W00T – Word Of The Year

By Sharon

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.

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6 Responses to “W00T – Word Of The Year”

  • Sharon

    That’s interesting, Lana. I wonder if this will have any effect on M-W’s choice.

  • Lana

    Daniel,
    The realization, that nobody knows it, hit immediately: “members have proposed to delete the W00t page from Wikipedia database on December 12”.

    http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/wikipedia-meaning-of-w00t-merriam-webster/1920/

  • Sharon

    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. 🙂

  • Mari

    I have a new love. “sardoodledom”. Excellent.

  • James Chartrand – Web Content Writer Tips

    Too funny. We commonly use “woot!” up here as an alternative to “yay!” But without numbers…

  • Daniel Scocco

    What a peculiar choice! Thanks for sharing Sharon.

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