User:RM395/Course/Edit wars/pwned

Introduction

The origin of the term pwned has many mysteries such as how the word originated and how it is properly pronounced. Some people might argue that the word is pronounced "powned" adding a "p" to the word "owned" and others say it is pronounced pawned. There seems to be an agreement that the word originated from online gaming. "pawned" and "owned" were both words which could be used when one player defeats another. A player may say "I owned you" or "I pawned his head". Somewhere along the lines "pwned" came to life. Perhaps it is a misspelling of the word owned. The "p" and the "o" are right next to each other on the keyboard. On the internet things catch on quickly and that typo could have spawned a new term. However there is also the chance that the two words were combined. Instead of choosing between saying "pawned" or "owned" the two words could have been combined. The absence of the vowel before the "w" is what causes the ambiguity in the term. Since the vowel is not there nobody can determine what sound it makes. It could be the "ah" sound or the long "oh" sound. More people seem to think it is pronounced "powned" because if somebody was going to say pawned they would just say it instead of pwned. The primary edit war seems to be between whether the word originated from pawned or not. Online gamers in the war are familiar with the word pwned but since it is typed out it remains unknown how it is said aloud. The issue of how it is pronounced and how it originated coincide with each other. The origin of the word directly effects how the word is said.--SJRick (talk) 15:13, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Conclusion

Today, there is really no way to know for sure the origin of the word "pwned". Although there are many speculations as to how the word was introduced into the gaming world, no theory can ever be considered fully credible as it would be difficult to prove any of them. As to whether the word originated from the term "pawned", it seems unlikely. In gaming, the word owned is commonly used to describe defeating another player, making the term "pwned", which expresses the same meaning, most likely to have stemmed from this word. "Pawned", although similar in spelling, has absolutely nothing to do with defeat of another player and therefore seems to be an unlikely candidate for origination. Also, because the word originate in type, it is difficult to narrow a pronunciation of the word that can be considered correct.--Ryenocerous (talk) 15:11, 18 March 2013 (UTC)