'w00t' crowned 'Word of the Year' by Merriam-Webster

Certain deceased literary giants may be spinning wildly in their graves, while Shakespeare grins from ear to ghostly ear, following the news that U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster has awarded ‘w00t’ word of the year status. Merriam-Webster honour

Merriam-Webster honour "w00t" as word of the year. Credit: Vorian.orgWhile some may see this particular ‘award’ as yet more evidence that lazy, technology-based communication methods such as predictive text messaging are tightening their grip on the English language, visitors to the Merriam-Webster Web site are responsible for selecting w00t as the top choice from a shortlist of 20 word and phrase nominations.For those unfamiliar with its usage, ‘w00t,’ which is written with two zeros and generally denotes a joyous reaction in online videogame players, can be used "after a [gaming] triumph or for no reason at all," explained Merriam-Webster of its 2007 winner."People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," said Merriam-Webster president John Morse regarding the shift in quick and easy text-based communication embraced by mobile phone users. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character." Unsurprisingly, given the massive surge of popularity in online social networking, "facebook" came in second as the word most commonly used to mean adding someone to a friend list – much in the same way ‘nintendo’ has long been applied to the idea of general videogaming. For further explanation to the root of w00t, Reuters points to the ThinkGeek Web site, which offers that w00t likely hails from the now defunct "whoot," a word that has now become "hoot" in modern English. Merriam-Webster defines hoot as: "to shout or laugh, usually derisively," which is a description that certainly befits the online gaming community.Merriam-Webster also notes that w00t could be a product of "l33t speak" which is a form of "esoteric computer hacker language" where letters are often swapped out with similar numbers or symbols. The word ‘l33t’ is a direct example that has been transformed from the word ‘elite.’

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RoyDec 15th, 2007 - 21:18:30

Actually 'woot' was the sound that a character made in one of the original multiplayer shooters when you jumped. When a team or individual won or made a particularly good kill, jumping about like some sort of monkey was the ritualized and accepted victory dance, resulting in 'woot, woot, woot.' It may have sounded more like 'whoot', as it was a sort of grunt I suppose, but that is coincidental.

Hence the ties directly to gaming, not archaic English.

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