Geeks, rejoice! Leetspeak has gone mainstream.

Merriam-Webster announced its selection of w00t as Word of the Year Tuesday, marking the first time a word using numeric characters has been added to one of the world’s most respected standard dictionaries.

w00t — usually spelled with zeros replacing the “O” characters — has become a common expression of joy or approval on the Internet. It has even entered spoken use.

In recognizing w00t, Merriam-Webster tacitly accepts the rise of what is known as leetspeak. Leet, which is probably drawn from the word “elite,” is the highly stylized slang of the hacker set. In recent years, its more popular inventions have crept into general use.

Merriam-Webster’s editors chose w00t over the verb facebook, which means to add someone to a list of friends.

With leetspeak anointed as a full member of the common tongue, can LOLSPEAK be far behind?

Link: Reuters