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Internet "w00t" is Merriam-Webster's Word of 2007
Marcus Yam (Blog) - December 13, 2007 5:31 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 38 comment(s) - last by Archaos13.. on Dec 15 at 10:25 AM
w00t recognized by Merriam-Webster

As a sign of the Internet’s impact on communication, selected as the Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2007 is none other than “w00t.”

Spelled with a mixture of letters and numbers, the interjection “w00t” is defined as “expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay."”

“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,” detailed the Merriam-Webster website. “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.”

“w00t” isn’t official Merriam-Webster dictionary material yet – it’s only included in the publisher’s online Open Dictionary. Winning Word of the Year honors, however, is supposed to improve a word’s chances of being formally accepted into the lexicon.

Allan Metcalf, executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, expressed pessimism on the true pervasiveness of the word. “It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last,” said Metcalf.

Runners up for word of the year include facebook, conundrum, quixotic, blamestorm, sardoodledom, apathetic, Pecksniffian, hypocrite and charlatan.

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more words from internet come into real life
By TSS on 12/13/2007 1:35:27 PM , Rating: 2
w00t!

oh right like you didn't see that one comming :P

"Allan Metcalf, executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, expressed pessimism on the true pervasiveness of the word. “It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last,” said Metcal"

i wouldn't coun't on that. i'll bet he thought the same thing about lol, yet i use it in real life all the time as do a number of my friends. it all depends in how used you get to using something.




RE: more words from internet come into real life
By BMFPitt on 12/13/2007 1:46:58 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
i'll bet he thought the same thing about lol, yet i use it in real life all the time as do a number of my friends.
Thanks for reminding me our culture is doomed.


By Master Kenobi (blog) on 12/13/2007 1:53:57 PM , Rating: 2
Not doomed, just changing. Change however isn't necessarily good.


By FITCamaro on 12/13/2007 2:05:06 PM , Rating: 2
With you on that one. Half of kids in the US use "text speak" more than English these days. My mom is a regional pharmacy manager for *shudder* Walmart (hopefully getting a new job soon) and has people who use it in emails around her office.


RE: more words from internet come into real life
By Moishe on 12/13/2007 2:54:47 PM , Rating: 4
I think this is rather fascinating. The evolution of language it not something you can always see. Personally I think using those words are fine as long as you can speak your own language correctly.

I'm not sure we need another official word for an expression of joy though. w00t belongs in slang, not in the official language and IMO putting in a dictionary adds something official to it...


RE: more words from internet come into real life
By marvdmartian on 12/13/2007 3:23:38 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. Many times, we use acronyms or our own forms of shorthand to make it easier to write things out. When I went through the navy's nuclear power program, back in the 80's, it was commonplace for us to take notes using a form of shorthand, where reactor became Rx, steam generator became s/g, etc.
Personally, I doubt that woot will be used by enough people to make it a permanent member of the "real words found in the dictionary" club.....but hey, who here can remember their mothers telling them that "Ain't isn't a word!" when they were kids?? :)

Just tell me that any of the idiot words that come out in Harry Potter stories won't become real words, and I'll be happy.


By feraltoad on 12/13/2007 5:26:55 PM , Rating: 3
Oh, I think you'll change your mind. Crucio!


RE: more words from internet come into real life
By 3kliksphilip on 12/14/2007 8:42:37 AM , Rating: 2
Nobody likes a change in language. Even in the 1600's there were people writing about how the youth of today are destroying the language. It happens every generation (Change, not necessarily destruction). Younger people don't like it when older people begin to use their words, only in different contexts or in situations where it doesn't sound right (The same as younger people are doing to older people's language). 'Oh this new apple is totally pwned'.

Yes, I know it's not all about age. Language change is quite interestting when you delve into the details. I often spam my teacher with questions, from 'If everybody spoke the same language, would it still change?' 'Yes'... to 'if you believe they pick their language up from people around them, how do Cuckoos maintain their linguistic qualities when nurtured by a different animal?'

I think the teacher ends up getting fed up with my questions... but who wouldn't?

BACK ON TOPIC, I predict that language change will speed up thanks to the Internet, though this speeding up may eventually lead to unity (ie, one global language), but only if everybody is connected online. LOL and WTF are already used by people who don't speak English. THE CHANGE HAS BEGUN! This would lead to world peace and tasty cakes for every one. Who's with me?


By Archaos13 on 12/15/2007 10:25:19 AM , Rating: 2
I agree that language change is coming soon. I can see it in myself since there are a lot of words I might have used 10 years ago which I would feel idiotic saying today.

However, let's just hope that the world doesn't follow these current trends too closely. I don't know how many acronyms I can handle. Besides, I seriously can't imagine a need to say something like IANADBIPOOTV, Translation: I Am Not A Doctor But I Play One On TV.

Oh boy...


