Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year 2007

The folks at Merriam-Webster have announced the the 2007 word of the year, based on the votes of thousands of readers. The winning word is … w00t!

What exactly does w00t mean? The dictionary people call it an interjection, meaning that it is used for “expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word ’yay’.” An example would be “w00t! I won the contest.”

The article lists the Top Ten words for 2007. I note that “facebook” comes it at number 2, and is listed as a verb, as in “I facebooked Ron the other day and posted a comment on his wall, but he hasn’t replied yet.”

I also liked the words “blamestorm” and “sardoodledom,” though I’m not sure how I would ever use the latter word in a sentence. But it’s hard to beat w00t.

So here’s the challenge. Try to find a way to use the word “w00t” today. When people look confused, you can smugly say, “I’m just using the word of the year. I’m surprised you don’t know it.”