Home » Breaking News: Locavore is the Word
Submitted by Debbie G. on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 2:51pm

Breaking News: Locavore is the Word

veggiesveggies

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

Submitted by jaegerla on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 7:02pm.

The Ypsi Food Coop is a great place to locavore-it-up, too!

Submitted by manz on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 11:33am.

this is great. i like new words.

Submitted by Beth Manuel on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 4:07pm.

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.

Submitted by PCake13 (not verified) on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 6:32pm.

I've seen w00t, but I've also wondered what it meant. Thanks!

Submitted by Beth Manuel on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 3:52pm.

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????

Submitted by teacherpatti on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 8:23pm.

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!

Submitted by Major Tom Coveney on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 6:02pm.

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 "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 "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. :-)
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"OK, next year we're going to change the tournament name from AADL-GT to AADL-GR... "Goat Rodeo!!!" - Eli
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Submitted by eli on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 6:47pm.

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.

Submitted by Leinad on Sat, 12/15/2007 - 12:06am.

I see w00t all the time, but I'd never really wondered where it came from. Interesting. I'll look into it more.

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"Faulheit ist eine Tugend"
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Submitted by Leinad on Sat, 12/15/2007 - 12:20am.

I asked a few gamers, and it wasn't very helpful. The first one said it originated with the backronym (which, like Tom and Eli, I am inclined to believe is merely a backronym). He also cited it as originally coming from the game Counterstrike (an older shooter, and one of the first games that was popular for online gaming). Which I also find questionable, although I'm sure that it was used in counterstrike games. The other reply I got linked me to the Wikipedia article that Tom cited. Wikipedia linked me to this article agreeing with their theory:

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/grantbarrett/comments/the_real_history_and_origin_of_woot_and_w00t/

So, in short, it seems like most gamers don't really know for sure either.

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"Faulheit ist eine Tugend"
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