Talk:Pwn/Archive 5

Pwnage Tool
At the HIP97 hacker con (in 1997 :-) in Amsterdam someone released the "Pwnage Tool" - which was a man-in-the-middle attack which turned every image on any web page people downloaded into porn. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.45.103.88 (talk) 09:22, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Worlds of Warcraft
I'm not familiar with the game other than seeing the box. But I've seen some reference that the term was introduced by one of the game developers that incorrectly typed "pwned" instead of 'owned' into the game, due tot eh proximity of the letters on the keyboard. The typo was not caught and made it into the production version fo teh game. Is there anywhere cited dates and versiosn of the game Words of Warcraft still have this typo? It seems like that kind of multiple points of entry into population would offer a stronger likelihood it would enter the vernacular. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.139.216.34 (talk) 13:30, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

The "command" /owned = pwned?
I honestly always thought that pwned came from the appearance of the fake line of command /owned, in some videogames for instance the font used makes the / be very close to the o, making it look like a p. Max Thunder ((talk) 14:26, 12 August 2010 (EST)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.203.245.6 (talk)

Punked + Owned= Pwned?
I honestly never heard of this until the recent year or two. MPA 13:40, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard of it. Petero9 (talk) 20:43, 6 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Christ, Kutcher's people at work. This has nothing do do with 'punked'.
 * Fixed. Yesitsnot (talk) 22:55, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

-G —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.32.141.8 (talk) 00:42, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

I had always thought that the word "pwned" came from "powned," or more specifically, "Player Owned." I heard that it was first used on some MMO as early as 2000, but the name has slipped me. 72.148.187.131 (talk) 03:14, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Pretty sure it was originally a typo, and therefore not Leet. Anyway, how is "p" for "o" Leet? To use "pwned" for "owned" would be some uber-weak Leet to the point of unbelievability. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.168.149.180 (talk) 12:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Clan |PW| - Origin of 'PWND'
The term 'pwnd' can be traced back the the Clan |PW| on the Unreal Tournament circut, circa 2000. |PW| played primarily on the Zero Ping roster and in it's heyday was headed up by |PW|BloodHunder and |PW|Apopolis.

Online forum were originally hosted at http://www.peadoubleu.com and competed on the Online Gaming League ladders (http://www.worldogl.com).

The Warcraft reference is a good one, on the terms popularity it can be given to the Clan |PW|.

Pwn originated in a Warcraft 2 typo, and this information WAS in this article at some point. Why has it been changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.124.241 (talk) 11:19, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

|PW|KillDCat —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.227.27.237 (talk) 07:07, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Onomatopoeiac Etymology
Great discussion - far from easy to call - though after considering all the contributions I'm inclined to believe the origin of 'pwn' is simple typographical error of 'own' which has spwned (pwn intended ) everything else in the discussion. Anyway to contribute to the diversity of the topic I have to say my first thought when I tried to make a sound corresponding the the written word pwn was "oh this is the sound a kid makes as he zaps aliens with his laser-gun " as in Pwn!-Pwn!-Pwn! . Thus the ( surely false ) onomatopoeiac etymology for pwn was conceived .89.101.71.72 (talk) 23:42, 17 October 2008 (UTC)declan

Usage: online and in popular culture

 * Video-game Metal band Powerglove's EP is named "Total Pwnage". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fratt (talk • contribs) 19:21, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

The reality of PWNed...
I am so sorry that I have not posted sooner. I started the entire Pwn thing a LONG time ago, back in 1997 to 1998. I started this about the same time that I stared playing cribbage. The first game that I played online was "Total Annihilation". In this game, my son found an exploit where you could put the big guy up on an airfield and surround it by walls and essentially be invulnerable. The interesting fact is that the only way to do this was to spend so much time building that you were very likely to not have any chance to become the aggressor, and as such, you were stuck in a purely defensive mode.

This was totally analogous to Cribbage, when you start as the PONE which is the non dominant hand. If you are the PONE, you can only win with an incredible amount of LUCK, which means that you are essentially destined to lose unless you have been totally in the right place, with the right timing, OR, you are entirely more skilled than your opponent.

PONED! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.91.45.243 (talk) 04:37, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Verbalized PWN
Please give me a reason why this should not be removed: 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.[citation needed] This is not really encyclopedic content.Buzzbo (talk) 03:50, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Yesitsnot (talk) 22:56, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

railgun
There really should be a picture of a railgun on this page. I don't know how to do it but come on. You know railgun = pwn. 24.18.51.85 (talk) 23:02, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, I am aware of this. Get on that shit. Yesitsnot (talk) 22:56, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Do Your Homework Gentlemen
I am really surprised that it seem that nearly nobody here did their computing history homework! To make this very brief. Some of the first (useful) computers were based on an old Unix variant, like what you saw on the PDP-8,10 and 11. Sometime in that period, and ever since, someone developed the now common unix mnemonics; "pwd" as short for password and "o" for file ownership. Later it was then combined with the "pawning" term from chess. And when hacker became more wide spread, they combined the words (in various ways) for representing that they had full ownership/control over the machine. Ie. they had the superuser password and full filesystem ownership and perhaps used an early trojan to "pawn" a poorly privileged account for that of the system administrator. Today known as privilege escalation. Should I even have to write this!! --Jahibadkaret (talk) 13:42, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

So, you're saying that's the real origin even though no one has ever heard of that? And I can't find any references to the word "pawning" being used as a chess term. Before you tell us to do our homework, you need to do your homework. Petero9 (talk) 03:18, 5 December 2008 (UTC)       GO PWN!!!!!!

