w00t

For all of my dictionary needs, I dedicatedly consult Merriam-Webster Online; Dictionary.com is for suckers. Each year, Merriam Webster announces its Word of the Year. The Word of the Year is a remarkable distinction, an award that goes to a series of letters that best encapsulates contemporary American culture. Previous winners include democracy, blog, integrity, and truthiness. This year, the honor goes to the word(?) w00t. Though the decision has caused a bit of an outcry in the scholarly community, I'm torn.

In some ways I'm pleased, since it makes me a pioneer of sorts. I've used this word infrequently for about a decade. I can't say I've ever been part of an online gaming community where the term originated, but I do believe I was first exposed to it in some Internet context. Like with any trivial thing I don't understand, I chose to mock it by adopting it into my lexicon ironically. Don't believe me? Check me out being savvy and w00t w00ting all the way back in 2006. I've always thought I had an advanced vocabulary.

Then again, how is w00t a legitimate word anyway? Last I checked, zeros are considered numbers. Word purists are going to have a difficult time accepting the symbols as a word, let alone the word of the year. On second thought, I don't think word purists would look too favorably upon "woot" either. Even Merriam-Webster doesn't seem to give the word credit for being more than a fairly meaningless exclamation of celebration.

w00t!