So, I see this term being tossed about here on the SDMB, most recently here: Fox News get pwned!.
Please explain meaning, etymology, and current usage to an old geezer. (That would be me, I’m afraid…)
“P” is a common miskey for “O.” so much so, that “pwned” was a frequent typo for “owned” and became slang for that word.
Check out this explanation from Urban Dictionary. I’ve often turned to them for explanation of similar items.
[QUOTE=Northern Piper]
So, I see this term being tossed about here on the SDMB, most recently here: Fox News get pwned!.
Please explain meaning, etymology, and current usage to an old geezer. (That would be me, I’m afraid…)
[/QUOTE]
Nothing to it – it is the word “owned”, modified by a common typographical error.
“Owned”, in turn, comes from such expressions as “The Yankees owned the Red Sox for decades” – “owned” meaning “bested” or “dominated”, expecially in competitive contexts. The meaning of “owned/pwned” has diffused a bit over the last decade or so … it can mean that someone got over on someone else in a mild way: “Owned! They got the last cup of coffee. Now you have to make the next pot..”
I’ve also seen it used in contexts where someone was defeated by circumstances - often arising out of their own stupid action - rather than by individuals.
In fact, the Fox News thing is one of these - nobody in particular has ‘owned’ them - they just made a public example of their own fallibility.
I’m a geezer myself, and do not use the term - I can’t even figure out how to pronounce it. But the gaffe by Fox was so egregious that the term just seemed to be le mote juste.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
I’ve also seen it used in contexts where someone was defeated by circumstances - often arising out of their own stupid action - rather than by individuals.
In fact, the Fox News thing is one of these - nobody in particular has ‘owned’ them - they just made a public example of their own fallibility.
[/QUOTE]
Good point. The subtext is that getting defeated by circumstances AND doing it in front of a camera/audience/in public really makes it an “pwned” moment.
And this whole time I thought it was short for pawned, as in, the chess piece. Because every other piece is more powerful than the pawn, so if you hand somebody a whoop ass, you were the queen, and they were the pawn. Ignorance fought.
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael]
I’m a geezer myself, and do not use the term - I can’t even figure out how to pronounce it. But the gaffe by Fox was so egregious that the term just seemed to be le mote juste.
[/QUOTE]
Geek squad was on Jeopardy the other day, and they pronounced it like owned, with a p… powned, if you will. Makes much more sense now.
[QUOTE=bordelond]
Good point. The subtext is that getting defeated by circumstances AND doing it in front of a camera/audience/in public really makes it an “pwned” moment.
[/QUOTE]
Bordelond FTW 
[QUOTE=Mathochist]
Bordelond FTW
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:smack: but at the same time. Wish I were witty enough to have done that one purpose.
I don’t get it?
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Geek squad was on Jeopardy the other day, and they pronounced it like owned, with a p… powned, if you will. Makes much more sense now.
[/QUOTE]
I move that we start pronouncing it “pooned”, as if it was Welsh.
But then it would be just like replacing “pawn” with “vagina” in my previous personal definition.
ETA: Umm… or something.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
I’ve also seen it used in contexts where someone was defeated by circumstances - often arising out of their own stupid action - rather than by individuals.
In fact, the Fox News thing is one of these - nobody in particular has ‘owned’ them - they just made a public example of their own fallibility.
[/QUOTE]
I think a more accurate descriptor for that sort of thing is often “FAIL!” or possible “epic fail”.
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael]
But the gaffe by Fox was so egregious that the term just seemed to be le mote juste.
[/QUOTE]
Gaudere’s Law applies even in French, it would seem.
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Geek squad was on Jeopardy the other day, and they pronounced it like owned, with a p… powned, if you will. Makes much more sense now.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always understood it to be pronounced just like “owned”. When you speak it then your tone and volume of voice should convey the difference.
[QUOTE=MikeS]
I move that we start pronouncing it “pooned”, as if it was Welsh.
[/QUOTE]
Some people do.
Me, for example.
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Geek squad was on Jeopardy the other day, and they pronounced it like owned, with a p… powned, if you will. Makes much more sense now.
[/QUOTE]
For what it’s worth, Cartman on South Park also pronounced it something like “powned” or “pone’d,” in a video game centric episode awhile back.
Part of me, though, can’t help but wonder how long it was that the term was in common usage before a human voice actually spoke it out loud.
I recently heard that the first instance of “pwned” was a typo in a dialog box in the original PC version of Warcraft (1994).
Does anybody have any idea if there is any truth to this? Does anybody remember seeing it, or have a copy they can fire up on an old machine and see if it’s true?