Diversions December 12, 2007

w00t’s Up!

If that headline looks like a typo to you, you may be dating yourself.
Reported by

Believe it or not, that “word’ (w00t) has been picked as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – even though it isn’t (yet) in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

The term (it hardly seems fitting to call it a “word’, but Merriam-Webster terms it an interjection) finds its origins in online gaming forums. It’s one of those online acronyms (not surprisingly, since it was chosen by visitors to Merriam-Webster’s website – stands for “we owned the other team.’ Owned, in this case, meaning overpowered/beat/defeated soundly, not “owned’ in the George Steinbrenner sense. Supposedly Julia Roberts uttered w00t in the movie “Pretty Woman’ cheering at polo game (who knew? I thought she was imitating a train).
And yes, one might well expect that the acronym would more precisely be presented as woot – but in the online world, the double “o” in the word is instead usually represented by double zeroes. Gamers frequently substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, resulting in what is called “l33t speak” — that’s “leet” when spoken, short for “elite” to the rest of the world.

As for using w00t in a sentence (properly) – just insert it where you might normally say “yay.’ As in, “w00t! I won the Word of the Year contest!’

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As for the rest of the list:

  • Facebook – though not necessarily as a noun referencing the social networking website of the same name. Think verb – as in “Have you facebooked those photos from the party last weekend?’, or “Did you facebook today?’ or to look up someone’s profile on Facebook (“I facebooked Sarah the other day…’)
  • Blamestorming – think brainstorming with a more “sinister’ purpose; sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
Last year’s word of the year was truthiness – and, true to form, a fair number of the remaining selections for the current seem equally apropos for the current political “season.’
  • conundrum
  • quixotic
  • apathetic
  • hypocrite
  • charlatan
And maybe it’s just me – but two of the choices were just plain weird:
  • Pecksniffian (an adjective meaning unctuously hypocritical. It’s etymology harkens back to Seth Pecksniff, a character in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–44) by Charles Dickens.
  • Sardoodledom (that one you can look up yourself)
    Previous words of the year are available online at http://www.m-w.com/info/07words_prev.htm
Deals & People December 12, 2007

SEI Names New Leader for B/D Support Team

Patrick Sullivan has been named as leader of SEI’s National Accounts Team, which delivers specialized support to broker/dealer home offices.
Reported by

In his new position, Sullivan is responsible for furthering the customer service goals of the National Accounts Team, which was organized by the SEI Advisor Network in early 2006.

Since 2006, Sullivan has as a Senior Relationship Manager in the SEI Global Institutional Group, before assuming his new role with the National Accounts Team. Before that, he was Director of Business Development in the Advisor Alliance Group at Russell, where her worked with many of the national broker/dealer home offices

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“The broker dealer community is a critical audience for SEI,’ said Kevin Barr, Senior Managing Director, SEI Advisor Network, in a company announcement. “Patrick’s direct experience with this group is a great asset as we continue to expand and enhance our client relationships.’

Among the services provided by SEI to broker/dealers is a Broker/Dealer Hotline that gives home offices direct access to specialized operational, sales and technical support.

SEI Advisor Network provides independent advisors with outsourced wealth management platforms that are designed to meet the demands of a new generation of wealthy clients. For more information, visit www.SEIAdvisorNetwork.com.

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