It comes in a variety of spellings offline and on. The most common, woot, whoot, and w00t are, for our purposes, variations of the same lexical item, especially since the aspirated aitch is growing less common in American English. The latter variant, w00t, has two zeroes in place of ohs, a common characteristic of words originating from online entertainment, especially in multiplayer games, where goofy and ironic l33tspeak sometimes prevails. Other online variations are w00+ and w007.After discussing (and dismissing) a number of possible origins, the writer concludes -
As is the case for most words, the most popular question about woot is "Where did it come from?" Unfortunately, its origins are disputed and, also like most words, it's impossible to say with any certainty what the true origins are...
After a couple of examples of "whoot" or "woot" as an onomatopoeic representation of video game sounds in news stories from 1982, the earliest clear-cut use of the word found so far is in the name of the Atlantic City, N.J., entertainment tabloid The Whoot! which shows up in 1988 as a sponsor of the ugliest bartender contest in Philadelphia...
The most likely explanation, as is usually the case, is far simpler. Woot is, with some caveats, probably derived from and most likely popularized by the dance catch phrase of 1993, "whoot, there it is!" In clubs and on dance floors across the country, in half-time shows and in baseball stadiums, "whoot, there it is" and plain old "woot!" were shouted long and loud by millions. It was used by hype men at hip-hop shows, dancers and cheerleaders at ball games, DJs at discos, and probably by ball-callers at bingos...The rest of the story is at The Lexicographer's Rules, via Sentence First.
If woot had any kind of real presence before the songs—as something other than the name of the publication from Atlantic City—it has not yet been found. As a clear-cut term of celebration or revelry, it simply did not show up in the trillions of words published before 1993 and currently archived online and in periodical databases.
actually, it's:
ReplyDeletew00t!
(the last character's proper name being "bang.")
but isn't it "Whoomp there it is...?"
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the link, you'll find comments re "Whoomp there it is"
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was Whoomp. Woot Always seemed more akin to the early 90s call of the drunk southern female akin to woohout!
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression as I had been told by several online gamers that w00t originated as a shorthand way of saying "we own the other team"... with the word "own" here being used in its gamer-slang usage "we beat/are better than the other team"
ReplyDeleteAnon, if you would click on the link and read it, rather than just reading my excerpt, you would see that your idea of woot being a backronym is considered totally unlikely because the word showed up before the phrase did.
ReplyDeleteThis is easy guys and this IS the answer!
ReplyDeleteThe w00t! you see used in video games... Well now.
Back in the Archie and Jughead Comic days.... One can easily find it in older issues.
It is when a character whistles Joyously at the end of a scenario.
Or at a chick!
Usually while walking off the scene. The appreciative character or the gloating character would often have his lips pursed looking like whistling...
The the word woot! without a bubble would be written with a musical note depicting the character was whistling....
To further.... The Whistling from archi, that I wrote... It is primarly used simply to express joy that you have won or had a good experience... a good kill good teamwork etc.
ReplyDeleteLike "GG" for "Good Game" at the end of a mulitplayer round. w00t! is used the same way....