If you’re not already familiar with the infamous scene involving one bro, one John Kerry, and a gang of taser-wielding campus police, check out the video — and listen closely for the quote of the year. (Note: if you’re squeamish, skip it.)

I’m not sure how the Quote Patrol decides which quote is “most memorable,” but no doubt it has something to do with being one of the top quote queries on Google and one of the most popular videos on the web. And now it’s official: “Don’t tase me, bro!” has become the most memorable quote of the year according to the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations.

What makes the video and quote so popular? It’s that special somethin’ — the word “bro.”

Use of the word “bro” is on the rise, spawning catchy buzz words like hebro (a hebrew bro), bromance (a close friendship between two bros), and brodozer (a lifted truck driven by a bro). Derived from “brother,” “bro” carries connotations of fraternal bonding and togetherness, and perhaps stupidity.

Thus our tased brother, in his moment of defeat, attempted to reach out to his fellow bro in a plea for mercy and understanding. Quite touching. Maybe a little too hopeful. And judging by the phrase’s popularity — very entertaining.

Digital media is also responsible for the popularization of Merriam Webster’s Word of the Year, w00t.

w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay”

w00t! I won the contest!

Click here to see what the people at Woot.com have to say about it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 1:33 pm and is filed under General, society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.