:....:mike:....:
24-07-2005, 06:39 PM
Once again, this isn't new but i think this will just show ppl some info about habbo.
Leet (meaning 'elite', most commonly represented as 1337) is an online culture or attitude sometimes identified by frequent use of leetspeak (a spelling convention for typed words). ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ...
The word itself is derived phonetically from the word "elite", and is a cipher, or cryptic form of English spelling. The spelling convention intended principally to bypass automatic text parsers, perhaps because the originators of the convention felt they may be under some form of surveillance, or desired for other reasons to have somewhat private conversations in public spaces — hence the term elite, as only those 'in the know' could easily read what was said (perhaps in an online chat forum, for instance). Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... In sociology as in general usage, the élite (the elect, from French) is a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys a privileged status which is upheld by individuals of lower social status within the structure of a group. ... This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A chat is a casual conversation. ...
The spelling convention of leetspeak is characterized by the use of non-alphabetic characters to stand for letters which bear superficial resemblance, as well as by a number of spelling changes such as the substitution of "z" for final "s" and "x" for "(c)k" or "(c)ks." Letters may be chosen as substitutes for other letters, based on visual similarity. Leetspeak was probably first used by hackers on Bulletin Board Systems, and then later adopted by users of Online Multiplayer Games and other Internet communities. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... ...
Spellings do not always follow a set convention, the same word may be spelled differently by different people, indeed by the same person. This is symptomatic of the desire, or affected desire or desire for an appearance of either a desire or affected desire, to elude comprehension by others unfamiliar with the art form.
Leetspeak is not popular among all hackers, and nowadays is most commonly used in an ironic manner to represent immaturity or to annoy people. Many consider it a pointless affectation, and as it has become widely used it is less useful as a way of showing membership of an "elite" group. It is nonetheless a cultural phenomenon well known amongst hackers and many other Internet users, especially gamers. The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background Hacker (folklore) - a race of Hobbits in Scandinavian folklore. ... Internet games (also known as online games) are games that are played online via the Internet. ...
Certain factions maintain that "true" leetspeak is spelled correctly, with the exceptions described above. They do not consider the use of extreme short forms (such as "b" for "be", or "u" for "you") as leetspeak; instead, they refer to it by such terms as "AOL speak". This is because they associate such habits with users who use ISPs like AOL, which is associated with "noobiness" and therefore not considered "elite". The chief difference between leetspeak and AOL speak is that leetspeak has the goal of obfuscating traditional written language while in AOL speak the goal is primarily to shorten words (and therefore allow "n00bs" to be able to communicate more quickly). Another convention sometimes associated with leetspeak or Internet chatting is capitalizing every other letter (LiKe ThIs), sometimes called studlycaps or stickycaps. A similar habit involves capitalizing every consonant (LiKe THiS).
Common transliterations
(subject to a great deal of individual variation):
[A] 4 or / or @ or /- or ^ or ä or д or ằ or ª
[B] 8 or 6 or |3 or ß
[C] [ or ¢ or < or (
[D] |) or o| or [) or I> or |> or ₫
[E] 3 or & or £ or ë or € or ê or |=-
[F] |= or ph or |#
[G] 6 or & or (_+ or 9 or C-
[H] # or [-] or {=} or <~> or |-| or ]~[ or }{ or ]-[ or н or }-{
[I] 1 or ! or | or & or eye or 3y3 or ï or []
[J] ,| or _| or ;
[K] X or |< or |{ or ]{ or }<
[L] 1 or 7 (note the interchangability of 7 for either L or T) or | or |_ or # or ℓ
[M] //. or ^^ or |v| or [V] or {V} or |/| or // or (u) or []V[]
[N] // or ^/ or || or // or [] or ][ or <> or {} or [][] or ⁿ
[O] 0 or () or ? or p or ö
[P] ph or |^ or |* or |o or |^(o) or |> or |" or |? or 9 or []D or |°
[Q] 9 or (,) or <| or ^(o)| or ¶ or O_
[R] |2 or P or lz or [z or Я or ®
