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Dec. 12th: w00t is the WORD OF THE YEAR?!

2007-12-12 · letter vlog · John · 3:11 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta, community lore

John likes Merriam-Webster's 2007 word of the year, woot, but argues it peaked in 2006; in a mock letter to the editors he claims 'Nerdfighter' should have won, and he invites viewers to write Merriam-Webster and to suggest whether he should get a puppy.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; last days to revise Paper Towns; second-grade mini-book; three parts; John punches his camera

  • ★★ John says today is one of the last days he can make meaningful revisions to Paper Towns. — 00:00:09 · Paper Towns
  • ★ John jokes he would still be revising his first 'book', a mini-book from second grade, had his teacher not taken it and had it bound. (playful) — 00:00:09
  • ★ John punches his camera, trying to do something Hank did because he thought it would be funny, then apologizes to it. (playful) — 00:00:34

00:00:34 — Merriam-Webster picks woot as 2007 word of the year; woot peaked in 2006; mock letter: 'unwoot day', the day the lulz died, Nerdfighter should have won

  • ★★ John reports that Merriam-Webster has announced 'woot' as its word of the year for 2007. — 00:00:34 · w00t
  • ★★ John calls woot a great word that, like an E. E. Cummings poem, must be seen to be appreciated; he is happy leet speak gets word-of-the-year attention, though he jokingly misses old 'elite speak'. — 00:00:34 · w00t, Leet
  • ★★★ John feels woot was not the perfect word of 2007, since it peaked in 2006; the word of 2007 should have been one invented in 2007. (hedged) — 00:01:04 · w00t
  • ★★★ In a comic letter to Merriam-Webster's editors, John laments an 'unwoot day' for young people and argues the word they should have picked was 'Nerdfighter'. (playful) — 00:01:04 · nerdfighter

00:02:32 — Letter ends ('lexicographer'); write Merriam-Webster too; should they get a puppy and what name; Secret Project; sign-off

  • ★★ John invites Hank and the nerdfighters to write to Merriam-Webster to express disappointment that 'nerdfighter' was not picked; contact details are in the video info. (playful) — 00:02:32 · Nerdfighteria, nerdfighter
  • ★★ John asks whether he and Sarah should get a puppy and, if so, what to call it; Sarah vetoed his suggestion, 'Bubbles the Nerdfighting Puppy'. — 00:02:32 · Sarah Urist Green

00:03:02 — Scavenger hunt: no clues lately because the big final hunt is coming

  • ★★ John tells scavenger hunters there have been no clues for a couple of days because the brothers are preparing the big final scavenger hunt, which will start soon. — 00:03:02

Humor (significant)

  • Announcing he will punch his camera like Hank, John hits it and it goes out of control. — 00:00:34

    “Are you okay? I'm sorry. I was just trying to do something that Hank did because I thought it would be funny.”

  • John's letter mourns, in leetspeak, that teenagers will not woot, pwn noobs or steal warez today. — 00:01:33

    “Indeed, December 12th, 2007 will be forever remembered as the day the lulz died.”

  • Complaining that woot 'apexed' in 2006, John catches his own coinage. — 00:02:02

    “I just made up that word. I am such a neologist. I also made up neologist.”

  • John's letter declares that Nerdfighter beats woot and everyone knows it. — 00:02:32

    “if you don't know what a nerdfighter is, I don't know how you wake up every morning and call yourself a lexicographer.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: w00t

Also: People: E. E. Cummings · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Nerdfighter Scavenger Hunt

Works: Halo 3 · Paper Towns

Organizations: Merriam-Webster

Terms: nerdfighter

Memes: Leet · lulz · n00b · pwned

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