That must have been a bummer. I would have been angry if that happened to me.

Oh man, and out of over 15k entries.
My condolences.

Sooth, I like you. You're on my <20-person whitelist for a reason. However, I think you need to stop reading so much into the words that other people use. I'm not an expert by any means, but I know this: Whether it's meant to be or not, the English language is extremely malleable, and in everyday conversation, a word or phrase's meaning is more often than not very different than its straight definition. It is more likely that a person will intuit a speaker's true intent through context than words alone. This is a fact of life, and in normal discourse, it is taken into account by the listener and applied to the speaker's message without question. If a word that's slightly out of place in a conversation is called out, the point of the conversation is soon lost as conflict arises. (I know this from experience- I have a family member that does this all the time) You were reasonably certain what I meant in the OP, but you chose to make a comment calling out my choice of words anyway. I'm only going to make this one post, but there are a lot of people out there who would have taken great offense and started an argument, derailing the thread. No one wants that, and it's definitely avoidable in this case. Of course, if it's still necessary to correct a person's word usage, that's fine, but there's no reason not to do this in a nonchalant, polite way. Calling it "a terrible choice of word" is, frankly, an example of being impolite, and that will only lead to more conflict, further distracting from the original conversation.

I'm not qualified to give advice about much, but I ask that you consider giving others' verbage a little leeway. I think it will help simplify things for everyone.

You may ask, "Well, why did you use the word "proud" to begin with, if you know it doesn't correctly define your intent?"
I'll tell you, but first a disclaimer: It may seem like I'm playing a pity card throughout this next paragraph, but that's not what I want to do. Furthermore, I am aware that the circumstances described below apply to me alone, and they are not meant as a justification, only an explanation as to why the word "proud" is the word that came to mind when I conceived of this discussion topic. It's not necessary to read, so I've put it in spoilers so those who don't want to hear the sob story can skip it easily.

I have some pretty severe depression issues. I won't pretend I have it as bad as a lot of other people, but the last several years have taken a lot out me, and my family has all but completely fallen apart. I have exactly 1 friend, and no social life. I stay at home all day and feel sorry for myself. If anyone out there has similar problems, you know that it's hard to even get out of bed because you hate yourself and your life so much. You can't bring yourself to do anything, not even play games or have fun.
That's why I have to be proud of everything I do. I have to be proud of myself for getting out of bed. I have to be proud of myself for taking a shower. I have to be proud of myself for walking to the gas station and buying a soda. If I'm not proud of every little step I take outside of my normal, pathetic routine, I am fucked. I will fall back into bed and stay there forever.
I am proud of myself for winning that giveaway, not because I "earned" it, but because I got myself out of my bed and entered it, and SOMETHING CAME OF IT: A new game that I can be proud of myself for playing. That's the kind of thinking I need to reward myself for, if only with pride.
So yes, I sort of do view every game I win as a kind of personal victory, in a way. But I also view it as a gift worthy of gratitude, and it doesn't have to be one without the other.

Final note: Sure, I absolutely could have and should have picked a better word. That's completely on me. I'm about to change the topic title right now. But you don't know anything about me or the way I think, and I ask that you don't assume anything about my mentality regarding won giveaways based on a single word. I didn't say "thankful" in my post because that goes without saying to me, and I assume to almost everyone else on this site. I know it's not worth much saying this on the internet, but you have hurt my feelings if you're implying that I'm anything less than grateful for every one of the games I've won. I'm not holding it against you- I'm sure you meant no offense- and I hope you won't hold anything in this post against me. But I don't think any good can come of this type of situation, which is why I ask you to think a little about what I said in the first paragraph.
Cheers.

that makes 2 of us, except that it wasnt on steam gifts, but the chance was 1/55000 xD.
i won cuz im a blabber mouth and senpai noticed me ;)

Same, in the same order.

Hey, but you've won some pretty nice games!