Poll Results

Total votes: 503

What? Why are you even asking? Of course not! Who would possibly think it is?: 13 (2.6%)
It's a proper noun, a name, a label, has no semantic meaning, illegal in Scrabble, of course it's not a word: 165 (32.8%)
Um. Tricky, I can see sensible arguments on both sides: 55 (10.9%)
I refuse to be drawn into what is obviously a bone of contention for some people: 58 (11.5%)
Um. Who the hell cares?: 41 (8.2%)
It's a pronounceable sequence of letters, commonly used in everyday English, of course it's a word: 133 (26.4%)
What? Why are you even asking? Of course! Who would possibly think it isn't?: 38 (7.6%)

This question was inspired by an argument that broke out amongst my circle of friends while playing Scattergories. The category was "Words that start and end with the chosen letter" (and the letter was A). From memory, most of were happy to disqualify "Amanda" as a proper noun, but one person insisted that it shouldn't count because it wasn't a word. I found this an interesting enough assertion that I thought I should put it to the ultimate test: an IWC poll.

Oh, also: "Allosaurus" got a hack-in vote. But I'm sorry to say it doesn't end in A.