is pwn an okay word to say in public? Can you say it casually?

Question

Is it a "bad word"?

Answer 1

Yes it's an okay word but I'd doubt older people will know what the hell you're talking about.

Answer 2

PWN (verb)

1. An act of dominating an opponent.

2. Great, ingenious; applied to methods and objects.

Originally dates back to the days of WarCraft, when a map designer mispelled "Own" as "Pwn". What was originally supose to be "player has been owned." was "player has been pwned".

Pwn eventually grew from there and is now used throughout the online world, especially in online games.

1. "I pwn these guys on battlenet"

2. "This strategy pwns!" or "This game pwn."

Answer 3

It is not so much a bad word as it was "banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness."
Other than it's misuse by gamers, "pawn" is still a valid word in the game of Chess, in pawnshops, the legal field, and the use in the idiomatic expression: "She's just a pawn in my game." - it can be used casually and in public.

Answer 4

Quite a few people consider it ridiculous or offensive to use pwn as a verb referring to individuals ( I pwned him, I pwned her), becasue it has violent/destructive/bizarre connotations, and because anybody who isn't a gamer isn't going to know what you mean. I think it's just silly to try to work 'pwn' into a normal conversation (e.g. my math test pwned your math test). Then again, making people smile is one of those little things you can do every day to make the world a better place.