[mrticsay]

Let out a 'w00t' for Word of the Year

By Stephanie Reitz
Associated Press
December 12, 2007

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Expect cheers among hard-core online game enthusiasts when they learn Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year -- or a big "w00t."

"W00t," a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher's online poll for the word that best sums up 2007.

Merriam-Webster President John Morse said "w00t" was an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology.

"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," Morse said.

Gamers commonly substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, Morse says, creating what they call "l33t speak" -- that's "leet" when spoken, short for "elite" to the rest of the world.

The word also is familiar from the 1990 movie "Pretty Woman," in which Julia Roberts startles her date's upper-crust friends with a hearty "Woot, woot, woot!" at a polo match.

Purists of "l33t speak" often substitute a "7" for the final "t," expressing a "w007" of victory -- an "in your face" of sorts -- when they defeat an online gaming opponent.

"W00t" was among 20 nominees in a list of the most-searched words in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary and most frequently submitted terms from users of its "open dictionary."

The choice did not make Allan Metcalf, executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, say "w00t."

"It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last," said Metcalf, an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill.

[aquaman]

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM) is also a website. The sell one item per day, except once every month and a half or so, they sell a bunch of stuff--only one item at a time though. As soon as one item sells out, they go on to the next. They call that a woot-off.

[Colquhoun]

w00t....that's just dome.

[w16227]

Originally Posted by aquaman

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM) is also a website. The sell one item per day, except once every month and a half or so, they sell a bunch of stuff--only one item at a time though. As soon as one item sells out, they go on to the next. They call that a woot-off.

this is actually a pretty good site

I have purchased many items there - and the pricing can't be beat (usually).

They sell a lot of the IRobot stuff (robot vacuums and mops) that are well below market cost.

Now - if only they would get ahold of some PNYs..............

[abby99]

Originally Posted by w16227

Now - if only they would get ahold of some PNYs..............

That would be so totally w00t!