Curse

huh · Oct 19, 2005, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Prawns (note, it was made plural to sound even more stupid)
When you say something as stupid as that, you should sound like it.

"I prawns you" - scream that enough, people will start to follow you.

Virgo · Oct 19, 2005, 04:56 AM // 04:56

I think it comes from Counter Strike....it means like Pure Ownage or sometin

Lag Hell · Oct 19, 2005, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Pwn is usually pronounced "pawn", and ppl hardly type anything along the lines of "pwn" "own" or "noob" in CS
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[mentally, physically, spastically unstable]

Ole Man Bourbon · Oct 19, 2005, 05:23 AM // 05:23

It's pronounced "own." "p"="o" in 1337 speak. I learned this studying at Cambridge.

a_scrawny_gnoll01 · Oct 19, 2005, 05:36 AM // 05:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfernalSuffering

All I want to know is how to pronounce pwn. My friends and I have been argueing for the last few weeks on this and it has become quite lively. Is it pone or pawn or some other obscene wording. PLZ HELP ME!!!!

...I have to say it.

WHO CARES??????????????????????????

Vindexus · Oct 19, 2005, 05:44 AM // 05:44

Pone, rhymes with phone.

www.wikipedia.org is awesome

Omega_2005 · Oct 19, 2005, 10:32 AM // 10:32

PWN, is making a mock of killing in my dictionary

"I PWNED J00!" is a prime example

Venus · Oct 19, 2005, 10:36 AM // 10:36

The verb pwn (past tense: pwned, pwnd, pwn'd, pwnt) as used by the Internet gaming subculture, means to beat or dominate an opponent (pwned can mean "to be made a fool of"). While it probably originated as a typographical 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 bears pwned that hunter."

Other theories of origination

* The widely accepted origin of the term traces back to the misspelling of the phrase "owned" by a top (or highly skilled) player of the game Quake. The term quickly spread to less significant players; eventually expanding to virtually the entire population of online gamers.

* One story reports that in an RTS game (either WarCraft II or 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 another game.

* One explanation is that the word's development mirrors the development of names given to popular programming languages. The 'C Programming Language' was given its name, as the next letter after an even earlier 'B'. 'C++' was the name given to the next iterative revision of C, an inside programming joke which recognizes '++' increments a value by 1. By the same logic, the word pwn represents own incremented by a value of 1.

* Some people believe that the word was originally a contraction of the term power-owned, pure ownage, pistol-owned, perfectly owned, personally owned, ping-owned, player-owned, professionally owned, powerfully owned, or properly owned or the words Pimped and owned combined. These are probably back-formations.

* 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 (see pawnbroker).

* One of the ideas of its origin comes from the hacker subculture. Password Own meant that a person owned the root password, and thus no one but the password owner could access that machine any longer. Password owning is such a powerful way to lock down a Unix machine that it explains how pwn could have gained popularity in online gaming as a more powerful version of own.

* Another theory supports the idea that pwned originated on gaming forums after the word owned was banned. Administrators banned the word to try to keep flame wars down, and as a result, forum users merely changed the spelling to get past any auto-censors in place. (See also article on Pr0n).

* An extension of 'owned', the idea being that you cannot pawn something/someone (sell it to a pawnbroker) unless you have already owned it/them. "You didn't just own them dude, you pawned/pwned them". The popular DOTA Allstars custom map for Warcraft III pops up a message saying "A just pawned B's head for C gold" everytime a player kills another player.

LeftAlone- · Oct 19, 2005, 01:25 PM // 13:25

a sounds like pvn sounds right to me.. P-V-N.. pvn..

kawaii_bat · Oct 19, 2005, 02:30 PM // 14:30

Pwn:
Definition
The verb to pwn (past tense: pwned, pwnd, pwn'd, pwnt, pooned) 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. pwned in that debate" or "The hunters pwned that bear."

It sounds like a word between pound the word pawn

Pawn:
Definition
1-Something given as security for a loan; a pledge or guaranty.
2-The condition of being held as a pledge against the payment of a loan: jewels in pawn.
3-A person serving as security; a hostage.
4-The act of pawning.

Pound
definition (3rd definition: Beating)
1. To strike repeatedly and forcefully. See Synonyms at beat.
2. To beat to a powder or pulp; pulverize or crush.
3. To instill by persistent, emphatic repetition: pounded knowledge into the students' heads.
4. To assault with heavy gunfire.
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I think maybe it's a mixture of the two Pawn can also be the same as heating and pounding someone is the same thing as owning really.

John Bloodstone · Oct 19, 2005, 02:46 PM // 14:46

Well, I never ever ever used to use this word until one of my guild mates started using it, and now I can't stop

Poned.

As for where it came from, I think it's too much of a coincidence that O is right next to P on the keyboard for the word to have any other origin than a typo.