That's right. The Merriam-Webster Word of the Year isn't even entirely composed of letters. See, I always thoughts words had to be composed of letters. How modern of me in this postmodern world!
I especially enjoyed the definition, since I've seen the word before, but didn't know its proper usage, since I'm not an adolescent gamer.
w00t (interjection)Now that it's in the dictionary, everyone will be using it. Can't you see an excited home decorator saying "w00t! Check out the deal I got on wholesale flowers!" or a businessman exclaiming "The budget numbers are finally in! w00t!" Maybe this already happens, and I'm living under a rock.
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"
w00t! I won the contest!
The runner-up for word of the year? Another adolescent pursuit. "facebook" Not the proper noun for the brand-name site, but as a verb:
(verb) : to look up someone's profile on the popular Internet social network Facebook.
I facebooked Sarah the other day and posted a comment on her wall, but she has yet to reply to my comment.
8 comments:
Note that the words were chosen "based on votes from visitors to our Web site." I'm surprised "w00t" is the only arguable word in the list.
On another note, I always thought "quixotic" should be pronounced "key-HOE-tick." I'm starting a petition.
Based on the etymology, you're probably right on the pronunciation. Just reading it, without thinking of the etymology, I'd pronounce it as the dictionary has it.
I should have mentioned- I was a fan of last year's choice, 'truthiness', since I'm a Stephen Colbert fan.
Worst of all in my mind is that MW has not only set a precedent for a "proper" use of numbers in words, but also a "proper" disregard for capitalization, as is demonstrated in their example. Two defeats in one.
Just because pre-teen kids are spelling with numbers and all lower case letters doesn't mean we should strip away the teachers' rights to give them failing grades for it.
I'm going to push for val&tines next year.
My brother will appreciate this. :-) I've never used "facebook" in the verb sense... I must be behind the times!
I was chatting with my mom one day (which I had taught my parents how to do when I went off to college) and she said "woot!" in reply to something exciting I said. I almost fell out of my chair laughing and told her that it was spelled "w00t" and she agreed that something hadn't seemed quite right about how she'd spelled it.
I was very entertained. My mom picked up on the word and used it!
Then again, she is pretty good about picking up on how to use computers and new lingo and such.
As a former teacher, I'm appalled. For all the aforementioned reasons.
It's official. I am old. *sigh*
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