[S] 5 or $ or z or §
[T] 7 or + or -|- or 1 or ']['
[U] (_) or |_| or v or ü
[V] / or <
[W] // or '// or ^/ or (n) or V/ or //
[X] >< or Ж
[Y] Y or '/ or `/ or V/ or -/ or j also ¥ or %
[Z] 2 or z or ~_ or ~/_
In recent years, leet has dropped out of style in some communities. Some gamers and Internet users choose not to use it as they consider it to signify weakness and immaturity rather than coolness or of "having skills/sk1LLz". However, many words from leet are now a significant part of modern Internet culture, such as "pwned", the common leet misspellings such as "teh" (73|-|), and especially the "z" at the end of words, such as "skillz". Another prominent example of a surviving leet expression is the ever-popular "woot/w00t". Also, gamers for whom using leet speak seriously is out of style, sometimes use it in an ironic sense. "h42 h42, u ar3z s00 1337" or "ph342 m`/ 1337 sk1llz". Zhe (Ж, ж) is the letter of Cyrillic alphabet which represents the voiced postalveolar fricative /Z/ (sound file), the same sound which is represented by s in the English word treasure. Zhe is the 7th letter of the Bulgarian and Belarusian alphabets, the 8th letter in the Macedonian, Russian and Serbian alphabets... A player is pwned in a game of Counter-Strike. ... Teh is a common typo for the. ... WOOT, channel 6, is a low-powered TV station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ...
Another location for similar text obfuscation is in multiplayer gaming, especially involving other characters from the ASCII set. Some multiplayer games allow for users to be kicked out if they are "being n00bs" or generally annoying the crowd, by using a simple command like "!kick username" which works fine as long as the username constitutes letters that can be typed with a normal keyboard. To prevent some kicks, people may use names such as "E'li'†è Hàxo'r" which are more difficult to type in.
An alternate theory to this obfuscation while gaming exists, however. While it is true that the use of text obfuscation helps to prevent kicks, often these characters are used to make the player's name appear more unique (perhaps simply because of a nick-clash with another user (or users) of the same (similar) name). One can look at the use of different attributes, such as the ability to change the color of each character in games that support it, as evidence of this theory. This may lead to players feeling that they can "psych out" the competition, as having spent the effort to make even their name superior shows their dedication to their skills.
Use of x0r
Note that the construction "-xor" or any variation thereof can be pronounced variously as "-ker", "-zor", or "-ksor" (the latter two being the way the majority of English speakers would pronounce it).
In the phrase "r0x0rz my b0x0rz" (a phrase expressing approval, especially of something computer-related) for example, the "x0rz" in "b0x0rz" and "r0x0rz" is often pronounced as "ksors". Originally in this phrase "b0x0rz" refers not to "boxers" (i. e. underwear) but actually to "boxes" (in computer slang, computers). The more naive interpretation "rocks your boxers" is still meaningful however as the sentiment is much the same. A man modeling a pair of boxer shorts Boxers shorts are a type of underwear, worn usually by men. ... A pair of mens briefs Undergarments, also called underwear or sometimes intimate clothing, are clothes worn next to the skin, usually under other clothes. ... More boxen is a slang term in computing expressing a need for more computing power. ...
The term "r0x0r j00r b0x0r" itself is probably a derivation from "r0x0r j00r s0x0r", "rocks your socks". It should be noted that although the spelling of leet is fairly standardized, pronunciation differs widely, as does the actual alphabet used. Much depends on which forum, newsgroup, or chat room the Leetspeak is being spoken in. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... Forum, originally a Latin word, currently refers in English to a place or a space for meeting or for trading. ... A newsgroup is a repository, usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ... A chat room is an online forum where people can chat online (talk by broadcasting messages to people on the same forum in real time). ...
An increasingly common use of the "-xor" is changing its grammatical usage to be deliberately incorrect. Instead of using "Bob r0x0r", "Bob am teh r0x0r" is deliberately used to increase the level of irony and to separate it from less ironic, true leetspeak.
