Words Worth Knowing: FTW
Words Worth Knowing was a vertical I wrote weekly explaining key pieces of gaming jargon to parents, guardians and teachers, as part of the larger overall GameHub outreach effort. The column ran for nearly two years and resulted in around 60 WWK articles. GameHubHQ.com closed in late 2017. This piece originally appeared on Oct 10 , 2016.
What It Is: FTW = For The Win!
What It Means: FTW as an acronym has a number of origin stories. Most commonly, it is understood to originate from a TV game show called "Hollywood Squares." The phrase has been co-opted into gaming, with a usage similar to "yay"" or "woohoo!"
eg: "A new update has been released for my favourite game, FTW!"
Why You Care: FTW is generally used as a popular short-hand way of expressing excitement, often as it becomes clear over the course of a match that one team is going to triumph over another. It can be used ironically or sarcastically too. FTW also has a less salubrious alternative meaning, allegedly originating with U.S. biker gangs, namely "F*** The World." Clarify with your children which version they are using in their games and online chat conversations.