Actually, I have heard of the old unix pwd origin too. I think I heard it was because in hacking, owning the pwd is a step up from just entering some open door that might get shut. It's the difference between ownership and entry. But anyway, it's probably about as important as "car" deriving from "carriage". And I haven't heard about pawning. --Joanna Bryson (talk) 15:07, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Unix and the PDP-8 (tm) Digital Equipment Company. The PDP-8 and PDP-12 (which was a Hybrid of the PDP-8 and the Linc-12) were 12 bit machines with a somewhat baroque instruction set and addressing scheme, the were incapable of addressing more than 32K words of storage. to the best of my knowledge Unix has never been ported to this once useful hardware. Unix references,  pwd is the command that shows the current working directory, passwd is the password changing command. ((4 years of PDP-8/12 programming, 28 years of Unix system programming)) Scwoods47 (talk) 20:00, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree the UNIX command PWD (Print Working Directory) has little to do with Passwords. By 1980 PDP-11's were considered obsolete; they had been superseded by VAX's. This evolution did support a 32 bit implementation of UNIX. Sydney University & many other Australian Uni's, powered their entire School of Computing with these devices. The 1st time I saw the "PWND" acronym, was in 1982 in a list of User Login Accounts, it stood for "Password Owned". This was the output of a brute force hacking application that acquired as many Logins as it could find & simultaneously attempted to crack their passwords. As this process took days/weeks, the PWND flag on each account indicated your progress. I don’t recall the original name of the app as most people renamed the executable to avoid detection. Hacking the university computers to bypass storage & compute time limits was generally frowned on. But it was written for a VAX system running BSD UNIX and was reasonably well known to "those in the know". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.239.99.125 (talk) 03:34, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

Links
The Lake Superior State University link needs updating. It currently points to the current list, now 2009. The correct address for the 2007 list is http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2007.php Jefrir (talk) 22:18, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

The title should not be capitalized. 71.215.135.176 (talk) 02:43, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

What a poor choice of references
I never knew it was ok to use Urban Dictionary as a reference for a word article of any kind. Even if it is Pwn we're talking about. And as far as that fourth reference goes, regarding the word dating to 1989, that should be removed. It's grossly inaccurate: It's referring to a picture on UD. I guess it's a screenshot of a 1989 issue of Phrack World News and it was just a basic white background and black text with a large border of PWN all around. Sorry but some old acronym of no relation doesn't server as a valid reference to the word, -Alan 24.184.184.130 (talk) 00:29, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a dictionary so it is OK to put this this of wikientries.

--200.83.2.4 (talk) 16:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)--200.83.2.4 (talk) 16:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


 * It is infact not a dictionary: WP:NOTDIC Taelus (talk) 09:57, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Pwned. 77.127.10.93 (talk) 11:43, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Gtfo, Noob. Srsly. No, in all seriousness, try reading up on Wikipedia policies first before making statements like that. This is what Taelus was referring to, in plainer terms. KirkCliff2 (talk) 15:45, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Hacker Jargon, PH substitution
In hacker jargon it is not traditional to preface a word with the letter 'p' in reference to early phone hackers (phreaks); it is considered standard to substitute the letters 'ph' for 'f' (as in Phreaks (phone hackers) from the word 'freaks'). See Chapter 9, The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.4.7, accessed 6 May, 2009 ([http://catb.org/jargon/html/crackers.html]) 71.249.85.189 (talk) 02:35, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

In phishing(c 1996) is really fishing, as it refers to casting lures (disguised web sites usually) looking for gullible people to obtain their Username+password combination. Scwoods47 (talk) 21:02, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

The REAL Origin
Yes, there was some nerd forum where someone mis-spellt own with a p. But thats not what created the word pwn. A chess term "pawned" means when you use your pawn to take out a bigger piece and/or check mate (if thats possible??). Over the years the term "pawning" seemed out of place, and once a few nerds (and map designers alike) mis-spelt owned, people saw that "pawning" could be made shorter for leet speak. NP GD Pacman Says Moo (talk) 02:59, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

If you can find somewhere that references that move, maybe it will be notable enough to merit inclusion, but the fact of the matter is that no one knows for sure how the word came about, unless you can provide solid evidence proving the link, etc. That's my two scents 15:23, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

In Slavic languages is a similar by sound an by meaning word: połon - taking (someone/group) into ownership of 'pan/pon' (a master), where 'oło/ało' sound similar to 'w'. It may not be excluded, some hackers from east pwned some sites.

More remote is possibility the words 'own' and 'połon' may be itself etymo-related by common IE root. The word 'pan' itself is widespread diffusing between west(Elbe) and east (Amur) as: von/wan, ban, pan/pon, phan(pahole), khan/kagan/kahun , han. 99.90.197.87 (talk) 23:55, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

połny/e/a/o the suffix varies mean in Russian 'full' (and generally all Slavic lng with some var.) (in context of access). So  pown i equivocating to połn. Suffixed e en ed edź ć is basic verb ending. (this obvious was not so apparent 4 me 6 y ago:) {writing just above} 99.90.196.227 (talk) 23:25, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Tagged for clean-up, May 2009
As the result of the AfD was no consensus, I tagged the article to highlight the problems identified in nomination, namely: 1. The article needs some references that are not other wikis or potentially unreliable sources 2. The article needs to be cleaned up so that it does not violate WP:NOTDIC. Taelus (talk) 09:57, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * The article clearly does need further work, but did you miss the references I added subsequent to the nomination? As for WP:NOTDIC, could you be more specific about your concerns? What we are attempting to have here is an encyclopedic article about the slang term. That would begin with a definition and then move on from there. Paul Erik  (talk) (contribs) 00:28, 29 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I put the tags in from the agreed issues on the AfD, which is found here: [], which has the listed arguments for each. As for the WP:NOTDIC, at the time of nomination the article was very similar to its entry in Wiktionary, however reviewing it now it has changed, so that is good, the first steps to improvement have been taken. Just to ensure there is no misunderstanding, my original comment was not condemning the quality of the article, I merely wanted to point out the things highlighted by the AfD to justify my tagging. Taelus (talk) 10:11, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I'm not gonna fix the page myself or anything, but from one nerd to another. I can't believe I said that.

