On Tuesday, Merriam-Webster announced their word of the year for 2007. And the winner was… w00t! Of course. I use this word ALL the time. For those of you out there who, like me, don’t find this word entering their daily vocabulary, let me give you a little background on the word. Webster’s online Open Dictionary defines it like this:

1. w00t (interjection)

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!

And while there is plenty of disagreement as to the origins of the word, one popular theory as defined by Urban Dictionary is that the term was derived from online gamers as an acronym for “we own the other team.” In other words, it was a victory cry of sorts. And now… well, now it seems to have worked its way into mainstream language, or at least into “leetspeak,” or l33t.

As a “word of the year,” w00t joins the ranks of other “word of the year winners” such as ruthiness, integrity, blog, and democracy. These are all words that are chosen by Webster’s based on their wide usage, and are then voted on by the internet public. So, the question is, will w00t become as wide-spread as “blog.” Will we all be crying “w00t!” as we ring in the New Year? Ten years from now, will we all look back and laugh that I’m blogging about the term “w00t” - a term that has become as mainstream as “internet,” “telephone,” or “HDTV?” I’m obviously just a n00bi3 at all this l33t stuff, and at this point I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may just never be k3wl.

Labels: l33t, leetspeak, Merriam-Webster, w00t, word of the year