The term denoting meticulously groomed straight males was the overwhelming winner, getting 57 percent of the more than 3,000 votes cast in an SF Gate poll.

"Bling-bling," the hip-hop word for shiny stuff like jewelry and tire rims, finished a distant second, followed by "embedded," "governator" and "Kah-lee-for-ni-a."

This is the third year for the contest, in which readers nominate and vote on the choices. Prior winners were "9-11" in 2001 and "nukular" in 2002.

EARLIER STORY: While 2001 and 2002 were dominated by words of terrorism and war, this year's "Word of the Year" nominees are a more diverse bunch.

Several hundred readers responded to our call for nominations, with at least 150 words getting a mention. For the finals, we picked the four words that got the most nominations last week, and added a fifth one to recognize the migration of hip-hop terms into the English mainstream.

Two hip-hop words got a lot of nominations -- bling bling -- usually meaning shiny stuff like jewelry -- and "fo' shizzle," the first half of a Snoop Dogg expression meaning, roughly, "for real, brother." We decided to bring the glittering "bling bling" to the show ring.

Here are our five finalists with a quote for each of them:

Bling bling: "Once you hear the newscaster refer to her 'bling bling' on local TV, you know it's at least a candidate." -- Carmen D., Redwood City.

Embedded: "It will always be associated most with the Iraqi War, but has since seeped into many other areas of popular culture." -- Robert B., Alameda.

Governator: "This word seems to be galloping across America and probably the world. Is an amendment to the constitution far away -- will we have a Presinator?" -- Suzi W., Alameda.

Kah-lee-for-ni-a: "Because that's what the world will be calling us for the next 2.5 years. - James W., Walnut Creek. (Wouldn't you just love to hear Arnold sing "Hotel California"?)

Metrosexual: "Rarely does a word generate such excitement and conversation and actual understanding. Matches a word with a phenomenon that was never described before." -- Sandeep S., Berkeley.

Besides "metrosexual," -- one definition is a straight urban male who grooms himself with great care, like many women and gay men -- another term fashion-conscious guys will want to know is "tjuzs," which is that last-minute tweak the guys on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" do to the sleeves. (Thanks to Eileen F. of San Rafael for finding the proper spelling on the "Queer Eye" web site.)

Harvey K. of Corte Madera forwarded a word of his own coinage: "e-lie," referring to all those untrue stories that circulate on the Net.

Other suggestions: OxyContin, SARS, Bennifer, friendster, shock-and-awe, quagmire, jobless recovery, pre-owned, low-carb, google and blog.