On “w00t”.
When I woke up this morning, my pal Maxator clued me in on Merriam-Webster’s 2007 Word of the Year, w00t. Merriam-Webster, like most every media outlet these days, failed to do any real research of the word and gave a horribly simplistic definition:
1. w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”
It’s bad enough that token 1337-5p34k (”elite speak”) has become adopted by kiddies the world over, but worse yet that the etymology of these words is forgotten to all but us brazen old bastards. 1337-5p34k, after all, hails back to the hacker-era of, I estimate, the early 90s, when it became commonplace among computer nerds to substitute numbers for letters as an “inside joke”, which was actually easier than substituting non-alphanumeric characters to create nerd phrases.
The term “w00t” is a reconfiguration of “root”, which is the master account, or username, in Linux/Unix-based operating systems. The exclamation “r00t”, then, is an early form of “w00t”, becoming an exclamation of joy for gaining root access to a computer. This access warranted an exclamation of joy on account of the fact that root access allows a user to have virtually free reign of the system. In other words, the system in question has become the hacker’s bitch.
When this exclamation of dominance finally evolved into “w00t”, computer science nerds began to use the term in a more general sense, using it to declare joy akin to what they would feel after obtaining root access to a computer system. Since it was these same nerds who made up the majority of early PC gamers, the term found its way to the online gaming space, where it remains to this day.
Nonetheless, Merriam-Webster fails to comprehend the real definition of the word, as there is quite definitely a reason for its utterance. And, furthermore, for those who confuse the term as a “gamer term”, consider yourself pwned, because it’s quite simply not. Gamers may use it, but it’s neither of their making, nor out-of-use among the hackers who just scored your box.
Popularity: 4% [?]
*cough* dork *cough*
You know, I’ve gotta admit, as one of those psycho-geeks who sees “w00t” and “pwned” as valid words and uses them in everyday speech– regardless of the etymology of words, I always enjoy seeing them get some valid, non-negative attention.
@Pike
On the one hand, I agree, since it somehow “validates” geek culture. On the other hand, when used by people who don’t understand how such a term is used exactly, it takes away from all the inside fun.