 American television comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word in this meaning as the subject of a segment called " The Wørd " during the pilot episode of his political satire program The Colbert Report on October 17 , 2005 . By using this as part of his routine , Colbert satirized the misuse of appeal to emotion and " gut feeling " as a rhetorical device in contemporaneous socio @-@ political discourse . He particularly applied it to U.S. President George W. Bush 's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 . Colbert later ascribed truthiness to other institutions and organizations , including Wikipedia . Colbert has sometimes used a Dog Latin version of the term , " <unk> " . For example , in Colbert 's " Operation Iraqi Stephen : Going Commando " the word " <unk> " can be seen on the banner above the eagle on the operation 's seal . 
