“w00t” crowned word of the year
“w00t,” an expression of joy coined by online gamers, was crowned word of the year on Tuesday by the publisher of a leading U.S. dictionary. Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster Inc. said “w00t” — typically spelled with two zeros — reflects a new direction in the American language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text-messaging. It’s like saying “yay,” the dictionary said. “It could be after a triumph or for no reason at all,” Merriam-Webster said. Visitors to Merriam-Webster’s Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers.
Runner-up was “facebook” as a new verb meaning to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site. “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. I’m looking forward to day when every dictionary will list ROFL or OMFG…
Source: Reuters
Comments(65)
w00t
? I don’t get it.
more possible r00ts
of the word here:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=w00t&defid=3217
w00t! lol
w00t = we own the other team
YEAHw00t!!!
Thanks Blake! i wanted to put that. LOL
Bloody Americans…ah well, at least they have a word now.
Dumb.
w00t is way better than Halo 3…;) nah but seriuosly this is going crazy..i can’t wait to see the ‘generation raised on video games and cell phone text-messaging’ bringing up their children….”Look son this is a hot chick when you see one you say w00t”
@8 yeah the americans they have the word w00t and they make all the goood movies what does youre country do for the worlD?
w00t – ftw!
Hell yeah…
W000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000T
w00t!
@10: LOL! =]
@11
Most of America’s newer movies are crap and most are crappy remakes.
havoc, good movies, america? HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
seriously, yanks live on their own island on mars or something.
w00t.
Do people actually say this, or just type it?
we own (the) other team
we own the other team may be what it means in halo but i remember eq1 saying it every time someone leveled up… so it may be less geek talk now but it defiantly has origins way farther back then halo.
farther? don’t you mean “further”?
-1 for rslog
All I have to say is:
WTF?!?!?!
i would like to say i created the word “w00t” … not “woot” or “wo0t” but “w00t”
your welcome
lets wait till ROFL and its derivatives start getting added
by the way OXFORD still rules and Merriam-Webster can go to hell coz they just displayed their standards
Pics, or it didn’t happen
another great post by ‘tard of the year.
Woot stands for we owned the other team
lolacaust!
i thought w00t was just a n00b way of saying what what w00t?!
Damn crackers…. best thing they can come up with is w00t… yeah this country definitely is the nerds of the world.
W = We
O = Own (the)
O = Other
T = Team
@27
w00t??????!!
Just more virtual nonsense nobody cares in rl
omfg, imho “lol” ftw… aka “rofl / lmao”
btw, pwned=l337 w00t=n00b
@32
WTF???!!
@17
Good point brah.
and BTW, w00t.
@33
lol XD
hihg Bur asa pap KeK f00b baaaaaahh
Halo sucks… it definitely does not stand for we owned the other team.
It’s just an expression of excitement.
btw, pwned=l337 w00t=n00b ???
You suck!
pwned=owned, originating from a common typo since the p is right next to the p on the keyboard
w00t=new word in dictionary, common missunderstanding that it means “we own the other team” or “winner on opposite team”. Just as it is in some neighbourhoods on the web used for the term “what?”. However, the truth is that w00t has no such meaning to it. It is just a expression of happiness, or a sarcastic sound for something.
There are even more general ideas where the word originated from. Some even say it came from bored sysadmins that said woot instead of root, like Elmer say wabbit instead of rabbit.
w00t and pwn(ed) are terms used by kids, for kids
Spam protection: Sum of 2 + 7 ? 27!
Spam protection: Sum of 2 + 10 ? 210!
go webster’s dictionary!
Too bad we were saying w00t back when Quake III players were still pooping in their drawers.
internet words are overrated and many of them makes you sound stupid. “I LIEK T0TALLY PWned THAT n00b ZOMG FTW LOL OLOLOLOL ROTFL WTF”
l11d
American language ???
Have you all forgotten Americans actually speak English (well try to)
d00h
TW@
YES @ 45!! UK FTW! They can’t speak our language at all, so they reverted to internet speak so they are allowed to talk dumb..
Spam protection: Sum of 1 + 9 ? 19!
@49&others
Spam protection: Sum of 1 + 9? 49???
r u in kindergarten
correction;
@49&others
Spam protection: Sum of 1 + 9? 19???
r u in kindergarten
I smell another my country is better flamewar coming …
“w00t” word of the year??!… This week’s sign that the Apocalypse is near.
h44w,511k,l11d,d00h
to those who knows what these words r, ur d internet language master.
w00t w00t!!!!!
Oh, shut up.
so fu**ing just say “yay”…bunch of stupid illiterate kids.
PWND is so much a better word than w00t
who’s that guy in the picture? he looks familiar, is he an actor?
I’ve been looking for a reason to commit suicide all holiday season, and there it was.
LOL LMAO ROFL !!! w00t leet 1337
UK + USA FTW
Sorry “w00t” never meant “we owned (the) other team” as that would technically be a backronym. Besides if that were true it would actually be “wp0t” which clearly it is not.
OM NOM NOM NOM will have it’s day.
@38: Nezzox
oh please, grow up, can’t you understand a joke? please re-read it and if you still didn’t understand it let me know, maybe i’ll draw you a picture or something…