Use of $
This is the subject of some controversy among Leet-speakers. While $ is considered an acceptable substitute for "S" in any context by casual users of the language, among the more geeky it is considered proper usage only when used in an ironic or insulting context. Ie, "M$" (MS, short for Microsoft) is proper usage, but "r0xx0r$" is more properly spelled "r0xx0r5". Concept drawing of a geek A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT) headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. ...
Phonetic spellings
There are many incarnations of leet, and it is continuously evolving as more people add to it, and thus, a single word can be "spelled" in many different ways. For example, "phonetic" could be |>|-|0n371><, p|-|0||3+1|<, |>h0||371<, ph0n371k.
Some common spellings:
"d00d" for "dude"
"joo" for "you", also written as "j00" or "_|00"
"ph" for "f", as in "phear" for "fear" (as in "ph34r my l33t skillz") and vice versa, such as spelling "phonetic" as "f0||371("
Note that in true leet, the following are considered improper. They are seen more as IM lingo or AOL speak. A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface An instant messenger is a client which allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. ...
"kewl" or kwel or ku or ql for cool
"r" for are, m for am, y for why, d for "the", b for be, c for see, u for you (giving the common see you: c u)
"2" for to or too, 4 for for (but note "4" can also represent an "A" in proper 1337)
"8" for -ate, as l8r for later
"ne" for any
"u 1 2" for "you want to" ("icq"="i seek you" style)
"nite" for night
"10x" for thanks
Frequent misspellings
Frequently, common typing errors are also absorbed into leet, such as:
"aer" for "are"
"yuo" for "you"
"teh" or "t3h" for "the" (also sometimes used as an intensifier: "He is teh lame"). Another form can also be "deh" (As in "| em deh ro><00rz!!11!").
"smrt" for "smart" (This may also be an intentional reference to an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer misspells smart in song whilst burning his High School Diploma: "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean S-M-A-R-T!")
"waht" for "what"
"caek" for "cake"
"gaem" for "game"
"leik" or "liek" for "like", usually sarcastic—generally when making fun of a script kiddie or AOL-er
German "ist" for "is", often used with word "death". For example, "mp3 ist death."
"pwn" or "pwned" for "own" or "owned". This originates from the 'P' key on a QWERTY keyboard being immediately beside the 'o' key and pressed by the less-than-nimble pinky (little) finger.
"flase" as opposed to the word "false"
"Evar" or "Ev4r" as opposed to the word "Ever". This is usually used in such phrases as "BEST. GAME. EVAR."
"Laymur" for "lamer", as in one that is lame.
"Tiem" for "Time"
Some of these examples, in particular 'teh' and 'pwn' are frequently used on purpose, to lighten up a mood, strengthen a point, or annoy the receiving parties. Teh is a common typo for the. ... The Simpsons is the longest-running animated television series in American television history, with 17 seasons and 356 episodes since it debuted on December 17, 1989 on FOX, and is a spin-off of The Tracey Ullman Show. ... Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is one of the main characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. ... Japanese high school students in uniform High school, or Secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (Republic of China) (only junior high school) and the United States. ... A diploma (from Greek diploma) is a document issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that is one of the following: A certificate testifying that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, A deed conferring an academic degree. ... In computing, a script kiddie (occasionally script bunny, script kitty or skiddie) is a derogatory term for inexperienced crackers who use scripts and programs developed by others for the purpose of compromising computer accounts and files, and for launching attacks on whole computer systems (see DoS). ... Internet slang (also AOL speak, AOLbonics — coined to sound like ebonics) consists of slang that users of the Internet have developed and utilized. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY (pronounced kwerty) is the most common modern-day layout of letters on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ...
Phrases
"WHeRE @Re J00" or "Wh3re aer j00?" for "where are you"
"wH4+'S j00R nAME" for "what is your name"
"//?|<£'§ 1££+ §|<?11§ þ|/||| _|??", an example of especially obfuscated leet (see:obfuscated code), this translates to "Mike's leet skills own you".
"g0s/" for gosu, meaning "pro", from Korean players of Starcraft
"skilled r0x0rt looking for a team pgm only high lvl, pv me" for "I'm a qualified player looking forward to be hired by a progaming clan in electronic sports, contact me now".
