w00t is 3rd Favorite Non-Dictionary Word

Jay writes "The word has been getting out apparently. No longer just a word for gamers, 'woot' now appears as #3 in Merriam-Webster's What's Your Favorite Word (That's Not in the Dictionary)? contest. It was beaten out by ginormous and confuzzled."

Comments

We need a new word now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, like with white people speaking ebonicizzle, it's time for us geeks to get a new set of words.

I mean, when your sister who can't do much more that AIM with her computer says w00t, its been "played out" too much.

What do you suggest instead of w00t?

Re:We need a new word now.

[shellbeach]

The "root" explanation and any sort of acronym-based exoplanation are almost certainly urban legend

I've always rather liked the "root" explanation - it fits with the hacker ethos rather nicely, and I can see how it would arise and spread throughout the community. I'm much more sceptical of any game based abreviation, but I can imagine that an exclamation like "woot!" is pretty easy to come up with for many different areas.

Almost no words came into English as acronyms, but people love to imagine such origins.

Don't know where words like scuba, nimby, Anzac, laser, led and wysiwyg came from, then ... :-)

What about Fugly

[multi-flavor-geek]

Fugly, (Fuh-glee): adj The inherant nature of someone to be F*cking Ugly. Usage, generally at bars, after a few drinks, but before the beer-goggles kick in.

My other favorite is Gigantor, that being a person (there was someone in particular) who s so huge that they have developed a Godzilla like reputation, and the ablity to block sunlight. Or in the case of this person break concrete steps while walking up them.

When it gets corporate backing...

[MacFury]

When it gets corporate backing, it will be in the dictionary.

The proposal to create a "Name Change Task Force" originated with Peter Machno, manager of Seattle's sludge program, after protesters mobilized against his plan to spread sludge on local tree farms. "If I knocked on your door and said I've got this beneficial product called sludge, what are you going to say?" he asked. At Machno's suggestion, the Federation newsletter published a request for alternative names. Members sent in over 250 suggestions, including "all growth," "purenutri," "biolife," "bioslurp," "black gold," "geoslime," "sca-doo," "the end product," "humanure," "hu-doo," "organic residuals," "bioresidue," "urban biomass," "powergro," "organite," "recyclite," "nutri-cake" and "ROSE," short for "recycling of solids environmentally." [19] In June of 1991, the Name Change Task Force finally settled on "biosolids," which it defined as the "nutrient-rich, organic byproduct of the nation's wastewater treatment process." [20]

The new name attracted sarcastic comment from the Doublespeak Quarterly Review, edited by Rutgers University professor William Lutz. "Does it still stink?" Lutz asked. He predicted that the new name "probably won't move into general usage. It's obviously coming from an engineering mentality. It does have one great virtue, though. You think of `biosolids' and your mind goes blank." [21]

Toxic Sludge is good for you

I am feeling bitter today

The nature of dictionaries

[Capt'n Hector]

Dictionaries are supposed to be descriptive and not proscriptive, so if these words are used so much, why are they NOT in the dictionary? A recent example of this would be the alternate pronounciaton of nuclear as "nookyoulure." Stupid as hell, yes, but it's in the dictionary.

A few favorites

[miyako]

Just thought I'd list a few of my favorite non-words, in no particular order.

• Frienemy
• Asshat
• Sexcapade
• teh
• borked
• burninate
• pwned
• pathetisad
• craptastic

Re:A few favorites

[interstellar_donkey]

Odd, your list contains far more words that I know, and even have used with some frequency (asshat and burninate being two I've been known to utter), then this other list. In fact, the only word I reconized there was "Woot" (and yes, I use that quite often, but oddly enough only in text format. I don't think I've ever said it out loud).

A few more I'd like to see:

- Broked (as in "They done broked me"
- Fucktard (excuse the profanity)
- Interweb (a purposly missspoken word used when talking as someone who thinks the Internet and the Web are one in the same)
- Gaysexual (meant to be a 'non-offensive' slang word for homosexuals)

It actually surprises me sexcapade isn't in the dictionary. That's been around for a long time.

Also, I've noticed far more usage of "craptacular" then "craptastic", but then again, I've never heard anyone use the word "Phonecrastinat"

Re:A few favorites

[rinkjustice]

Good list miyako. I'll add a few of my own.

• spork: a spoon and fork combined
• feh: a variation of meh, I guess
• assclown: insult derived from WWF wrestling
• j00: leetspeak for you. Yeah it's old, but it cracks me up. "I pwn j00!"
• out-creature: to outdo someone eles, especially in respects to appearance
• bank: "ebonics" for money (ebonics... hehe)

Re:Huh?

[pyro_dude]

I use the word to my father when he gets uppity and asks me too many insignificant questions about things during the day. "Chill, relax, chillax."

How about...

[Stormwatch]

...automagically?

Never heard of Chav then?

[plusser]

The non-dictionary word of the moment in the UK is Chav - or at least it isn't in the Oxford Dictionary yet, although it might be tomorrow.

Re:Confuzzled?

[saigon_from_europe]

Is 'u' in 'confuzzled pronounced like in 'confused' or like in 'puzzled'?

woot == excitement? :-\

[ZeroExistenZ]

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

If I'm not mistaken woot is the abbrivation for We Own the Other Team, and was introduced with multiplayer games.

Re:woot == excitement? :-\

[wolfgang_spangler]

You most likely are mistaken.
It is interesting how people always assume that some word started somehow in the first context in which they encountered it.
I know I have seen it used in NannyMUD since 1992 or so. I always assumed that it started there and was some Swedish slang. That is of course because I first encountered it there in 1992 :)

Woot; the acronym.

[Agilo]

The word "woot" (also; "w00t") has been said to be an acronym, not just a word, meaning:
We Own the Other Team

microsoft's definition of w00t

[Bob Cat - NYMPHS]

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/ kidtalk.mspx

A parent's primer to computer slang ...

Other common leet words: ...
"w00t" or the smiley character \o/: An acronym that usually means "We Own the Other Team," used to celebrate victory in a video game. ...

Re:Dictionary subject to trends?

[donscarletti]

Way to miss the point dude. The grandparent was talking about the evolution of the language accelerating not just progressing. There quite obviously has to be a rate at which if language change becomes any faster, communication will become harder and harder. Human languages are very similar to computer standards in many ways. HTML for example has changed a fair bit, yet cannot change too fast otherwise browsers will become incompatible. Computers have an upgrade cycle of usually less than 4 years, humans have one of around 80 thus, languages spoken by people must change far slower. I often feel that it is hard to communicate with many older people since the language has changed so much between when I learned it and when they did. Also, people as little as a year younger than me use the word "random" in so many contexts that I don't know what the hell they are saying.

I doubt that anyone advocates freezing the English language in its current state, but I think it is irresponsible for a dictionary publisher to give validity to new words before they have been used for long enough to prove that they are a valuable addition to the language. Encouraging the language to change without due consideration will lead to problems in English similar to "HTML 5.0" (sic.) this may cause problems conveying meaning between people and lead to a new era of misunderstanding between people because of a fractured vernacular and possibly more friction between generations.