Plutoid This!

Not content with the embarrassment on the cocktail, wine and cheese party circuit that resulted from their original decision to demote Pluto from planetary status*, the over-stumulated chaps at the International Astronomical Union has decided that "dwarf planets" like Pluto will now be referred to as "plutoids."

If you see small children in the streets laughing and pointing at sweaty, chagrined, bespectacled men in bow ties and penny loafers, those are very likely members of the IAU. At this rate they'll only be left with online dating sites as a means of attracting the opposite sex, and I suspect E-Harmony will blacklist them for a decided lack of common-sense.

"Plutoid," sounds like a laxative.

"Did you get enough fiber in your diet, this week, dear?"

"No, I'm so stopped up I'm having to take two plutoids a day and drink grapefruit juice straight out of carton."

It was such folly to attempt to demote Pluto in the first place. Despite its cold, inhosptiable, rocky veneer, and being so far away that Virgin Airlines has yet to schedule a regular route, Pluto is much beloved by the average stargazer, not the least for being named after Mickey Mouse's dog.**

Indeed, according to the SPACE.com article linked above, many astronomers have rebelled against the hasty IAU decision, preferring to maintain the basic logical credibility required to keep a love life and not be pelted with rocks in the streets by angry amateur cosmologists.

Plus, the better idea would have been to simply add smaller celestial bodies that are approximately Pluto's fighting weight to the list of planets. People are always much more inclined towards incluvisity if it enables them to keep their general knowledge of science up to snuff. Changing Pluto's status is akin to biologists suddenly deciding that the racoon is really some kind of furry lizard and will be referred to as "Bob" from now on.

Given the large inconsistency of opinion regarding Pluto's status and the even more amusing attempt to create a whole new term for planets in Pluto's category, I think we should come up with a term for astronomers who are brazen enough to go mucking about with an established taxonomy of heavenly bodies in our star system.

Erm... who are thick enough to think they can stop calling Pluto a planet.

Here are some of my suggestions:

• Plutodopes
• Gitoids
• Moronorites
• Daftos
• Uranus***

Hopefully, one of these will catch on.

*Or at least try. Heh.

** Yes, yes... I know. God of the Underworld. You can hardly tell it by the way in which he bounds all over Minnie. Of course, maybe he's trying to drag her off to the Stygian depths.

***I never tire of that gag. Expect to see it in several future posts.