Toyota wants to know: Does Prius belong in the dictionary? Does Prii?

Toyota’s “What’s the plural of Prius?” contest has garnered more than 1.5 million votes so far spread among the five choices: Prien, Prii, Prium, Prius and Priuses. In the lead is “Prii,” with 25 percent, followed a hair later by “Prius” at 24 percent, then there’s daylight with “Priuses” at 20 percent, “Prien” at 18 percent, and “Prium” at an unheralded 12 percent.

And this contest will not go quietly into any good day or good night. Greg Thome, Toyota’s product communications manager, said that the crowd favorite will be put to use as the next Prius famly models are rolled out over the next 18 months. Not only that, but Jaymie Robinson at Saatchi and Saatchi LA, the agency handling the contest, said, “We’re in talks right now with Dictionary.com, working through the negotiations” to get “Prius” and its plural in the (online) dictionary. Said Ruslan Polinovsky, Toyota’s auto show engagement manager, “we’re going to see if ‘Prius’ qualifies as ‘Kleenex’ in the dictionary.”

Those talks will apparently wrap up in the coming days, before the announcement of the winning word is made at a news conference at the Chicago Auto Show on February 20 at 11:30 a.m. CST. If the talks are successful, a representative from Dictionary.com will be on hand to dicuss the hybrid’s lexicographic immortality. If not, well, the world will still hear all about it…

And as if that weren’t enough, Chicago area dealers are giving away a Prius around the event as well. But no plurals this time; they’re only giving away one.