The origin of PWNED lies in LucasArts PC title Star Wars:Dark Forces.[1995] Here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Troopers

The proof is not there, nor anywhere online. My nerdy friend pointed it out to me a long time ago in college. The game tells you that you got PWNED when you die. Just play the game if you don't believe me. It' not actually a bad game.

It's a mistype of the word Owned, obviously. Way to go George Lucas for being responsible for another Nerd Cult. The eLitE$ts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.141.17.251 (talk) 02:32, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Regarding "pre-pubescents and early teenagers" change
I would disagree with your claim that it is an accurate description, as the citation at the end of the sentance does not include anything to support this, and is not as specific as it states "Teens" as the users of the term. With an additional citation it would work, but currently changing the sentance in this way would result in the citation being inadequate as you would be using its general grouping to support a specific grouping. --Taelus (talk) 08:17, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I'll add another citation. Golden Husky (talk) 15:54, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

I fail to see how the Runescape wiki verifies your claim, and I do not see why 'teens' or 'youths' would not suffice as a description of the speech community in question. Hadrian89 (talk) 16:40, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Firstly, other wiki projects do not really provide very strong citations. Secondly, that citation does not verify your use of "Early teen" or "pre-pubescent" anyway. As per Hadrian89, why would "teens" or "youths" not be a good enough description? --Taelus (talk) 17:41, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Pwned. Yesitsnot (talk) 22:57, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Is there a term for this type of non-spoken word?
Is there not a term for English-language words that have been devised purely for written communication and not intended to be spoken? Pwn certainly falls under this category, since unlike a lot of other terms in leetspeak and Twitterspeak, it's not simply an abbreviation but a word with its own meaning. 68.146.81.123 (talk) 18:28, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Pronuouncation
Nothing really important, but i want to change the pronuouncation section?

Is this okay? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.111.252.12 (talk • contribs)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. To what do you want to change the section to? I'm sure that IPA would be appreciated, as would more reliable sources. Thank you.&mdash;C45207 | Talk 07:38, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Well, I'm a top level player in a popular MMORPG for around 3 years now and in our community the correct pronunciation is just "pown", since "pwn" is basically a typo of "own" with the same meaning in the gaming culture (i.e. "you got pwned", "you got owned"), despite this "pown" isn't even listed on the Pronunciation section? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.89.191.68 (talk) 23:29, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
 * To me, the listed pronounciation "pone" is the same as your "pown". Does "" look right to anyone else for this variation?&mdash;C45207 &#124; Talk 06:26, 5 August 2009 (UTC)


 * As far as I am aware the correct pronunciation of pwn, pawn, p0wn and all other variations is identical to the pronunciation of the word own. Leet is an entirely /written/ form of communication and does not alter the sound when spoken. Thus, h4xx0r is pronounced "hacker" and not "hacksor", pwn is pronounced own, etc.. This is /by necessity/ because though you can pronounce p in pwn as p, you could not pronounce the zero in 0wn as zero. You must in both cases pronounce the word as "own." I would be interested in any documentation available that justifies suggesting that the alternate characters are pronounced when spoken. Sorpigal (talk) 13:02, 13 October 2009 (UTC)


 * It should be pronounced differently, there are many examples of different pronounciation in leet. h4xx0r is leet for 'haxor' and should be pronounced as such. pwn leet for of own, so should also be pronounced differently, i say 'pown'

the leet article needs to be updated (currently locked), says "Owned and pwn3d (Generally pronounced "Owned" "poened")"

I can strongly attest, it is pronounced 'Pone' "pown' whatever. It might have originated online, but everyone says it out loud now, especially with voice chat features. Any one pronouncing it any other way would be ridiculed just as surely as someone mispronouncing any other word grotesquely. I request that we change the pronunciation to say that 'pone' is generally accepted. Also, h4xx0r IS pronounced 'Hacksor'.

Cpl attari (talk) 16:31, 29 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I can strongly attest that back in the day it was never "powned" it was always "pawned" or "owned". This new pronounciation came from the masses of prepubescents who massed on XBAWKS LIVE and reached a critical level of fail, putting their own underage spin on gamerspeak. It might now be the accepted pronounciation, but it's not one I'd ever before XBOX Live. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.218.161.253 (talk) 04:41, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

We have pronunciation respelling guidelines for a reason
Please look at Pronunciation respelling key before trying to write pronunciations. English spelling is one of the most unpredictable writing systems in the world (I say this as a professional working language scientist), which is why linguists have the International Phonetic Alphabet and Wikipedia has a Pronunciation respelling key. When Cpl attari writes
 * it is pronounced 'Pone' "pown' whatever

even though he hasn't used either of those methods, the two respellings he gives make it clear that he means a pronunciation that rhymes with "stone" and "Joan" and "clone" and "own", but not with "one" or "clown". C45207 asks
 * Does "" look right to anyone else [for "pown"/"pone"] ?

