W00t. Ripten.com says: Congratulations World of WarCraft addicts. Give yourselves a pat on the back, Halo’ers. You and all the other gamers and internet fans out there have collectively legitimized 1337 speak.

Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster Inc. recently announced that their word of the year for 2007 is the internet slang expression of joy or excitement, w00t. On Webster’s website they announced the winner, along with a number of runner-up words.

Merriam Webster defines w00t (yes, spelled with two zeros) as: expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”

Ex: w00t! I won the contest!

W00t beat out 2nd place term and internet phenomenon “facebook” to take top honors, and joins Stephen Colbert’s word of last year – truthiness – among the great words of our generation. So stand tall, my fellows. We have reached the pinnacle of wordiness.