An online poll run by US publishing group Merriam Webster has chosen ‘w00t‘ as the ‘Word of the Year’. An expression of joy, used predominantly by online gamers, w00t pushed the verb ‘facebook’ into second place and joins ‘truthiness’ and ‘blog’ among the past annual winners of the award.

The words were voted for by visitors to the Merriam-Webster website. Here’s a run down of the top 10:

1. w00t (interjection)
Expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”.

2. facebook (verb)
Multiple meanings including:
(i) To add someone to your list of friends on the “facebook.com” website.
(ii) To create an event entry on facebook
(iii) To upload a photograph to facebook so that it may be viewed by others.

3. conundrum (noun)
(i) a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun
(ii) a question or problem having only a conjectural answer
(iii) an intricate and difficult problem

4. quixotic (adjective)
(i) foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action.
(ii) capricious; unpredictable

5. blamestorm (verb)
To sit around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

6. sardoodledom (noun)
(i) mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama.
(ii) staginess; melodrama

7. apathetic (adjective)
(i) having or showing little or no feeling or emotion; spiritless
(ii) having little or no interest or concern; indifferent

8. Pecksniffian (adjective)
unctuously hypocritical; pharisaical

9. hypocrite (noun)
(i) a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
(ii) a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

10. charlatan (noun)
(i) one making usually showy pretenses to knowledge or ability
(ii) fraud; faker

Other popular words in 2007, which missed the top 10 include ‘ding‘, ‘lolcats‘, ‘multi-touch‘, ‘poke‘ and ‘tweet‘.

Previous ‘Words of the Year’:

	2007	2006	2005	2004
1	w00t	truthiness	integrity	blog
2	facebook	google	refugee	incumbent
3	conundrum	decider	contempt	electoral
4	quixotic	war	filibuster	insurgent
5	blamestorm	insurgent	insipid	hurricane
6	sardoodledom	terrorism	tsunami	cicada
7	apathetic	vendetta	pandemic	peloton
8	Pecksniffian	sectarian	conclave	partisan
9	hypocrite	quagmire	levee	sovereignty
10	charlatan	corruption	inept	defenestration

.
All of the above information is quoted or edited from the Merriam-Webster website and the BBC News website.
.
~ TranceFixed

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969)