I don’t know about you but if my daughter comes home with a spelling test and “w00t” is on it, I’m going to be extremely annoyed. The whole idea of “l33t-speak” or alpha-numeric abbreviations for what was once real conversation is just baffling to me. I go to a party and someone actually says l-o-l instead of laughing??? Where’s the enjoyment in that? This review really has no point other than to state that Americans seem to be taking the shortcut to everything nowadays right down to how we communicate our thoughts and it concerns me that once-educational resources have caved into the idiocy of it too.

~WC~

BOSTON (Reuters) - “w00t,” an expression of joy coined by online gamers, was crowned word of the year on Tuesday by the publisher of a leading U.S. dictionary.

Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster Inc. said “w00t” — typically spelled with two zeros — reflects a new direction in the American language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text-messaging.

It’s like saying “yay,” the dictionary said. “It could be after a triumph or for no reason at all,” Merriam-Webster said.

Visitors to Merriam-Webster’s Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers. Runner-up was “facebook” as a new verb meaning to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site. (read the rest of the article here)