RE: more words from internet come into real life
By hlper on 12/13/2007 3:04:51 PM , Rating: 2
Human language is generative (i.e. we are able to create new sounds with new [or old] meanings and use them to communicate with others). Sometimes, I hear things I don't like the sound of, but this changing nature of human language is also how people come up with new words for never before seen discoveries (think of the tech we all love to talk about so much). So it is generally a good thing.

I think a greater problem is that as communication gets easier, most of us use it to say less, and less artfully.


By bodar on 12/13/2007 4:05:59 PM , Rating: 2
"the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year."

http://www.newspeak.com/Newspeak.htm


RE: more words from internet come into real life
By bodar on 12/13/2007 3:53:33 PM , Rating: 2
I LOL'd.

No really, I did.


By Polynikes on 12/14/2007 12:43:09 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously. This is like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the organization that gives out Oscars) recognizing some random youtube video as a proper film, just because a lot of people watched it.


Article not quite right...
By thornburg on 12/13/2007 2:02:49 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
“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.”


It doesn't stand for "we owned the other team" it stands for "\/\/3 0\/\/|\|3[) 73|-| 07|-|32 734/v\"




RE: Article not quite right...
By FITCamaro on 12/13/2007 2:07:54 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
it stands for "\/\/3 0\/\/|\|3[) 73|-| 07|-|32 734/v\"


Robot Santa will be visiting you this year.


RE: Article not quite right...
By Moishe on 12/13/2007 2:57:17 PM , Rating: 3
Sing it with me now!

He knows when you are sleeping.
He knows when you're on the can.
He'll hunt you down and blast your ass from here to Pakistan.
Ohh.
You better not breathe, you better not move.
You're better off dead, I'm telling you dude,
Santa Claus is gunning you down.

hahaha I LOVE Futurama.


RE: Article not quite right...
By spwrozek on 12/13/2007 3:59:29 PM , Rating: 2
Santa's spot in the movie is great too.


RE: Article not quite right...
By T4RTER S4UCE on 12/13/2007 4:01:22 PM , Rating: 5
"You've all been very naughty, very naughty indeed!
Except for you Zoidburg. Heres a Pogo Stick."


l33t speak
By maven81 on 12/13/2007 1:39:01 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
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


Uh... I hate to break it to them, but I have it on good authority that l33t speak has been around since the late 60s. Supposedly used by the first unix users to increase the strength of their passwords. The so called hackers or crackers that they refer to merely rediscovered this and made it their own.

In any case... this is pretty sad. What next OMG111!!!!! LOLZ! ?




RE: l33t speak
By Iketh on 12/13/2007 1:46:48 PM , Rating: 2
lol yea...

and not likely to last?? sheesh ive been around that word for years.... tho i've never spelled it with zeroes


RE: l33t speak
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 12/13/2007 1:54:53 PM , Rating: 2
True, they were using this in passwords. One thing I still don't get is why Unix in all its years has never learned to accept a password that starts with something OTHER than a letter. Anyone else ever notice that?


RE: l33t speak
By Scrogneugneu on 12/13/2007 8:03:19 PM , Rating: 2
What are you, crazy?

That would require a rewrite of the whole OS!


Guess Who's Not Happy...
By marsbound2024 on 12/13/2007 4:00:59 PM , Rating: 2
wtf




RE: Guess Who's Not Happy...
By VitalyTheUnknown on 12/13/2007 4:10:45 PM , Rating: 2
Have you ever read a poem?
There is nothing strange in these lines.


RE: Guess Who's Not Happy...
By marsbound2024 on 12/13/2007 4:42:17 PM , Rating: 2
Not sure what you mean by that, but the same could be said for what I wrote. I wasn't referring to me not being happy, I was referring to "wtf" not being happy. ;)

I use w00t all the time. But the same can be said for wtf.


Sloooowww Dailytech news day
By MaulBall789 on 12/13/2007 2:54:13 PM , Rating: 1
Thursday December 13, 2007.

Nothing to report.

w00t!




RE: Sloooowww Dailytech news day
By crystal clear on 12/13/2007 3:10:56 PM , Rating: 1
Yaa, The best joke of 2007-

"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007


RE: Sloooowww Dailytech news day
By AsicsNow on 12/13/2007 8:40:22 PM , Rating: 2
It is kind of a joke, but a LOT of the innovations have come from AMD. Even intel's Core processor isn't really innovative, its just a really well engineered processor based on concepts that had already been around for quite a while (and with a much larger amount of transitors than had been possible before). The concepts of DDR memory, x86-64, integrated memory controllers (on the upcomming ones), the various power saving technologies/techniques that Intel/AMD created for mobile processors were all simply adapted really well into what is essentially a wider and faster P3. The new cache system Intel designed (I forget what it's called) on the P4 (which actually was somewhat innovative though a disaster at the same time imo) before being applied onto a much "better" processor.