The answer is yes, as you'd see if you follow the link on "" to IPA for English. --Thnidu (talk) 03:17, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Origin
The word "pwned" got started by a player on Counter-Strike in around 2002-2003, who mistyped the word "owned", as in "you got 'owned'". He was typing with one hand at the time as he was eating. Instead of correcting the mistake in typing "you got pwned," the player kept it. A second player then asked "pwned?" It was then that the first player responded with "pawned", as inspired by the checkers term "king-ed," but in this case, it means to be defeated in a humiliating manner since the pawn is viewed as the least significant piece. Shortly later in the game, another player while playing typed "PWND" all in caps, and that's when this trend caught on as others joined in. The term then began spreading to other online games and by photoshopped images, often with the word PWNED spelled in caps.--76.19.133.38 (talk) 03:31, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Source?&mdash;C45207 &#124; Talk 20:43, 17 August 2009 (UTC)


 * While the story given may have happened, there are much earlier references in gaming context. The old gamer site planetquake.com (PQ) used the term back around 1999. Most of the archives are still online at http://planetquake.gamespy.com/ . The site layout doesn't allow for a single link to verify this, but it is easily done manually. Do a site search for "pwned" and you will see a reference to the Mailbag of July 29, 1999. Reading the mailbag, which unfortunately doesn't list the date on the page, the last two letters on the first page refer to the site's adoption of the term "pwned". Incidentally, the admins had also been referring to it as "pweened". The link to the mailbag entry is http://planetquake.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mailbag.Detail&id=121 . There is also a news item on July 29, 1999 that refers to "pweened" (use the News Archive link and select the date). These also imply that the actual adoption of the term happened before this date, and as Counter-Strike was only released a month earlier, the term likely predates it. Delving into the PQ news archives to find the articles that started their usage is an exercise best left to a more diligent researcher than I.
 * Noisemarine (talk) 17:34, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Doing a search on any term (or combination of letters) on the internet will yield some result, so while gamespy may have had a variant of "pwned", the term was popularized after the Counter-Strike incident. If you search Urban Dictionary website, the term was first defined by an entry at the earliest around 2003-2004, and the event happened around late 2002; Urban Dictionary may be a bad reference site, but it does provide a good clue as to when the term began to be popularized and become well-known. Additionally, the incident is what may have caused the confusion about the term's pronounciation, as many read it first as just a misspelled "owned" giving to "p-owned". Many also insist the term is pronounced "pawned" and was inspired from Chess (whereas it's actually checkers as an opposite of kinged), while others think the term to be meaning pistol-owned, as it happened in a first-person shooter game. Still, I appreciate your comment and information.--76.19.133.38 (talk) 05:36, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
 * "Popularized" is a different concept to "Origin". While I don't profess to know the origin, I have demonstrated that it was in use by gamers in various ways years prior to 2002. I was there. I remember it. And I provided a verifiable historical reference. :)
 * Noisemarine (talk) 10:15, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the response. The person who "popularized" the term on Counter-Strike actually had no idea about a similar term called "pweened" coined by someone on gamespy in 1999, so it may well be the Counter-Strike player originated and helped to popularize the term in late 2002 while playing the online game.--76.19.133.38 (talk) 19:46, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure you have fully understood my initial post. The PlanetQuake website admins of the time had been using "pwn" and "pwned" but in the act of trying to be quirky, they extended it to "pweened" as a written form of how they expected it to be enunciated. As such, both forms appear on the website archives in July 1999 in the locations I have given. The true origin of pwn is more likely to be found at the origin of the term "own/owned", as the typo-ed variant pwn/pwned would have followed quickly. Because some gamers in 2002 were unaware of the term and accidentally stumbled on it in the same way others had years earlier, doesn't make them the origin of it. I think it's fair to say that Counter-Strike players originating the term in 2002 is debunked. It is possible, however, that they may have popularized it around that time.
 * Noisemarine (talk) 04:48, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, it has been a wonderful discussion. Hope you can contribute further to Wikipedia in the future. --76.19.133.38 (talk) 01:10, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Didn't Quake 1 have the word "pwnd" as an auto-taunt in it's multiplayer mode? As I recall (but my memory is fading), the taunt was supposed to be "owned", and the game had auto-taunts when playing multiplayer. So it was a typo in Quake 1, that later got implemented in Counterstrike, as it had gotten popular. That's what I remember, and I've been playing games since the C64 :P, but then again, I'd need confirmation as I'm not 100% sure. Sjeng 85.150.208.33 (talk) 08:20, 16 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I remember the term being in one of the original SC AOS's c. '98/'99, from there the term was carried on into RoC DotA and then TFT DotA as how the matchticker announced a player's death (ie. "Player A has pwned Player B's head for 245 gold"). As far as I was aware this was where the term was derived from as '98 would make it the source from which the Quake and thus CS communities got it from. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.218.161.253 (talk) 04:34, 5 October 2010 (UTC)
 * We used the term in Quake 1, as it was a common misspelling due to the fast gameplay, it eventually became standard/an even bigger taunt than "owned" as it looked funny.

