Word of the Year
Or...folks at Merriam-Webster should be ashamed of contributing to spelling challenges for our children
The Associated Press reports that researchers at Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass., have announced the 2007 Word of the Year. The word they selected is "w00t." That's w zero zero t. It's a gaming word that you're supposed to type in when exclaiming victory. It's a freak-fest of letters and numbers that doesn't really amount to a word, but the president of Merriam-Webster, John Morse, thinks it's just great.
"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language," he says. (Great syntax there, John.)
I'll tell you, John, what this signifies. Bastardization. Morse went on in the AP report to say, "[W00t is] a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other."
As an author and editor, it troubles me to see something like this called a word, added to a dictionary and then dignified with some kind of recognition such as "word of the year." Yes, that title is some arbitrary marketing ploy Merriam-Webster employees came up with, but it still gives weight to a spelling fiasco that confuses children and youth who already take shortcuts in writing with the texting habit our society has adopted. I don't remember when a college graduate passed a proofreading/editing test I gave during an interview for an editorial position at the companies where I've worked. That situation is only worsening with the advent of words such as w00t, l33t (short for "elite," according to AP) and "ur 4 me!" when texting your sweetie.
The good news is a college professor and executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, Allan Metcalf, was also quoted in the AP report, and he had words of comfort for me concerning the gaming words' influx. "It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last."
As for this editor and fantasy author, I'm going to keep using the English language as properly as I can, given my lack of sleep negatively affects my grammar and spelling skills more often than not.
(Sandy Lender is the author of Choices Meant for Gods, available from ArcheBooks Publishing, and has been editing in the magazine publishing industry for more than 15 years. She is currently the editor of AsphaltPro Magazine.)
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Associated Press, Merriam-Webster, Springfield, online dictionary, word of the year, dragon
Or...folks at Merriam-Webster should be ashamed of contributing to spelling challenges for our children
The Associated Press reports that researchers at Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass., have announced the 2007 Word of the Year. The word they selected is "w00t." That's w zero zero t. It's a gaming word that you're supposed to type in when exclaiming victory. It's a freak-fest of letters and numbers that doesn't really amount to a word, but the president of Merriam-Webster, John Morse, thinks it's just great.
"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language," he says. (Great syntax there, John.)
I'll tell you, John, what this signifies. Bastardization. Morse went on in the AP report to say, "[W00t is] a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other."
As an author and editor, it troubles me to see something like this called a word, added to a dictionary and then dignified with some kind of recognition such as "word of the year." Yes, that title is some arbitrary marketing ploy Merriam-Webster employees came up with, but it still gives weight to a spelling fiasco that confuses children and youth who already take shortcuts in writing with the texting habit our society has adopted. I don't remember when a college graduate passed a proofreading/editing test I gave during an interview for an editorial position at the companies where I've worked. That situation is only worsening with the advent of words such as w00t, l33t (short for "elite," according to AP) and "ur 4 me!" when texting your sweetie.
The good news is a college professor and executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, Allan Metcalf, was also quoted in the AP report, and he had words of comfort for me concerning the gaming words' influx. "It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last."
As for this editor and fantasy author, I'm going to keep using the English language as properly as I can, given my lack of sleep negatively affects my grammar and spelling skills more often than not.
(Sandy Lender is the author of Choices Meant for Gods, available from ArcheBooks Publishing, and has been editing in the magazine publishing industry for more than 15 years. She is currently the editor of AsphaltPro Magazine.)
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Associated Press, Merriam-Webster, Springfield, online dictionary, word of the year, dragon
Labels: Associated Press, grammar, Word
posted by Sandy Lender | 8:51 AM
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