People interested in the development of words and their meanings and the history of language will be delighted, amazed or alarmed to discover that the Merriam-Webster online dictionary word of the year for 2007 is a combination of letters and numbers. The word, w00t, which looks like it should rhyme with root, received the most votes in a competition against words such as facebook, sardoodledom, and Pecksniffian. All of these words were in a list of the twenty most frequently looked up words in Merriam-Webster's Online dictionary. Just because w00t was #1 word of the year does not mean that it will be found in newly published Merriam-Webster print dictionaries, however. That apparently is a reward given only after time has proven the word worthy of inclusion. If you are curious about how a word gets into the print dictionary, Merriam-Webster has a good explanation in the FAQ section of their website.

W00t is popular with online gamers. Its meaning is more or less YAY, or YIPEE, or HORRAY! Merriam-Webster's online dictionary calls this type of language - letters and numbers combined, "leet" or in the language of computer gamers, "l33t" or "elite" speak. Language and technology are increasingly becoming interrelated. Will letters and numbers someday be interchangable in words? Merriam-Webster online dictionary has been choosing a word of the year since 2003. During that time, honors have gone to truthiness the 2006 winner over words like google and terrorism, in 2005 integrity was #1, winning out over refugee and levee. In 2004, the word, blog, was a winner. Hard to believe it's only been popular for such a few years!

If you have a love of language, or just a passing interest in words, their origins and meanings, the library has a number of good books to educate and entertain you.

Predicting new words : the secrets of their success
The Oxford dictionary of word histories
[Spanglish] : the making of a new American language
There's a word for it!: a grandiloquent guide to life
Verbatim

So, I will leave you with this thought, couched in some of the most popular words of recent years: If you find yourself in a quagmire of words while engaged in a filibuster with a group of insipid individuals, impress them with a tsunami of words of your own.