There seem to be at least two (perhaps more) theories of the etymology of this term. Two of them appear in the article itself (and others here on the talk page): (1) "Pwn'd originated from the chess term of Pawned" and (2) "The word pwn most likely came about as a common typo of the word own because the "p" and "o" keys are adjacent". I have no intention of deciding which etymology is correct (even if I am a linguist :-)), and I doubt at this point that anyone can prove which one is correct, but I think the article should be cleaned up by presenting both of these as *possible* etymologies, rather than presenting one as the origin in one place, and the other as the origin in another part of the article. Mcswell (talk) 01:11, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

The term "Pwned" comes from the missed key stroke of the letter "P" next to "O". The origins are from online Counterstrike game play, 1998. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.237.108.206 (talk) 08:27, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

PWND IS A STOCK MARKET TICKER!
i'm not kidding, i have been trying to get the page up but it redirects. google PWND in all caps [UK google.] and you'll find it, lol. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.248.81 (talk) 12:19, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
 * PowerShares Global Wind Energy? Orpheus (talk) 20:06, 1 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, PWND is a stock ticker that trades on NASDAQ exchange in the U.S. But that isn't a problem, e.g. for disambiguation. Or maybe you were just mentioning it? Now that you have, if I ever see the stock trading, this is what I'll think of, always! --FeralOink (talk) 00:48, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Problem with the article.
The link for the text "Various pronunciations" at the beginning of the article is not correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ogtman (talk • contribs) 18:21, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Creator of Pone, Pwn, Ponage, Poning.Weirdbill2 (talk) 04:22, 24 January 2010 (UTC)WeirdBill2
The word, "Poning" comes from the slang of the 21st century. It was created by Zachary L. R. around the year 2005. The word spread widely and became an everyday word used by teenagers. The word means, "owning". Many think that it is a mispelled version of own but it is not. It is another word used instead of or in addition to own. The word is also used as a gaming term for own. The other versions generally have the same meaning; "Pone" means to own or defeat and "ponage" means ownage. The word, "Poning" is an extended version of the word, "Pone" and has the same meaning as "Ponage". Some spell it as "pwn" but that spelling is mainly an adapted version and is mostly for gaming. Examples: "I'm poning you in this game!" "You got poned." "You got owned, you got poned, you got postponed on vacation!"

Using "w" as a vowel
The article says "Only two words in English have a "w" as a vowel[citation needed]; both are Welsh loanwords." That's not correct. It may be that those are the only two words in which w is the only vowel, but there are lots of common words in which w appears as a vowel together with other vowels (like "how," "sow," "sew," "tomorrow," and so on). See, for example, [The Straight Dope's take on this] or Wikipedia's own [English phonology article], which lists "low" as an example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DukeLefty (talk • contribs) 01:08, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Pwn leetspeak?
I disagree that "pwned" is leetspeak any more than "teh" or "!!!!!!111!!!11111oneone".

Leetspeak originated in the BBS culture and pretty much died out with the old BBS apart from a few words used ironically. Leet-speak had quite a specific purpose and that was to avoid being censored by word-filters and sysops/admins, or to confuse law enforcement agencies searching BBSs for evidence of illegal activity (by hackers). Leet was a deliberate, (semi-)serious invention (as both a cipher of sorts and a private elitist language) rather than an accidental misspelling that was continued humorously.

The word "pwned" originated in the gaming community and should thus really be called "gamer-speak".

Pwned has a different origin, etymology, purpose, and evolution to leet-speak and so the two should not be lumped together (you will not likely find the word "pwned" in any document written in, or about, any variant of leet-speak).

There is some cross-over in usage between the two communities but only because most hackers are also gamers (but not so much vice versa) and because the computer is the main medium for both communities. Beside that, the only commonality between "pwn" and leet-speak is the mispelling which doesn't qualify it as part of leet-speak (again, one was a deliberate invention, the other was an accident perpetuated humorously).

To sum up: leet-speak terms come from the hacker community, "pwn" comes from the gamer community. There is some cross-over usage but this does not imply they both are from the same source.

I don't intend to provide sources for this (partly due to laziness) but I think most people familiar with these two scenes will be able to see the sense it what I have said above and, as it's fairly common knowledge, it shouldn't really need to be backed up with sources. 82.44.93.55 (talk) 21:16, 12 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I also will suggest changing any references to leet-speak in this article to "gamer-speak" and if the consensus agrees with me in this section I will do so shortly. 82.44.93.55 (talk) 21:23, 12 March 2010 (UTC)


 * As far as I am aware, leet-speak has fallen out of popular use. Leet speak (to me) is categorized by replacing letters with numbers, symbols and other characters. 'Pwn' is different. It might have been used in the leet community, but but it is certainly not a leet word. Cpl attari (talk) 16:35, 29 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I wrote the original comment in this section and I see the article still says "pwn" is "leetspeak". If anyone has a Wikipedia account (I don't and don't want one) please consider changing this as it's been over a year and anyone who commented here agrees "pwn" is not leetspeak. Also, the article for "leetspeak" needs a total rewrite. I totally agree with Cpl attari that leetspeak is fallen out of popular use and what we are talking about here is gamer/Internet slang. Leetspeak was never slang, it was a cipher. 82.43.197.132 (talk) 19:51, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Incorrect reference for Origin to Canadian Press
This article says the origin was an accidental misspelling of "own" due to keyboard layout and cites Bennett, Dean (February 8, 2007). "Teen slang now following Internet shortcuts" as one of the references.

But Bennett actually says in the referenced article that it was a deliberate misspelling of "own" due to texting. When texting on a phone keypad it takes three 6's to enter an "o" and only one 7 to enter a "p". So "p" was sometimes substituted for "o" when texting.

Since verifiability is the criteria, the origin section should be updated to fix this incorrect reference. Either by removing the Bennett reference or by including Bennett's deliberate misspelling of "own" due to texting as another possible origin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jazzdev (talk • contribs) 23:24, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * "pwned" via phone? Wouldn't that be "phownd"? Or "phwnd"??? Gah, I guess i should leave the wikipedia crowd alone and mind my pwn business... User.Zero.Zero.Zero.One (talk) 13:05, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

It's actually a contraction in games...
It is a contraction in gaming, it means To Power Own. In case no one else knew that, they should play WoW a lot more, and play pvp with a trash talker. Jackass2009 (talk) 19:55, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from PKeegs, 20 April 2010
This article states that "where speakers vocalize the "p", pronunciations include "pwen", "pawn", "pun"[10] and "pwone"."; however, this doesn't reflect the full gamut of pronunciations, as I myself, and everybody I have heard use the word, have/has pronounced it as if saying "own" but adding a "p" onto the beginning. I request that you change the article to reflect this variation as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btn55_Lf5vI <--This video reflects this pronunciation. (Sorry about the profanity, but I believe that this is one source that will be seen as relatively authoritative in this matter.