Innovations are something that hasn't been done before (or done in that manner). While something like the Core processor is more like a synthesis of many older innovations. It didn't really add too much that was new, but took many things and did them much more efficiently and brought them together really well.

The Itanium actually was a hell of an innovative processor, and despite it's size and expense is actually a pretty damn cool chip. (It makes me sad to see how creative and cool the world of computing could be if we could stop carrying around the excess baggage that is x86 backwards compatability).

Virtualization technology was rather innovative too, but it was not an intel creation either.

The statement is still really wrong, because AMD hasn't done all of the innovation, but it isn't too far to say that they have done more for PC processor innovation in the past 5 years than Intel has. Sadly, they have fallen pretty far behind again in execution, and Intel has really stepped it up which has forced them to release "subpar" (compared to Core) chips like the Phenom out just to remain in the game.


name brand speak
By R Nilla on 12/13/2007 3:05:51 PM , Rating: 4
According to the link, "facebook" has also entered the dictionay as a verb, much like "google" before it. I'm wondering how long it will be until we communicate using only dot coms, brand names and gibberish.

Person A: I'm hungry, shall we Big Mac?
Person B: No thanks, I'd rather Whopper.
Person A: Should I Prius or do you want to Insight?
Person B: I'll Insight if you Apple your iTunes.
Person A: w00t!
Person B: yeowkushakableorg!




Not going to last??!!
By TimberJon on 12/13/2007 2:28:25 PM , Rating: 1
“It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last,” said Metcalf.

This guy is a moron. The gaming industry has rediculously exploded into a product/marketing phenomonon.

Video games are basically interactive movies nowadays.. that make more than hollywood movies (over time).

Huge return for design effort and no material cost, excluding equipment, hot pockets, metric tons of pizza, monster, rockstars and assorted sodas, post-it-notes, and failed PSU's and/or other burnt out equipment.




RE: Not going to last??!!
By FITCamaro on 12/13/2007 2:42:35 PM , Rating: 2
Good "video games are basically interactive movies nowadays.."

Fixed it.


Scrabble Score +1
By Indiglo on 12/13/2007 8:07:48 PM , Rating: 2
A friend of mine was really excited when I linked him this article. Says now he can finally use this in a game of Scrabble.

"Yes it is a word! Go get the latest dictionary from Merriam-Webster! I bet you 50 bucks!"




RE: Scrabble Score +1
By kelmon on 12/14/2007 3:30:28 AM , Rating: 1
Last time I played Scrabble there weren't any numbers in it so technically he's still buggered on this one.

While I can't say that I'm shocked, when the Oxford English Dictionary contains "words" like this then it's the end of civilisation.


Poem
By VitalyTheUnknown on 12/13/2007 3:09:41 PM , Rating: 2
What kind of poem will see in the future?
Let me think...

They say, you're noob
And can not be good
Their distant w00t
will not change my mood

And LOL
And LOL
I hear behind by back
has, for me become
an empty sound ...




By Ripvanwinkle on 12/13/2007 5:10:10 PM , Rating: 2
I think this new word and others like it just need to wOOtOff!




little late
By troublesome08 on 12/14/2007 3:33:40 AM , Rating: 2
i think they are like 5 years too late with this one




By crystal clear on 12/13/2007 2:20:12 PM , Rating: 1
Who do you blame-the keyboard,the educational system,the cell phone keypads,............

4 means "for"-3 means "tree"-2 means "to" etc

One guy advertising his pizza outlet says-

24/7 we are at your service-short form of 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Merriam-Webster President John Morse said "w00t" reflected the growing use of numeric keyboards to type words.

"People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," he said. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character."

One Web site, www.thinkgeek.com, already sells T-shirts with the word "w00t" printed on the front.

"w00t belongs to gamers the world over. It seems to have been derived from the obsolete 'whoot' which essentially is another way to say 'hoot' which itself is a shout or derisive laugh," Think Geek said on its Web site.

"But others maintain that w00t is the sound several players make while jumping like bunnies in Quake III," it added, referring to a popular video game.

Online gamers often replace numbers and symbols with letters to form what Merriam-Webster calls an "esoteric computer hacker language" known as "l33t speak." This translates into "leet", which is short for "elite".

A separate survey of words used in the media and on the Internet by California-based Global Language Monitor produced a different set of winners on Tuesday. "Hybrid" took top honors as word of the year with "climate change" the top phrase.

Global Language Monitor, which uses an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, said "hybrid" had broad connotations of "all things green from biodiesel to wearing clothes made of soy to global warming."

Runner-up was "surge," based on the "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops deployed to Iraq since mid-June, followed by the word "Bluetooth," a technology used to connect electronic devices via radio waves.

"The English language is becoming more and more a globalized language every year," said Global Language Monitor president Paul Payack, noting that this year's list included words also culled from India, Singapore, China and Australia.


http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idU...




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