Guess what Merriam-Webster Inc selected as the word of the 2007? Can I get a w00t w00t? That's right, the word of this year is w00t, with two zeros. Here is the explanation from Webster.com:
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007 Thousands of you took part in the search for Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007, and the vast majority of you chose a small word that packs a pretty big punch. The word you've selected hasn't found its way into a regular Merriam-Webster dictionary yet—but its inclusion in our online Open Dictionary, along with the top honors it's now been awarded—might just improve its chances. This year's winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team"—again stemming from the gaming community.Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2007 based on votes from visitors to our Web site:
1. w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"
w00t! I won the contest!Submitted by: Kat from Massachusetts on Nov. 30, 2005 23:18
2. facebook
3. conundrum
4. quixotic
5. blamestorm
6. sardoodledom
7. apathetic
8. Pecksniffian
9. hypocrite
10. charlatan
w00t w00t indeed! w00t just shows the enormous amount of influence text messaging and technology has on the way we speak. But let's not forget last year's winner and my personal favorite:
1. truthiness (noun)
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)
Comments (5)
I gotta love Stephen Colbert and his own vernacular. Also like that woot won the word of the year. Don't tell my girlfriend, but when she says something that she is excited about, but I kinda don't really care, guess what I say? w00t!! Well, actually whoot, but same difference, right?
Posted by D. J. Lingelbach | December 13, 2007 1:42 AM
Posted on December 13, 2007 01:42
Yeah, w00t. They're only, what, four years late on that one? 1337 speak went out of style when were sophomores in high school for God's sake. I admire MW for trying to be hip with the times, but come on.
Posted by Tom Sennett | December 14, 2007 12:33 AM
Posted on December 14, 2007 00:33
haha that is funny. I actually never used the word w00t that much. Not even talking online. I've always wondered where it originated from.
Posted by Albert Chen | December 14, 2007 3:51 AM
Posted on December 14, 2007 03:51
Oh. My. God.
People are going to find ancient dictionaries years from now, sigh, and shake their heads at their misguided ancestors.
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.
Posted by Abby Assetto | December 14, 2007 2:30 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 14:30
I think the word of the year should be Steven Colbert. This would then repeat for the next 100 years.
Posted by Matt Maisel | December 14, 2007 7:48 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 19:48