PKeegs (talk) 18:10, 20 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, we need a source more reliable than YouTube.  fetch  comms  ☛ 22:14, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't understand why this cannot be considered proof that people do pronounce the word this way. I also believe that, as stated on the "Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources" page, the source meets the requirements, because the authors, by their very existence and use of the word in that video, can be considered "authors who are regarded as authoritative in relation to the subject in question...". Just my thoughts.

Pwn 2005
Zillerkiller (talk) 03:59, 24 January 2010 (UTC)The word "pwn" was a term meant as own. People think that it is a mispelled version of own, but it is used as another word instead or addition to own. It was started by a boy named Zachary L. R. around the year 2005. It became widely spread throughout the state and eventually through the country.
 * Sorry, but no. I remember "pwnd" being used in Quake 1, which is a game from 1996. Your "boy" has nothing to do with it, sorry. (shouldn't this discussion be placed somewhere below here?) 85.150.208.33 (talk) 08:24, 16 March 2010 (UTC)
 * The original poster got pwned, in a big way. Yesitsnot (talk) 22:58, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 86.179.38.149, 8 May 2010
Under Etymology, it says it is likely that 'pwned' is a typo. I did, the back of a computer game box read 'Pwn other players online.'

86.179.38.149 (talk) 11:04, 8 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I understand, but, I do not understand what you think needs changing. Yes, the word appears to originate from a typo (as shown by the references) - but now lives a life of its own, hence our article.


 * If you think an edit is required, please elaborate and reinstate your request.  Chzz  ►  11:41, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

Isn't the "P" in "Pwnage" a mini-emote?
When I pondered about why people were typing "pwn" instead of "own", after some time I suddenly 'realized' (??) that the letter "p" is commonly used in emotes to represent a tongue sticking out. Like ":-Pwned u!". -- I "figured out" that it must have begun as an frequently-made typo that became common usage because it fits so nicely with the meaning of the phrase. With the initial letter - so to say, the "head" of the word - replaced by an "p" (which looks quite similar to an "o", only one line added), the word is still discernible but looks like it is sticking out its tongue to you (or to your reader, if it is yourself that is typing).

Now to my surprise, nobody seems to think what I thought. Couldn't the "emoting typo" be a reason for the lasting popularity of "Pwnage"? Soria Moria (talk) 12:31, 10 May 2010 (UTC)


 * No, it's not an emote, it's one of the many deliberately bastardised spellings that were popular in the late 90's and early 00's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.218.161.253 (talk) 04:29, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 76.126.209.212, 31 May 2010
please add the following to the "etymology" section: Pwn is also believed by many l33t to have begun as a combination of the words "own" and "power". Since simply "owning" your opponent can mean anything, the l33t began saying (typing) "powned" to emphasize their skill, and then "pownd", and finally "pwnd" and "pwn". This also explains why the noun form of pwn, "pwnage", is often times interchangeable with the word "ownage".

76.126.209.212 (talk) 06:27, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Algebraist 10:59, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Evocatio, 12 June 2010
The term pwned was coined by the 1999 game Counter-Strike gamers after typing p instead of o in the phrase "owned".

Evocatio (talk) 15:35, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.  — fetch ·  comms   16:24, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

"pwn" started as "pwned" in Warcraft
The word "pwn" was first seen in the original Warcraft. (1994)

A map designer included a typo in the commercial release of the game. When the player lost on a multi-player map, various messages would appear. Once of these messages was intended to be "Player has been owned." What was actually included in the game was "Player has been pwned."

Original copies of WarCraft still contain this error.

It was quickly spread amongst the gaming crowd much like "all your base are belong to us."

It is given that pwn (as a simple typo) was around long before Warcraft popularized it. It is also likely that BBS chess players were using "pwn" as a reference to Pawn and "pwned" as a losing a chess game by being forced in to a check mate by a Pawn. However, there is not much evidence to suggest that it was widely used as a pejorative prior to Warcraft. In short, it may have existed out there in the margins of the internet before 1994, but Warcraft certainly popularized it and gave "pwn" its current popular use. The difference is as follows:

Pre-WarCraft, simple typo: "He pwned the team" translates to "He owned the team" and implies nothing more than ownership in the traditional sense as one may own a baseball team.

Post-Warcraft: "He pwned the team" translates to "He conquered the team" and implies dominance of one over another in a contest.

Other post-warcraft uses of "pwn":

"Gravity pwned your scoop of ice cream." Translates to "Your ice cream scoop fell."

"Masterchief pwned j00." Translates to "You are terrible at Halo 3."