"Leet time", or 13:37
"1337teen", used commonly on forums and suchlike to denote the 1337th post, pageviews, etc. eg; "My 1337teenth hit"
"1 4t3 j00r r4m3n n00d135" for "I ate your ramen noodles"
"ph33r teh 1337 h4x0r" for "Fear the elite hacker"
Obfuscated code is source code that is (perhaps intentionally) very hard to read and understand. ... In Korean, gosu (lit. ... StarCraft StarCraft (SC) is a real-time strategy computer game produced by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998. ...
Over-exclamation
Another common feature of Leet is over-exclamation, where a sentence is postfixed with many exclamation marks: pHu><x0|2z j00 L4yMUr!!!!!!!!!!
In some cases, because the exclamation symbol (!) resides on the same key as the number one ("1"), over-exclamation can be accidentally typed with extraneous digits, owing to the excitement of the typist: y0 d00d th1s 5h1zZ47 R0Xx0rzZ!!!!!11. This was especially likely in the context of online multiplayer games, such as Quake. Quake is a first-person shooter computer game that was released by id Software on May 31, 1996. ...
Additionally, the adjacent ~ (tilde) and @ keys may be used in this fashion: t3h leik this OwNz!!11!?!??!@!!????//1!!~~ Some users have adopted this and include it deliberately.
A growing phenomenon is deliberately typing the word "one": pwnz0r3d!!!!!11oneoneone, and deliberately typing the words "exclamation mark", as in the next example. In some cases, this has been purposely exaggerated for comic or ub3r-L33+ effect, for example, L0l!!!11!eleventy-one1!1!11one1!!!exclamationmark!!11oneone!1. It can also be used to poke fun at users of AOL speak, and other "lesser" cultures. Note that letter-to-number translations tend not to occur within these "oneoneone" blocks.
Another example of accidental misspelling may also be used in this manner, such as "omg!!11oneoneelven", where elven is the misspelling of eleven. On rare occasions "zOMG!!!!shift+1!!!" has shown up, where the user is taking it further and typing the keyforms that make up letters. ZOMG is a *******ization of the Internet shorthand term for Oh My God, OMG. The term is commonly used to express humorously overwrought excitement and as a way of mocking internet slang as a whole. ...
Even more satirical is the insertion of non-one numbers into a phrase as well as improper acronym usage in a humorous way, such as "OMGBRBBBQ!!11!11FORTY-TWO!!111!!17!1NINE!1111!1!", where 42 comes in as a joke stemming from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy originated as a 1978 radio comedy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
Yet another variation of the use of "one" in over-exclamation satire is the phrase "eleventyone," a reference to the distinctive way hobbits say the number 111. Hence "LoL!!!!111eleventyoneone!" Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Hobbits are a race from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth universe which first appears in the book The Hobbit. ...
The trend is not limited to English speakers, and in many forums a mix of English and other languages can be observed, for example the Germish, "**** das rockt!!!!1111einsshifteins". Germish (in German Denglisch), a portmanteau of the words German and English, also referred to as Denglish, Engleutsch, Germlish, Genglish or Ginglish describes language based on the German grammar that includes a jumble of English and pseudo-English idioms, or vice versa. ...
Leet as a spoken language
Not much thought is given to leet as a spoken language, for reasons relating to its origins as a sort of evolved form of Internet cipher. While Leet can be pronounced, it rarely occurs outside the mediums of multiplayer online gaming and IRC. It is not known whether this is because Leet, very uncommonly heard by the human ear outside of individual words which have made their way into the vernacular and slang of our time ("pwned", "roxxed," "haxxor", etc.), produces an unfamiliar and awkward sound for both the speaker and the listener, or whether it is because, for the same reason that abbreviations and ciphers are usually omitted from everyday speech, spoken Leet often takes more time to pronounce and articulate than the original sentence. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. ...
There may be people who speak almost entirely in the Leet language with words pronounced as they would be spelled in written Leet, but the only such individuals we know about are fictional (see "Largo", Megatokyo) in media where there is no spoken word (in this case, a comic). It is commonly said (in jest) that if leet speakers met and attempted to communicate by speech, they would have to communicate through subtitles. Megatokyo is also a city name in the Bubblegum Crisis anime series. ... In printed material In printed material, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title. ...
