The origins of pwned comes from gaming.
originating as the screams of avid gamers in the form of "owned" often accompanied by "OH my F******* God You Got/I got". the phrase is shouted or typed when one defeats another in an online or local game. It is explicably used when one is utterly crushed and defeated by another player in a short period of time or very efficiently.
as many people are bad typers one must observe the vicinity of the "o" key and the "p" key. they are very close together. The misspelling of the word "own" into "pwn" became popular. Also since the letter "p" is like "o" except with dangly bits a Freudian interpretation could be that gamers which is comprised of a strong male base, are attracted to this.
Another reason is that many gamers and users of the popular instant-messenger program AOL instant Messenger or AIM enjoy deliberate spelling mistakes. Such as experienced in the mixings of 1's and !'s at the end of excitement.
Pwn spread like wildfire embraced by many, rejected by few. Another cause for the advent of the use of pwn has been the popular internet show 'Purepwnage' (
www.purepwnage.com) this show follows the life of Pro gamer Jeremy and the troubles and excitement that follows. The plot delves deeply as the episodes progress. Many memes have been developed from this show like the exclamation 'boom headshot' and 'pwn'
Another theory is that the phrase originated back in the early 19th century on whaling missions. When they managed to harpoon a whale, everyone on the crew would jubilantly yell 'Pooned!" The now antiquated spelling of this word when it was recorded by scholars was "Pewn'd", which over the generations adopted the "oh" sound and was transformed into "Pown'd" and eventually "pwnd" on the internet and gaming community.
Either way the pronunciation of pwn is widely disputed. Many people like to pronounce it as 'own' however many who wish to speak the way things are spelt like to say 'pone' this may often erupt into fights. Purepwnage is also officially pronounced 'pure Ownage'
Own or pwn has also managed to tunnel itself out of it's gaming and nerdish roots and get into mainstream popular use. The phrase is often used to describe somebody who gets hurt significantly or defeated significantly in any events in sporting or day to day happenings. i.e. somebody falls over 'he got owned'. It has been observed that 1st grade sports players (jocks) are also using this word showing the infiltration of the gaming community on the wider community.
So there you have it. The history of pwn.