"ZOMG j00 ar3 teh PWNED lol!!111oneoneone" Translates to "You are bad at life." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zcummings76 (talk • contribs) 15:44, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Powned
It's also an official Dutch broadcaster. See the Dutch article http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powned and their official website http://www.powned.tv/ --82.171.70.54 (talk) 15:45, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

PAWNED
I have to laugh that there are people trying to inject their own ingorance and unsourced material into the article. Seriously read the friggin article and see what the term PWNED implies and then read these knucleheads justification for why it should be PAWNED. Sorry but it DOES NOT MATCH UP. And when you have to supply a bunch of unsourced stories to justify it you have FAILED. I vote that PAWN, PAWNED and all variations be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.96.215.220 (talk) 08:42, 4 October 2010 (UTC)


 * It seems an obvious pronounciation, since it aligns with the already pre-existing meaning of a well-known word. See Pawn_(chess); the exact same feeling is conveyed. "You have hereby been found to be the most powerless character in the game (you possessed neither capability nor freedom to control your own destiny, your annihilation was anticipated casually and entirely without sympathy)." Secondarily, there is another verb pawning (see Pawnbroker) which also matches up closely (i.e., not only "owned" but sold for pittence). It may not be the origin of the term "pwn", but it definitely influences the way the word has become understood. Cesiumfrog (talk) 01:34, 26 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The term Pwned has originated from pawned, it means quit defeat. When I play an online game for an hour to beat my opponent, i can not say you just got pwned, but i can say you just got owned.  Pwned simply means to defeat someone very quickly and was derived from chess.  Its like saying checkmate without saying checkmate.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Asfd666 (talk • contribs) 18:58, 10 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The term Pwned did not originate from pawned. You edited that into the article, but provided no source for it. It exists only as your own (false) assumption and should be removed, but the article is locked from editing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.89.47.159 (talk) 16:39, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Origin is from Chess players who use the Pawn to capture the King, it has been around since chess started. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.202.97.106 (talk) 07:36, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

I always thought 'pwned' was the lazy way to pronounce and type 'pawned', the origin of which being related to the removal of chess pawns. Until now, I didn't know otherwise, and I wonder to what extent others have similarly misconstrued it—just a few of us, or rather a lot (by comparison). Christopher, Sheridan, OR (talk) 07:08, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Edit request from 159.250.66.76, 12 October 2010
pwn'd = Professionally Owned.

159.250.66.76 (talk) 18:03, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Not done:Source please?-- Talk tome (Intelati) 18:05, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I would love to clean up this page...
BUT ITS LOCKED WIKIPEDIA SUCKS HARD YO —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.96.224.35 (talk) 20:19, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Congratulations, all!
This page made it to the Lamest edit wars page. I guess you owned urself boys...^^Wikinegern (talk) 09:11, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Hey.
You forgot "pwin" in pronounciations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.100.233.213 (talk) 20:03, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Very funny
From the article: pwn...pronounced...in the same way as the verb own, the tail of the p being "silent". Encyclopaedic: no. Deserves to be kept: a resounding yes! RatSplat ooo 15:01, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

But what does it mean? If it deserves to be kept, then please clarify the meaning. (I see a descender on the letter p, but no tails.) 178.0.144.254 (talk) 13:26, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

The term's first use
The word pwn was a typo made in the game Runescape made on February, 9, 2004 by user Ladios4444 while saying "dude that goblin jus got pwned, didnt it". The term was then mocked, as many users thought it was intentional. After this, the term pwn has been used in a variety of ways (now a very common slang 1337-speak word). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wwwins4necom (talk • contribs) 03:49, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

The oldest survived source is about 800 years ago :> Talk:Pwn — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.90.197.87 (talk) 00:09, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Player owned?
I have heard that "pwn" comes from either the misspelling of own (which is on the page) or a mash-up of "player owned". Any truth to this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.36.81.72 (talk) 23:48, 30 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I have ever heard of it, I think it might be coincidence.Millertime246 (talk) 00:02, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Power Owned
For as long as I've been using the Internet and online gaming I've always heard that pwned means power owned rather than permanently owned as a step up from owned. It originated as a typo and people explained the p later with the word power.--Rotellam1 (talk) 23:15, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Edit request on 8 December 2011
The leetspeak know as PWN or PWNT actually originates from Counter Strike and is short for pistol owned. As the game designer ,Jess Cliffe, I would hope I would have some insight on this. After the games wild popularity, PWN became internet jargon for bricking, screwing up, or getting dominataed in a first person shooter. The fact that people think its for lazy typing involving the word "owned" is laughable and is most likely some Wired magazine reporter trying to feel special. So Wiki people Pwn them bitches who get in your way! Jess Cliffe CS Staff.

24.192.164.109 (talk) 23:00, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Source?-- Jac 16888 Talk 23:04, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

pre-20th century chess references to "pawned"
Many people have asked for proof positive that the term "Pawned" existed in Chess prior to the 1337 trends. Here's a couple sources, pre-1900, so there's no confusion as to antecedence, found by a simple Google Books search:

English mechanic and world of science, Volume 30, No. 778, Feb 20, 1880 - Quote: "Pawned Q[ueen] takes Q[ueen]" Link: http://books.google.com/books?id=z3sAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA592&dq=pawned

The Household Chess Magazine, Feb 28 1865, page 30 - Quote: "One has pawned his Queen and the other has Queened his pawn." Link: http://books.google.com/books?id=AN9YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA30&dq=pawned

Given these sources, I believe that any question regarding the use of the term as the original source of the use of "pwned" is moot: Just because the word appeared spelled that way in some games such as Warcraft (1994) or Quake II (1997) or Counter Strike (1999) does not mean it was a "typo" -- A theory for which there so far has no reliable source nor reference that is not itself based on speculation or hearsay. Such claims in light of the antecedence of the word by over 100 years are a normal form of cognitive bias based on: 1) one's own situation and context when the word was first encountered 2) the unavoidable inability to know what one doesn't know due to age mainly and 3) the formulation of a theory based on that limited sphere of knowledge. It is much more sensical and likely that the writers in each attributed use or "typo" were themselves simply abbreviating (leet-speaking) a term already in use for over 100 years in the game of Chess, with the same meaning, no less.  Those who also claim to be the originators of the term would also very easily and perhaps subconsciously have simply co-opted the connotation of the existing term.

