Posted on 12/31/2006 12:31:29 PM PST by ShadowDancer
Tomkat, Bradgelina Get Pwned In Annual Banned Word List
POSTED: 12:24 pm EST December 31, 2006
UPDATED: 12:44 pm EST December 31, 2006
DETROIT -- Online video gamers inadvertently stumbled onto a pop culture phenomenon when they began championing the use of "pwn," a misspelling of "own."
Now, linguist police around the globe say it's high time to bury the cryptic term, which means to dominate or soundly defeat.
"This word is just an overly used Internet typo," said Tory Rowley, of Corunna, Mich. "It has been overused to the point that people who play online games are using it in everyday speech."
"Pwn" is one of 16 words or phrases that appear in Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. The Sault Ste. Marie, school, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, released its 32nd annual version Monday after sifting through more than 4,500 nominations.
The list reads like a lexicon of popular culture, and is fed by peculiarities and annoyances from the media, politics, entertainment, advertising and elsewhere. Submissions are culled from the university's Web site and evaluated by an ad hoc committee over the holidays, said university spokesman Tom Pink.
"We try to divide them up into categories if we can," said university spokesman Tom Pink. "It's a long time just reading e-mail, and the list is lighthearted, of course, so we look for witty explanations of why a word or phrase should be banned."
Among this year's picks are "Gitmo," the military's widely co-opted shorthand for a military detention center in Cuba whose use, the university said, "drives a wedge wider than a split infinitive."
"When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to 'Gitmo,' a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?" asked Marcus W., of St. Louis.
Word-watchers piled on the media's practice of "combined celebrity names" such as "TomKat" or "Brangelina." They also vilified the ubiquitous pharmaceutical industry mantra "ask your doctor," which the university called "the chewable vitamin morphine of marketing."
Real estate listings got in on the act this year for the frequent use of the word "boast." As in "master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces - never 'bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,"' quipped Morris Conklin, of Lisbon, Portugal.
Not all of this year's nominations are new terms, but merely older terms that linguistic purists have determined are no longer tolerable. Witness "awesome," to which the university assigned a one-year moratorium in 1984 "during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means "fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic."
University officials concurred with those who say there is no hope for the term whose meaning was perhaps forever altered during the '80s.
"The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don't fit the majestic design of the word," said Leila Hill, of Damascus, Md.
The list, which in recent years has included such gems as "show me the money, "erectile dysfunction" and "holiday tree," is closing in on its 1,000th banishment. Yet despite the university's vigilance, Pink said he's not aware that any dictionaries have followed up on its advice.
"Sometimes people write us and tell us, this isn't working," Pink said. "I tell them we need an enforcement division."
The list can be found online at the university's Web site.
They banned "pwn?" Jeez, I just learned what it means!
pinging you as a user of at least one of the banned words...; )
But how is "pwn" pronounced? Pawn? Pown? Poon?
"When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to 'Gitmo,' a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?" asked Marcus W., of St. Louis.
It was before you were born, 'tard, decades before "anime".
That is awesome!
It's pronounced Pown.
I saw "awesome". But, only when something is greater than greater than great. :-) As in, "William Joseph's piano playing is awesome."
That should be say, not saw.
Who sez they pwn the list!
Evidentally it is impossible to have one thread here that someone doesn't turn into a Saddam one.
I prefer words like "if" and "it".
Itz about time!!1!
It comes with the territory!
"But how is 'pwn' pronounced? Pawn? Pown? Poon?"
As a linguist, I can answer that for you. It's one of those words delegated to the irrelevant and can be pronounced in any number of ways because no one in History will give a rat's rump about it!
In it's most direct, ancient translation it means, "You're a LOSER if you pay ANY attention to these two, and give them any credit for anything beyond hyping their own fading Star Power." :)
would that be "pown" that rhymes with "own?" or "pown," which rhymes with "town, brown, clown and down?"
I guess we can be thankful that they didn't go after "hugh" and "series."
I wish to holy hell they would have.
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