‘w00t’ of the Year
You’d think I’d be thrilled to pieces to see that a gaming-related word got the nod as Word of the Year 2007 from dictionary royalty like Merriam-Webster. Well, that’s not precisely true, it wasn’t the Merriam-Webster editors that made the selection at all (in fact they’re probably gnashing their teeth in consternation), but visitors to the M-W site.
Asked to choose from a list of 20 popular searches, visitors cast their votes for ‘w00t’. Now to me, this is a double eye-roller for the following reasons:
- Call me crazy but I think the word was in its prime long before 2007 and its selection this year only highlights the snail speed at which societal norms and acceptances are formed. Frankly, w00t is old and stale.
- Out of all the 1337 speak that could be selected, and out of the vast lexicon of online wordage…w00t?? Come on people!! There are far more exciting terms out there, far more ubiquitous phrases, so was was this inoccuous four letter jobbie selected from the masses? It baffles.
- Second runner up? Facebook. How on earth did it get beaten by an aging, marginal exclamation of nerd-joy?
Nonetheless, there it is. w00t will forever be immortalized by Merriam-Webster as the hot tip for 2007.
w00t!!
