Merriam Webster has published its 2007 word of the year, and the winner is w00t. Who would have thought that a word with numbers in it would make the cut? According to M-W, the word is an expression of joy (similar to yay). It’s also used by gamers to signify: ‘We owned the other team’. Words containing numbers are common in the vernacular of computer hackers.
Other words in the top ten include:
- facebook (meaning to post to facebook)
- conundrum (a riddle or difficult problem)
- quixotic (foolishly impractical, capricious or unpredictable)
- blamestorm (discussing in a group who is to blame for missing a deadline)
- sardoodledom (mechanically contrived plot or structure or unrealistic characterization)
- apathetic (spiritless or indifferent)
- Pecksniffian (unctuously hypocritical)
- hypocrite (someone who puts on a false appearance or acts contrary to his or her beliefs)
- charlatan (a quack or fraud)
The word of the year competition has been running since 2003. Previous word lists can be found here.
What a peculiar choice! Thanks for sharing Sharon.
Too funny. We commonly use “woot!” up here as an alternative to “yay!” But without numbers…
I have a new love. “sardoodledom”. Excellent.
You’re welcome, Daniel.
Are you from Canada, James? I know a couple of Canadian writers who use that expression all the time.
My fave is Pecksniffian, closely followed by blamestorm, Mari. 🙂
Daniel,
The realization, that nobody knows it, hit immediately: “members have proposed to delete the W00t page from Wikipedia database on December 12”.
That’s interesting, Lana. I wonder if this will have any effect on M-W’s choice.