w00t, We Made It!
This from Game On: Games in Libraries.
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is “w00t!” Further proof that gaming is ubiquitous and invading pop culture. Full article at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_re_us/word_of_the_year
According to the article, “W00t” is a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph — for those of you who, like me, didn’t know. ;-)
The w00t, We Made It! by 2¢ Worth, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
W00t!! All your dictionaries are belong to us!
Reply to TrinaI have used this word for years as an expression of joy, although the newsgroups are arguing as to its meaning, origin and the fact it may be a backcronym for various expressions used over the years.
I am curious as to where it will appear in the dictionary alphabetically. It is spelled “w-ZERO-ZERO-t”, so will it show up at the very beginning of the W entry, directly after the letter W definition (rather than between “woolly” and “woozy”) since a number sometimes is filed before a letter?
Or, as the rule is often stated, should it be filed as if the number is spelled out (w-zero), which would put it at the end of the W entry, probably following Wyoming?
I am feeling I have too much time on my hands this morning to be worried about such a thing! :-)
But inquiring minds want to know….hum, where would you file R2-D2? Or C-3PO? Guess this is not a new problem.
Kathy
Reply to Kathy SchrockI can hear grammar teachers (like me) all across the country wondering what the online gaming equivalent of a large, collective groan would be. Like we need one more reason that proper spelling (and Standard English for that matter) is no longer a necessary, teachable concept.
Reply to Tim ChildersI can hear gamers (like me) all across the country developing the online gaming equivalent of a large, collective groan. ;)
As a so-called digital native, I see things like this as an opportunity to teach your learning objectives in a unique, timely, interesting way. Why not take a break from memorization of latin prefixes and postfixes and use this timely, real-world example of the creation of a word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W00t is a good starting point. You could talk about the fact that “proper” language is guided (or was created, or somewhere in-between) by actual usage, and give other examples of word, idioms, and grammatical structures that have interesting etymologies.
Or you could groan. :) If it makes you feel any better, I’ll clarify that my first sentence refers to the likely result of recognition: slightly diminishing the appeal of the word w00t among it’s creators and core users.
I guess this means y’all don’t know about http://www.woot.com ?
Reply to Dave