Pwn
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Pwn (below: Various pronunciations) is a leetspeak slang term, derived from the verb "own",[1][2] as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet gaming culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g. "You just got pwned!"). The past tense may also be spelled: pwnd, pwn'd pwn3d, pwnt or powned.
In hacker jargon, pwn means to compromise or control, specifically another computer (server or PC), web site, gateway device, or application. It is synonymous with one of the definitions of hacking or cracking. An outside party who has pwned a system has obtained unauthorised administrative control of it.[citation needed]
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Etymology
The word pwn may have arisen and spread as a common typo of the word "own" because the p and o keys are adjacent on a standard English keyboard.[3] A graphical comparison considers "pwn" to be a graphical variant of "own," with a bleeding-o (the letter "o" made to appear as though it has blood dripping from its left side). However, as much hacker jargon does substitute the correct opening letter with the letter "p" (eg phishing, phreaking) as a homage to early hackers who tampered with phone equipment rather than computers, pwn may simply be following this trend.
Various pronunciations
Even though the word pwn appears as early as 1989[4] and is primarily used in written form only, it has no single accepted pronunciation. Common pronunciations include "own", "pone", "pawn"[4] or "puh-own".[5] Also "pwen" is considered an acceptable pronunciation,[6] although the second and third pronunciations are generally considered the most correct.[citation needed]
Electronic Gaming Monthly editor SeanBaby was also one of the first to commonly verbalize the word, speaking the word "owned" after an abrupt "puh-" sound, as if bluntly laughing before using the jargon (as "puh-owned").[citation needed] This frequent pronunciation was later replicated on episodes of South Park ("Make Love, Not Warcraft," "The Ungroundable").
Among the various pronunciations are: /ˈpoʊn/, /ˈpuːn/, /pəˈʔoʊn/, /ˈpɔːn/, /piˈoʊn/ and /pwəˈʔn̩/ or /ˈoʊn/.
Misspelling
The term is sometimes deliberately misspelled or mispronounced as "prawned".[citation needed]
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Pwned - 10 Tales of Appropriation in Video Games" (Martin Pichlmair)
- ^ "Computer Slang"
- ^ About.com, pwn - own, accessed 2006-01-01.
- ^ a b "Urban Dictionary: pwn" (see images), Urban Dictionary, 2009-02-11.
- ^ "Urban Dictionary: pooned", Urban Dictionary, 2009: states that "pwned" should not be pronounced "pooned" because that is a different word.
- ^ Pwn, PC Magazine Experts Help Encyclopedia, accessed 2 March 2008.
