Yes, "w00t" is a word, officially. Just look at that word for a moment. w00t. Now you must be wondering "That shit ain't a word, man. It's got two numbers smack dab in between a dubya and a tee!" If that is indeed you saying that statement, congratulations.....your wrong and your old. According to this, the good people at Merriam-Webster Inc. have named "w00t" the new word of the year and are going to add it to the dictionary. L33t speak (pronounced "Leet Speak," "leet" being a degenerate form of the word "elite") has been around the net forever, but it wasn't until a good friend of mine introduced the proper name for the language a couple of months ago. The term "Pwn" has been in my vocab for a while now and I use it in my everyday speak. Sometimes I get people who get it while others just look at me like I just said I like to smash bottles into my face for fun. But I'm still old compared to the kiddies whose entire vocab is proliferated with the terms. Every time I go to Riverpark or the mall, I can't pass a group of teens with hearing a "WTF" or a "BFF" as they walk by, increasing my urge to SMASH and wondering "What the fuck am I doing here?" follwed by a "Fuck I'm old" (notice I didn't abbreviate of those). The world is truly turning into that damn AT&T commercial and if that's the stuff I'm going to have to deal with with my kids, someone's gonna end up getting choked! But for now, the intro of l33t speak words to our "normal" speak dictionary can only mean the end is near. Or those uncreative bastards over at Merriam-Webster are just a bunch of saps looking to gather some attention the the fledgling dictionary industry.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
"w00t" is added to the dictionary; old people confused
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3 comments:
I always liked to use those l33t speak translator sites to turn everything into hacker-type gibberish. The worst was when I got Xbox Live and played Halo 2 for a few minutes on it, and 8 year olds were pwning me and saying so and calling me a n00b. WTF, f them man!
I bet in about 20 years those kids will be adults l33t speaking about their b8ldnss and 4clozrz.
OK, seriously, I'm old (just turned 50), but I know w00t. Phonetics is hell--punishment for past sins and those yet to come.
I think 1337 speak is pretty ass in everyday conversation, but c'mon, it has a place in online communication. Though I doubt they're as far sighted as this, whether they meant it or not, Merriam-Webster is embracing the fact that language is constantly changing, not words, grammar or syntax, but the actual delivery of communication. Language does not belong to us, and it will grow and adapt long after we're gone into something we would barely recognize. Whether it's a gimmick or not, I don't know, but this is where it's goin...
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