Word of the Year

For dictionary (and current trend) lovers, Merrian-Webster has just released their annual Word of the Year winner. Selected by the vote of thousands of participants, the winner is….wOOt.

I know. I didn’t know it either, but there really is a word “wOOt” (note the double zeros, which is a tip off that it has its roots in the world of online computer gaming).

And what does it actually mean? Well, therein is the fascination: in computer-game-speak, it is an acronym for “We Owned the Other Team.” M-W has a bit more dictionary appropriate definition: They list it as an interjection “expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word ‘yay.’” Ex.: “wOOt! I won the contest!” Interestingly, they do not give a pronunciation!!

Second place went to “facebook,” which is listed as a verb: “I facebooked Sid and posted a picture on his wall. He hasn't replied yet.” I also like “blamestorm” and “sardoodledom.” In fact I knew the latter from being around 5 year kindergartners! But its hard to beat wOOt. Try it, you might like it!

P.S. None of the above words are in my spell-checker! Time to upgrade?

Maranatha!