I might be stepping on Wordpicnic's toes here (Or fingers? For typing?), but I couldn't help posting my mixed feelings about the fact that Merriam-Webster's word of the year for 2007 contains, well, digits.
"w00t" crowned word of year by U.S. dictionary
Anyone who pays attention to the evolution of the English language will have noticed the recent proliferation of words invented to name and describe technological advancements or internet-related phenomena. Ten years ago, blogs, wikis and even Lulu would have been Star Wars characters. I love new words, especially silly ones. But is w00t really a word? Should English words be spelled with letters outside of the English alphabet or variations thereon (such as letters with accents)?
How far should the dictionaries go in an attempt to catalog every new candidate for worddom*? The thought of Merriam-Webster's adopting "w00t" in its original format causes a mild panic in this spelling-and-grammar pedant's heart. If it were up to me, I think I would provide "w00t" as an alternate spelling for "woot," since it was derived, after all, from an acronym for "we owned the other team." If zero is an acceptable substitute for the letter O, how long will it be before 8 becomes an acceptable substitute for "ate," as in, "I hope it's l8r rather than sooner."?
*Vote "worddom" in 200ate! :)
Labels: dictionary, internet, w00t, words
Posted at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
my stuff
les archives
my friends