The Word Of The Year Is...

w00t. This hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph best sums up the year that was 2007, according to Merriam-Webster, and is an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology. "It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," John Morse, president of Merriam-Webster told The Associated Press.

In case you're wondering, you say (or type) "w00t" to express joy--either after a triumph or for no reason at all. It's quite similar to yelling out "yes!" Hardcore online gamers, who often substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, invented it and are no doubt yelling "w00t!" since this was named the word of the year. The word was also used in the 1990 movie "Pretty Woman" when hooker Julia Roberts startles her date and the upper crust crowd he hangs out with when she yells a hearty "Woot! Woot! Woot!" at a polo match.

Merriam-Webster's top 10 words of the year were chosen based on the frequency of searches in the online dictionary and the most frequently submitted items from users of its "open dictionary." In 2006, the top pick was "truthiness." Coined by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" in October 2005, it means "truth that comes from the gut, not books." A few months later, the American Dialect Society gave it this definition: "The quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true." It's an unabashed dig at President Bush.

Top 10 Words of the Year, 2007:
1. W00t: An interjection that expresses joy, perhaps after a triumph or even for no reason at all.
2. Facebook: A social networking Web site. It can be used as a verb to mean uploading information to the site, as in "Have you facebooked those photos from the party?"
3. Conundrum: A question or problem having only a conjectural answer; an intricate and difficult problem.
4. Quixotic: Foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action.
5. Blamestorm: Gathering in a group to discuss why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who is to blame or is responsible.
6. Sardoodledom: A mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama; staginess or melodrama.
7. Apathetic: Having or showing little or no feeling or emotion; spiritless or having little or no interest or concern; indifferent.
8. Pecksniffian: Unctuously hypocritical; pharisaical. It comes from the name of a character, Seth Pecksniff, in the novel "Martin Chuzzlewit" by Charles Dickens.
9. Hypocrite: A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion; a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
10. Charlatan: Quack; one making usually showy pretenses to knowledge or ability; fraud or faker.