2008 Woodie Awards
w00t!
John LaRue - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 12/21/07 Section: Opinions
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The 2007 Merriam-Webster word of the year is w00t. According to the dictionary's website, w00t (interjection) means "expressing joy (it could be after a triumph or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word 'yay' as in 'W00t! I won the contest.' " The remark is part of the esoteric gamer language l33t (leet, elite) speak. This new addition to the English language makes me wonder if nerding out is becoming more socially acceptable or maybe even cool?
As a former video-game addict and someone who has w00ted countless times, I'm glad to see society is embracing the sometimes obsessive, fantasy-driven world of video games.
I was educated on the Midwestern, American values of hard work and fair play through incalculable red-eye nights spent in front of our 27-inch Zenith on perfect summer days and ideal winter nights. I might not have a 700-word essay on what it means to be the team captain of the Flying Squirrels, but I do know how it feels to come defuse a nuclear bomb in under a minute and save the world from the grip of tyranny. It's easy to trivialize the feat, but at the time, I was pretty jazzed.
Video games have no doubt played an important role in my life and the world around me, so I'd like to offer you some of the lessons I've been taught by the audio-visual-controller realm. Some are true, some false but this is arbitrary in the context of virtual worlds. What's on the screen is real.
Lesson No. 1: If ever elected to office, I would be the best mayor in the entire world. In just under three years, I was able to build a metropolis roughly the size of Chicago named Pimpin J. UFOs, and a freak tsunami destroyed it quickly, but its memory lives on deep in my computer's hard drive.
Lesson No. 2: If you honk your car horn, hookers do not magically appear. Thanks, Grand Theft Auto 3.
Lesson No. 3: If you're very serious about the girl/guy you're dating and are thinking about taking it to the next level, make sure they know about the Dwarf King named after you. Some people just don't understand magic, so it's best to be upfront about it.
As a former video-game addict and someone who has w00ted countless times, I'm glad to see society is embracing the sometimes obsessive, fantasy-driven world of video games.
I was educated on the Midwestern, American values of hard work and fair play through incalculable red-eye nights spent in front of our 27-inch Zenith on perfect summer days and ideal winter nights. I might not have a 700-word essay on what it means to be the team captain of the Flying Squirrels, but I do know how it feels to come defuse a nuclear bomb in under a minute and save the world from the grip of tyranny. It's easy to trivialize the feat, but at the time, I was pretty jazzed.
Video games have no doubt played an important role in my life and the world around me, so I'd like to offer you some of the lessons I've been taught by the audio-visual-controller realm. Some are true, some false but this is arbitrary in the context of virtual worlds. What's on the screen is real.
Lesson No. 1: If ever elected to office, I would be the best mayor in the entire world. In just under three years, I was able to build a metropolis roughly the size of Chicago named Pimpin J. UFOs, and a freak tsunami destroyed it quickly, but its memory lives on deep in my computer's hard drive.
Lesson No. 2: If you honk your car horn, hookers do not magically appear. Thanks, Grand Theft Auto 3.
Lesson No. 3: If you're very serious about the girl/guy you're dating and are thinking about taking it to the next level, make sure they know about the Dwarf King named after you. Some people just don't understand magic, so it's best to be upfront about it.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Brooke
posted 12/21/07 @ 1:56 PM CST
w00t!!!
patricia
posted 12/26/07 @ 3:50 AM CST
w00t! i just got pwned.
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