December 17th, 2007

W00T Becomes A Word Because Of Gaming Communities

According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, the word "w00t" has been awarded as Word of the Year, due do its wide use on the online communities, especially those involving gaming. Imagine what the English teachers would think of this... So basically, all gamers like to speak "1337", or better yet known as "leet" (coming from elite), a "language" defined by usage of numbers instead of letters (that resemble the actual letters) inside a word in order to give it an "encoded" and interesting look. So what does this "w00t" word mean: - "We Owned the Other Team" - thus expressing dominance over the team that lost a game during an online match. It is said that this "word" has been used in certain environments for a long time already, however (while I'm also a language specialist) I think the word fit to describe the adoption of w00t into a dictionary is innapropriate for 2 reasons: first the lack of academic reasoning behind the usage, and secondly - if what's "special" or interesting about this word becomes "standard" it loses its "magic", the unique status that it once had. Therefore, such words or phrases, even if they are used within the online gaming communities, shouldn't be put on the same page as other real words from the English language.