In short, like all words in any language, this is a simple case of the evolution and distortions that happen when a word begins to be used in more varied contexts (crushing defeat in any situation) than its original meaning (defeat of powerful pieces in chess by the lowly pawn).

Tiago1970 (talk) 02:26, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

My True Story (Creator of "PWN")
I don't claim to be a great person, just a person. I obey the local and federal laws, pay my taxes and go to work just like (most) everybody else. I am not seeking any recognition other than to satiate the mystery of 'where this word came from' once and for all.

For anybody that is looking forward to reading a twisting tale of nobility and awesomeness with these next words, I am sorry to say that you are going to be highly disappointed. As with almost all great inventions in the world, it came entirely by accident... I just had a good publicist - namely, the first person shooter games that were all the rage at the time.

Quake 2 was a game that came out around the year 1997; I was 16 at the time. My childhood best friend Clark V. (same age) and I would hang out, blow up some people (in Quake 2 of course), play some Command and Conquer on PC as well, and polish our chess skills on the side - practicing for the local chess tournaments we had both participated in. Whenever I would kill someone in the game, I would make it a point to type 'PAWN'... calling the other player the weakest piece on a chessboard was the best I could come up with that was short enough to type without standing in one spot for too long in danger of being 'PAWN'D' myself in the process.

The first time I misspelled the word and typed 'PWN', I got made fun of and mocked soo badly (mainly by people who were sick of being killed soo often and repeatedly by myself - I was pretty good) that I dropped the subject and eventually logged off of the server without typing that word anymore.

Years later when I had heard 'PWN' for the first time in a World of Warcraft game I saw a friend play (though I have never played WoW myself), I just ignored it and let my baby grow in popularity. I realize since it does hold true that more than one person in the world could have thought of the same word without having known each other and without hearing it before the moment they spoke it, there can always be more than one creator. Same holds true for strange clothing fads and other temporary situations we see on a daily basis in the world in which we live... And being from NY, I see a LOT of weird people...

Tony R. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.164.117.136 (talk) 23:19, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Is this the first word of its kind?
Although it is technically not English, but Leet, nonetheless just as English as appropriated words from other languages, so too as pwned been so adopted, as noted in the article. As also noted in the article, the word was never created with the intent to actually be spoken, but as a written-only word. Would it be correct, therefore, to call this the first word under the banner of the English language to be widely used - and not a chemical formula or some such hybrid word - yet was never intended to actually be spoken? I cannot think of any other examples of this (proper names don't count either). 68.146.70.124 (talk) 14:28, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Can someone with authorship to edit this subject titled "Pwn"...
Please edit it to include a citation or mention to its obvious association to the board game known as "Chess" and a movable piece called a "Pawn" -- its mention of association is missing.--75.25.119.12 (talk) 19:32, 6 December 2014 (UTC)

Can somebody with authorship to edit this entry and subject titled "Pwn", please edit it to include a mention of or a citation to its obvious association to the board game known as "Chess", and one of its pivotal movable pieces called a "Pawn". It's mention of association though perhaps obvious is still missing.

Its association to Chess is ironically, intentionally, or perhaps conspicuously absent. If its absence is intentional, it is still entitled to an explanation as intellectual courtesy, even if the foundation for its intentional absence is somehow justified as dafka an alternative alphabet, language or nodding reference to Leet.

Thank you.

Pronunciation
Is "owned" the most popular pronunciation? I always thought it was "powned" but could be wrong. The article implies that a silent P is common, perhaps more common than a pronounced P. I also see that "powned" redirects to this article. I would suggest more emphasis on the common pronunciation with the P, if there are appropriate sources.

Also, the article mentions that the word has moved from just being written to being spoken - I would think this means there is more of a consensus on a common pronunciation.

-KaJunl (talk) 12:38, 10 October 2015 (UTC) KaJunl (talk) 12:38, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

Pwnerize 1930s-1940s usage
I have just heard from some people with legal backgrounds talking of a word which came into existence after World War 2. The word is 'pwnerize' I can't find links to this word but it seems that this word and the current usage in its forms are related. If this page is to be cleaned up and put into order, an investigation into the connections to this other word from the 1930s -1940s which supposedly can be found in at least one book of the period. 203.131.210.82 (talk) 07:06, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Usage, Tremulous (2006+)
Well since everyone is having fun telling their own version of the origin of the word, the first time I heard it, was a conjunction of =P (tongue out) and "Owned" (as in the slang), typically bound to a key bind which therefore can be spammed. Origin in this case may have been from a former Quake player. ZdrytchX (talk) 16:03, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Welsh
Why is it said that there is an "obvious double entendre" with Welsh? The Welsh word "pwn" means pack or bale. Is it taking that as a metaphor for a burden or trouble? Deipnosophista (talk) 10:25, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

Pwn Index
In culture entry...

Pwn Index - Think of it as the Dow Jones Industrial Average for dark web exploits. Unless a security team has someone infiltrating and scouring hacker forums, it’s hard to get a handle on how much money adversaries are spending on the latest exploits. https://www.cyberscoop.com/runsafe-pwn-index-march-2019-rsa-conference/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Runsafe (talk • contribs) 16:21, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected+edit+request+on+30+January+2020
semi-protected+dit+ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2409:4043:697:965C:0:0:1752:C8B1 (talk) 21:49, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

"Uber pwnd" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Uber pwnd. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Tsla1337 (talk) 00:27, 21 April 2020 (UTC)