Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2007 is W00t. This is old news, because W00t was crowned way back in December 2007, but by now, you’ve probably forgotten what “w00t” means (it’s defined as an interjection for “expressing joy.”)
I had no idea what w00t meant before reading the announcement. I had never seen the word, since it is only ever used “in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t…the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for ‘we owned the other team.'” Ah, 133t. That is, Leet. Once a slang used by hackers to communicate quickly, Leet has evolved into a full-blown corruption of English – the cool language of a generation. It proudly disregards proper capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It employs a limited vocabulary that often follows intuition. In other words, d00d, l33t sux0r.
Merriam Webster president John Morse applauded W00t’s selection, saying it blends “whimsy and technology.” No. It blends the infinite degradation of language with online gaming. And Merriam-Webster’s condoning of W00t shows that they’re willing to compromise their prestige as Noah Webster’s lexicographical heirs for a marketing effort to appear hip and impress people who obviously aren’t reading dictionaries anyway.
Sometimes I am so flummoxed by humanity’s asininity, that I feel like it’s time to head to the elephants’ graveyard.
