"Woot" dubbed word of the year.

[Raph's Girl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071212/od_nm/language_dc_1

"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.

Merriam-Webster President John Morse said "w00t" reflected the growing use of numeric keyboards to type words.

"People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," he said. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character."

One Web site, www.thinkgeek.com, already sells T-shirts with the word "w00t" printed on the front.

"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.

Online gamers often replace numbers and symbols with letters to form what Merriam-Webster calls an "esoteric computer hacker language" known as "l33t speak." This translates into "leet," which is short for "elite."

A separate survey of words used in the media and on the Internet by California-based Global Language Monitor produced a different set of winners on Tuesday. "Hybrid" took top honors as word of the year with "climate change" the top phrase.

Global Language Monitor, which uses an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, said "hybrid" had broad connotations of "all things green from biodiesel to wearing clothes made of soy to global warming."

Runner-up was "surge," based on the "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops deployed to Iraq since mid-June, followed by the word "Bluetooth," a technology used to connect electronic devices via radio waves.

"The English language is becoming more and more a globalized language every year," said Global Language Monitor president Paul Payack, noting that this year's list included words also culled from India, Singapore, China and Australia.

WOOT!! Woot's in the dictionary now!!

[Buslady]

Big whoop...'w00t' is pretty retarded IMO...any of that geeky hacker stuff is lame.

[jeff the cheff]

Originally Posted by Buslady

Big whoop...'w00t' is pretty retarded IMO...any of that geeky hacker stuff is lame.

I agree!

And to get to 10 characters....you probably just pisssed off all the gamer/computer/nerd folk on here.

[Peanut]

Not really. Putting w00t in the dictionary is the stupidest sh*t I've ever heard of. The only people who would get upset about something so stupid deserve to be angry and miserable all the time, anyways.

What does piss me off is your idiotic blanket statement.

[Ecto Jedi]

Blanket statements make the baby Jesus cry.

[jeff the cheff]

Wow it seems like people are classifying themselves as something.

Fine, blanket statements are no good...but so is over sensitivity. I'm just ****ing around is all.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by jeff the cheff

Fine, blanket statements are no good...but so is over sensitivity.

Did you not realize who you were replying to?

[Spitfire]

I used to say "woot" all the time back in high school I had no idea online gamers started using it haha I honestly had never heard anyone else say it before other then my friends who had heard me saying it. Strange.

[Ra]

Erm...w00t? *embarrassed laugh*

I honestly don't care. I only use the word online for possibly some geeky moments or something...but yeah...this deserves a "WTF?" from me...

[Buslady]

Originally Posted by jeff the cheff

I agree!

And to get to 10 characters....you probably just pisssed off all the gamer/computer/nerd folk on here.

And I care not. I'm voicing my opinions and I'm in a free country and I may do so.

[Peanut]

Being in a free country counts for very little on a private message board.

[Drtooth]

Originally Posted by Buslady

Big whoop...'w00t' is pretty retarded IMO...any of that geeky hacker stuff is lame.

YES! I hate w00t! I just say, "Sweet...eheheheheheh" (rough trancription of bad Peter Griffin impersonation) "WOOHOO" (rough transcription of even worse Homer Simpson impersonation) and my favorite "NARF!!!!" (rough transcript of not too bad Pinky impersonation).

wOOt gets into the dictionary and Narf doesn't, indeed!

[Cure]

Originally Posted by Buslady

And I care not. I'm voicing my opinions and I'm in a free country and I may do so.

Keep that in mind next time someone tells a joke about a turtle.

[Sewer Bull]

^
^ he rules. Nuff' said.

[CudleyCowlick]

Well I grew up with that expression and it brings back many fond memories of late night LAN parties and online video games over 56K connections, so I'm gonna go ahead and say:

w00t!

That's sweet.

[Jester]

Do people actualy utter the word "w00t!" or is it just a written word? And iof they do say it, do people roll their eyes?

[愛]

I think it's funny people are getting upset over the addition of a word into the dictionary. I don't even have a dictionary. I do use dictionary.com sometimes, though. Sleeping Dictionary? With Jessica Alba getting naked? Pretty awesome.

...what was I talking about again? I DON'T KNOW! God, I need to go home.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Jester

Do people actualy utter the word "w00t!" or is it just a written word? And iof they do say it, do people roll their eyes?

I say it IRL. lul! But only for something completely nerdy and simultaneously awesome.

And it's just an expression of...happiness, I guess. I mean, is it any worse than saying WOO HOO or WOOO? No, it isn't. Do people roll their eyes when some drunken frat boy goes "WOOOOOOO" and throws up the horns? Probably not. I don't see the big deal with the word being used.

[CudleyCowlick]

Originally Posted by Ai

I think it's funny people are getting upset over the addition of a word into the dictionary. I don't even have a dictionary. I do use dictionary.com sometimes, though. Sleeping Dictionary? With Jessica Alba getting naked? Pretty awesome.

...what was I talking about again? I DON'T KNOW! God, I need to go home.

Sorry to burst your bubble, sport, but those are boobie doubles. I know, I almost bust a nut when I saw that too, but I did some research and those are not hers. Notice you don't see her face in the same shot? Rough days.