December 12, 2007

Merriam-Webster's newest word. W00T!

Now its okay to use on an English majors term paper?

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Expect cheers among hardcore online game enthusiasts when they learn Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. Or, more accurately, expect them to "w00t."
"W00t," a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness, topped all other terms in the Springfield dictionary publisher's online poll for the word that best sums up 2007.
Merriam-Webster's president, John Morse, said "w00t" was an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology.

"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," Morse said.
Gamers commonly substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, Morse says, creating what they call "l33t speak" — that's "leet" when spoken, short for "elite" to the rest of the world.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOOT!

flyingvan said...

That's sooo boss!

Tina said...

w00t! That's my favorite!

Altho I certainly wouldn't classify myself as a *ahem* hardcore online gamer...

shoo said...

lol, n00bs. g2 r8p & pwn Websters. w8t & c my l33t dict.