The Origin of "Word"

From the conception of this blog -
even before it was officially a blog -
I've ended almost every post with "word."
It's become my signature, a trademark,
as simple as it may be.
If I ever forget to end with it,
I'm sure someone would feel odd
as if they were a child going to sleep
without his favorite toy dragon,
as if they finished a sundae
only to remember there was no cherry on top.

So, where did it come from?
If memory serves right,
it was my text messenger signature
as a way of bringing back phrases popular in the 90s.
When I didn't feel like typing anything
it served as a simple reply.
"You ready to go?" "->Word."
"Aight I'll see you there." "->Word."
"Where you at, son?" "->Word."
I'm lying, I was never that much of a jerk
to reply to the last one like that.
When I did send an actual reply,
most people who received a text from me
said it seemed like I was agreeing with myself.
"Ok. I'll see you there. ->Word"
For some reason, I liked the idea of agreeing with myself.
After deciding to dub my online jottings The Wacko Monologues,
"word" seemed like an appropriate end for a guy talking to himself.

There was a period of time from mid 09 til early 2010
where I used "trust" as an alternate.
When I ended a post with "trust,"
it meant that I was attempting to be sincere through my sarcasm.
Eventually I found this technique crippling as a writer
and decided to establish my sincerity with the proper language.

Somewhere down the line "word" ceases being an occasional practice
and became the standard end to all my blog post.
There was a time I had grown tried of it,
wanted something more unique that reflect my blog's title,
even asked you guys for suggestions.
But none of you older readers provided any suggestions.
You guys have been awfully crappy at audience particaption
since I stopped posting directly Facebook two years ago,
but it's okay. I forgive you.

"Word" has become tired and true for me, though.
It has evolved into a deeper meaning,
embodying every noun, verb, adjective, and adverb I write.
Shoot, it even embraces the articles and conjunctions.
It has become one of my favorite words in the English language [behind copacetic].
I figured it was only right to finally dedicate a post to it.
Here's to you, word.
May we dominate the literary world someday.

Word.