It really captures the emotionally charged election that characterized 2004," he said.

"Red state, blue state, purple state" won word of the year in a slight margin over another 2004 catchphrase: "wardrobe malfunction," defined as "an unanticipated exposure of bodily parts."

"We were thinking about wardrobe malfunction earlier in the year," Glowka said. "But 'red state, blue state, purple state' actually involved us more deeply."

John McAdams, associate professor of political science, agrees that "red state, blue state, purple state" is a good term for 2004. He said it brings out certain aspects of the American political backdrop.

"It revolves around culture wars," he said. "When issues become cultural, like they did in 2004, the alignment puts culturally conservative versus culturally liberal areas." He listed gay rights and recitation of the pledge of allegiance in schools as examples of cultural issues.

Some Marquette students agree that "red state, blue state, purple state" represents the controversial nature of these issues and how they divided America.

"The phrase is good because the election was so heated throughout the year," said Alison Griffith, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. "It was so charged people still have Kerry and Bush stickers."

The 2004 word of the year vote was the 15th in the contest sponsored by the American Dialect Society. According to Glowka, the society goes through a nominating process before the final vote takes place.

Glowka said there is first a meeting to take official word nominations. Members of the society create lists and people often phone in or e-mail their ideas.

The final vote this year occurred Jan. 7 in Oakland, Calif. Glowka said most of the people attending to vote were society members, but voting is not only restricted to linguists.

"Anybody who's there can vote," he said. "We've said in the past that anybody who spoke the English language that year can vote."

The 2004 vote marked the 15th year of the contest, and Glowka said the words have been organized into categories that remained mostly constant over that time.

"We once tried a 'brand spanking new' category but words suggested ended up being old upon investigation," he said.

Categories that still remain include: word of the year, most useful, most creative, most unnecessary, most outrageous, most euphemistic, most likely to succeed and least likely to succeed.

While "red state, blue state, purple state" captured the word of the year vote, other political terms appeared in various categories.

For example, "flip-flopper: a politician who changes political stances, a waffler" was also nominated for word of the year. Also, "FLOHPA: collectively, the states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, said to have been important in the 2004 American presidential election" won word least likely to succeed.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 18 2005.