zot

v. to strike or destroy, especially with lightning or other beam or jolt of energy; in slang usage on the Internet, to remove, censor, or ban material or participants. Subjects: English, Technology, Slang

Etymological Note: Imitative of lightning.

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Citations: 1992 [Gerald Kuch] Usenet: rec.arts.startrek (Feb. 23) “Re: Amnesia episode proves Troi is a fake”: Has anybody thought that Macduff may have been hidden aboard earlier, and only put on the extra pips and come to the bridge when the ship got zotted? 1997 David Foster Wallace A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (Feb. 1) p. 15 @ (Feb. 2, 1998): A real unpleasant zotting and frying sound of bugs being decommissioned just overhead. 1998 Darrel Whitcomb Rescue of Bat 21 (Apr.) p. 186 @ (Feb. 9, 1999): They then called in aircraft that were equipped with laser illuminators, like the Pave Nails, which zotted the guns. Orbiting fighters then dropped the laser-guided bombs. 2004 [groo] Usenet: alt.fan.cecil-adams (Feb. 20) “Re: The Passion of Mel”: That was only _one_ of the times he was struck by lightning while filming the movie. He got zotted twice. 2004 [Sheldon England] Usenet: comp.sys.mac.games.adventure (Sept. 21) “Re: MMORPG Game Design Trends, If You Care”: The closest is when one of my own characters commented on the fickle nature of the gods and was suddenly zotted by lightining and surrounded by frogs. 2005 [Mynx] Kyttenlair (Sept. 28) “Aliens attack!”: I keep remembering the scene from “Independence Day” where all those people who’d crowded to the top of a tall building to welcome the aliens were among the first to get zotted. 2005 [Clave] Usenet: alt.fan.art-bell (Apr. 8) “Re: Post to Post Am”: I once got zotted from the Free Republic boards with one post in less than three minutes. 2006 Peter Koht Metroactive (California) (Jan. 4) “Obscene But Not Heard”: Among the community of former Suicide Girls, this process has spawned a new verb: zotted. This process includes not only the alteration or deletion of unfriendly posts, but also the total removal of the offender from the online community.

Posted 9 Jan 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

The Wikipedia entry for Zot discusses some other uses: on the one hand associated with the sound of laser guns in comic book usage (as in the Zot gun of Flash Gordon), and on the other hand associated with the sound made by the anteater in Johnny Hart’s comic strip B.C. (as in the rallying cry of UC Irvine, whose mascot is an anteater).

by Ben Zimmer 09 Jan 06, 0419 GMT

Yes, that’s true, but there is no documentation of the verb form there and Wikipedia, due to its ever-changing nature, is not a reliable source.

by Grant Barrett 09 Jan 06, 0634 GMT

Just a thought about “zot”: in addition to the quoted usage, the cartoon strip “B.C.” has used “zot” for years as the noise the aardvark makes when “zotting” an insect or similar critter. Probably worthy of some mention in the “etymology.”

by Randy Hamilton 23 Feb 06, 0234 GMT

The Internet Oracle, which has been for an eternity in internet time, used *ZOT* to signify when someone was zapped by the angered Oracle.

From the wiki entry: “A *ZOT* (administered with the Staff of Zot, see LART) is earned when the Oracle is irritated. *ZOT*s are something like lightning strikes and are usually fatal. Unscrupulous participants will sometimes administer undeserved *ZOT*s. (The particular word *ZOT* may be a reference to the comic strip B.C. Alternately, it may be an allusion to Walter Karig’s 1947 novel entitled Zotz, in which a person could point at anyone or anything, say “Zotz!” and make that thing or person instantly disintegrate.)”

by IMP 08 Jun 07, 0712 GMT