*PWNED* Where did that word come from? - Origins of this word inside!

[Dmitry M. (Lazer)]

This is a pretty interesting thread i read on another forum i visited. Anyways here it is:


"The word pwn, (past tense: "pwned" or "pwnt") as used by the Internet gaming subculture, means to beat or dominate an opponent. While it probably originated as a typing error of the word "own", it is now used intentionally by many members of the subculture. The term has become so ubiquitous in Internet circles that it is often used outside of gaming contexts; for example, "he just got pwned in that debate" or "the hunters pwned that bear."

The most widely held theory is that "pwn" originated from a typo in first-person shooter games, the common mistake occurred from a hand position. The user, using his mouse right-handedly, would hold three of his fingers on the keys, "a", "w", and "d", along with the mouse in his right hand. When prompted to make a comment upon fragging his opponent, a quick motion to type the word "owned" resulted in a typo. Due to the proximity of the keys "p" and "o" on a standard QWERTY keyboard the user hit the "p" instead of the "o" key, resulting in the word "pwned".

One story reports that in the game StarCraft, someone made a custom map where losing players would see a special message. However, instead of typing in "YOU WERE OWNED", a typo resulted in "YOU WERE PWNED". It is said that every use of the word "pwn" therefore comes from this one hapless misspelling, or a similar one occurring in a Warcraft or Unreal Tournament game. One possibility exists in a mispronunciation, in Diablo: Hellfire, where an enemy claims he will “own” you. The word is pronounced more like “p-own”. This may be somehow related to the “Starcraft Theory”.

Some people believe that the word was originally a contraction of the term "power-owned", "pure ownage", "pistol-owned", "ping-owned", "player-owned", or "properly owned". These are probably backronyms.

It has been suggested that the word resulted from a rendering problem from a specific game that made the word "owned" look like the word "pwned". As a result, gamers considering themselves superior in skill started using the word as an obscure reference.

It is likely that "pwn" is actually the result of a carryover of the phrase "0wned" used by hackers on IRC to declare that they have successfully hacked a computer or target (i.e. "I just 0wned that Windows box").

Another theory suggests that "pwned" is a version of "owned", with supposed blood dripping from the "o".

Still another interpretation makes the case that "pwned" was not an accident, but instead a contraction of the word pawned. This theory is based upon the idea that the person who was defeated was "owned," and then pawned off, as an item would be at a pawnshop.

"Pwn" has become part of the sub-language of gamers called leet speak, short for "elite". While mostly used by gamers, this language is also used by those who commonly partake of Internet Relay Chat programs and other chat mediums such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Back in the days of old Ultima Online a common misconception was that "PK's" (Player Killers) were all young teens and punk kids, and many PK's encouraged that myth by intentionally developing and using deliberate typos like "pwn" and other game slang. Such "dood speak" often (usually) included the use of numbers and keyboard symbols substituted for letters to simulate street graffiti (i.e. the term elite evolved into "leet" and from there into variations such as 1337), phonetically spelled words, and the improper use of capitalization and punctuation (i.e w00t! gIMMe teh lOOT!). Ultimately the intent was to further irritate the victim. Some of the more notorious "PK's" developed their own style of speech that was eventually copied and spread.

On a side note, the actual USE of such talk was typically reserved for the down time following a fight as good player killers certainly wouldn't take their hand off their mouse to chat when a battle was pending.

"WTFPwn!" is derived from the contraction of the internet slang term "WTF" (what the ****?!) and "Pwn" and is intended to suggest that a player was not just "pwn'ed," but that such pwnage happened so quickly that the other player was left wondering what happened (and saying: "what the ****?!").

There is no uniform way to pronounce "pwn" as it is most often encountered in text. Possible pronunciations include:

* pōn (rhymes with "moan")
* pān (as "pawn" in chess)
* pwǐn (as "pwin")
* pōōn (rhymes with "soon", this comes from pronouncing the "w" as in Welsh)
* pwôn (rhymes with "on")
* prān (as prawn)
* pēwǐn (as "pea win")
* pēōn (as "pea own")
* pyōōn (similar to pōōn, but with a "y" sound included)
* just as "own," ignoring the typo
* in some cases, with two syllables, as pay-ween or puh-ween.

* Powned is synonymous with pwned
* Pwnage (Pwnij, Pwn4g3) means complete domination. The exclamation originated in the gaming culture.
* Pwnzor (Pwnz0r) used as a different form of pwn, although they have the same meaning and usage, such as "Outlaw, I pwnz0red you."
* Pwnt is an alternate spelling of the past tense or past participle of the verb Pwn. An example usage would be "You were pwnt." Another variation is Pwn3d.
* Pizwn3d (piz- followed by the preferred pronunciation of "-wn3d") is used as a more intense version of pwn, meaning that one has been "completely pwn3d". It derives from the hip-hop culture habit of adding the infix, -iz-, to words.
* WTFpwned!? is widely used variant. Although its exact origin is unknown, it usually refers to an intensified "Pwned!" in a situation where it looked like the opponent was about to win, or a winning by a player that usually loses, or generally a suprising lose.
* Pwn'd! the phonetic misspelling past tense of the word 'pwn'
* Also, J-Pwned. Adding J- to anything for emphasis, from the term J-Pop for popular Japanese music.
* In relative to this, 'chizowned' is also used. Chizowned (Ch-is-owned) is also in relation to the cheese in the victim's skills. It is believed to come from Cheeze Wiz (contracted to Chiz) plus owned."

[Cowboy22]

For such a stupid subject, that was actually pretty interesting.

[dillonthebunny]

you have too much time on your hands... tho saying that, at least it was far more interesting than my last post.. lol

[hawkster]

Well now we know.

[Gabriel013]

That was actually pretty interesting.

My pronunciation would be the 'rhymes with moan' one.

[Dmitry M. (Lazer)]

pān (as "pawn" in chess)

That is the wawy i say it.

[Norrec]

I switch between pown (moan) and poon (spoon) depending on how it sounds with what I'm saying.

[Odin]

I knew real jobs in linguistics were hard to come by, but I never imagined the situation was this extreme.

[Cowboy22]