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Breaking News: Locavore is the Word

by Debbie G.

The New Oxford American Dictionary 2007 word of the year is Locavore, meaning someone who eats locally grown food. We’re sure this year’s choice was based on the success of Slow Food Huron Valley and the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market in bringing local food to local folks in Washtenaw County. There are plenty of local food links, heirloom recipes and more at Ann Arbor Cooks, your one-stop locavore site.

Comments

The Miriam-Webster Dictionary just deemed "w00t" their word of the year. Evidently it refers to a gaming exclamation condensed from "Wow, Loot!". I was well aware of last year's pick, "truthiness" but I've not seen w00t in my experience. How about you? That's w-zero-zero-t. The M-W dictionary also entered 'facebook' as a verb.

I like locavore better.

In reply to by PCake13 (not verified)

My son reported that 'W00t' actually stood for "We Own Other Team", used in gaming to signify when one team is beating another... Now it means "Yea! Whoo Hoo! W00t"! Maybe some of the gamers can tell us...or do they only respond to Eli????

I just joined Slow Food Huron Valley--what a great group! And it is a lot of fun to try to be a locavore. I used mostly local food for my Tgiving dinner and my holiday goodies all came from the Brass Sisters cookbook. What a cool book!

Hello, I am one of those "gamers" of which you speak, ascending from the dark, loud and slightly odd-smelling lower levels to help you figure out "[w:W00t|w00t]" .

The word first began (according to Wikipedia, anyways) as an interjection derived from an early 90's song titled "Whoot, there it is." Again, in this context, it was used as an interjection. It has slowly evolved over time to lose the 'h' and gain the '00' in place of the 'oo'.

Generally it is not actually spoken aloud (or in this case, interjected aloud), rather it is usually typed into an instant message box or a blog post. It has become a general statement of celebration, much like "Hooray!", "Huzzah!", "Go Blue!", etc.

While some may say that "w00t" means "we own other team", I personally this was created as a "[w:Backronym|Backronym]" to try and create a meaning for woot.

Hopefully this little foray into the world of gaming has been informative for you.

-"Major Tom" Coveney

P.S.: I would just like to warn everyone that not all gamers speak as normally as I try to on the internet, and that I advise you to interact with other gamers on a computer at your own risk. Results may vary. :-)
-----
"OK, next year we're going to change the tournament name from AADL-GT to AADL-G<strong>R</strong>... "Goat Rodeo!!!" - Eli <strong>
5000th comment poster!</strong>[gtlogo:VMC]

Those of you intrigued by our w00tiness may also be interested in [http://woot.com], an online business that sells one product each day, starting at midnight. As both a gamer and a fogey, I can simultaneously confirm that 'we own other team' is a lame backronym as Tom mentioned, but also state that the famous anthem of the early 90's was 'Whoomp there it is' and not 'Whoot there it is'. I can also recall with terrifying clarity the promotional remix, 'Whoomp, The Addams Family, there it is'.

Many cherished internetisms are borne from hilarious typos, and w00t is likely no exception.

Thank you, Major Tom & Eli for providing me with this truly enlightening information. Miwh!

(Mean it whole heartedly)

First off yes we will respond to people other than Eli. Eli and ejk get the most response because of subject matter. Still we pay attention to other library posts when they interest us. I post on anime and manga subjects when I can.

Now on to w00t. It happens to be very common in gaming groups. Woot happens to be the name of a character in <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> series, but I don't think that is the true origin. It is also the sound Quake 3 characters make when they jump, if this was before or after w00t came into common terminology is beyond me.

I'm fairly certain I saw it spray-painted somewhere around RIT; other instances of vandalism I've seen have been a Triforce, Yoshi, the symbol from the TV series Heroes and "Valhalla" (the day of Halo 3's release). So yes it's common vernacular here.

[gtlogo:VMC]

In reply to by Sir Ducksalot

I admit, I asked if gamers would respond just to get y'all talkin'. It worked! I appreciate your post, Sir Ducks a lot! Also the link Leinad provided was very interesting and one I can use often.

Still, do you think W00t qualifies for word of the year??

It's a pretty lame word of the year. Locavore is much better.

I do still take issue with the claim that woot ultimately came from the song [w:Whoomp!_(There_It_Is)|Whoomp! (There it is)]. I remember the days of Whoomp, you whippersnappers, and we knew it was WHOOMP. If we were caught up in whoomping fervor and wanted to exclaim, "Whoomp", we would not have said "Whoot" instead.

Now get off my lawn!

Actually, reading the amazing [http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/grantbarrett/comments/the_real_h…|thread] that Leinad linked to, there were apparently two different songs, 'Whoomp! (there it is)' by Tag Team, and Whoot there it is by Club 95. However, Whoomp went to #1... everybody was exposed to it. Constantly. The Club 95 version is, er, something else.

Locavore, I will file this wonderful word away for future use, so I can intimidate my friends with my pompous verbosity :)

cool

In reply to by tomiwa

I read the interesting discussion on here....from locavore to w00t. :) Interesting how it got there....

I'm not a strict locavore . But I do my best. I love making pumpkin pie from local farmers.
TB

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