If you haven’t heard already Merriam Webster’s word of the year for 2007 is w00t, but this word did not make it visually into the new Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary. Too bad, just imagine what great images could be attributed to w00T! For a serious example, see weightlifting.

If you didn’t know what was a barbell, wristband, sleeveless jersey, weightlifting belt, trunk, knee wrap, strap or weightlifting shoe the image with related links will help. I was disappointed that Merriam Webster didn’t offer images for words like weird, strange, eerie and haunting. A picture of Michael Jackson would have worked for all those. At the least they could have done a mashup with the Flickr API and offered a visual dictionary based on tagged words (e.g flick search results for w00t). No fun.

Adding to the disappointment, the “TOOLS” link at the top leads to a page which says: “This page is under construction.” Oops. You can leave them feedback which leads to a contact form which requires first name, last name, email address, subject and your message. I didn’t bother filling that out, because my comment would have been simply a link to this blog with the following image:

This sanitized, PC version of a visual dictionary feels like 1987, not 2007. I like the concept and the images they do have are worthwhile, but this service left me hungry for more. Grade: D