Leetspeak is, however, extremely common in high school gamer groups, especially in those who frequently play LAN/online games such as Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Halo, and others. Often, those with a reasonable amount of playing experience in any of these games will make fun of "n00bs" by using Leet to intimidate them. Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ... Unreal Tournament is a popular first-person shooter computer game. ... Quake is a first-person shooter computer game that was released by id Software on May 31, 1996. ... Halo 2 Promo Screen The Halo series is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. ... The slang term newbie (also spelled noob, newb, or n00b in leetspeak) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, the World Wide Web itself, or an operating system. ...
Rarely, with the introduction of such applications as teamspeak and general real life meeting of familiar gamers, some have been known to pronounce the more common terms such as "pwn" (pawn, pown, poon, pween, pwown), "own", and "noob" (nub, noob, newb, naab). The informal term newbie (n00b or noob in leetspeak is not the same) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, or the World Wide Web itself or to an operating system. ... The informal term newbie (n00b or noob in leetspeak is not the same) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, or the World Wide Web itself or to an operating system. ...
Leet in videogaming
.hack (Dot Hack)
In the anime, video game, manga and book franchise .hack, there is a character named Sora. In the original Japanese versions of the various media, he adds sound effects and assorted strange phrases to his regular speech. In the fourth video game of the franchise, he is a playable character. In that game, his speech turned out to be a problem for the translators. As a solution, it was transposed into Leet, the closest English equivalent. .hack (pronounced dot-hack) is a multimedia franchise primarily created by Bandai. ... A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is Japanese animation, sometimes referred to in the Western world by the portmanteau Japanimation. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Rurouni Kenshin manga, volume 1 (English version) Manga (漫画) is the Japanese word for comics; outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese comics. ... Look up Book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A book is a collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, bound together along one edge within covers. ... .hack (pronounced dot-hack) is a multimedia franchise primarily created by Bandai. ...
Batman Begins
In the Batman Begins video game, the keypad code to enter a computer room is 1337. Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero/action film based on the comic book fictional character Batman.
Counter-Strike
Leetspeak can be most commonly found amongst the hardcore gamers and hackers playing Counter-Strike. Some say that Counter-Strike can be traced back as one of the first places leetspeak was seen by non-hackers. It can be seen in all aspects of the game ranging from player names, server names, and items in the game. Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ... Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ...
In earlier versions of the game, players could opt to play as the terrorist force 'L337 Crew'. Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. ...
Sociological aspects of Leet
Leetspeak can be said to be an expression of some general laws of sociology as it applies to small tribes or cliques which strive to maintain a sense of elitist cultural identity and uniqueness in the midst of the 'ignorant masses' by inventing linguistic and fashion styles. Such behavior is deeply ingrained in the human psyche, perhaps to the point of being encoded in the genes. In literature, the book Lord of the Flies depicts the evolution of such behavior. Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... This article is on the social structure. ... For clique in graph theory, see Clique (graph theory) For clique in professional wrestling, see Clique (professional wrestling) For The Clique, the group of Victorian artists see The Clique A common feature in cliques is an Outcast, the party in which are shunned, ostracized and left out. ... Elitism is a belief or attitude that an elite (a selected group of persons whose personal abilities, specialized training or other attributes place them at the top of any field) are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken most seriously, or who are alone fit to... Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as she/he is influenced by her/his belonging to a group or culture. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... The term fashion applies to a characteristic means of expression or presentation; fashions may follow trends, in which they gain or lose popularity. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... A Lord of the Flies cover Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author William G. Golding. ...
Leetspeak often represents an intermediate stage in a user's use of the Internet. First there is the "newbie" stage, where the user is ignorant about the customs and language of the Internet. Next there is the Leet stage, where the user has obtained enough information to "speak leet" to prove their superiority over "newbies" or to simply shorten typing time. Grammar (especially capitals etc) is often ignored in this stage. Many Internet users of high-school age are in the stage. The third and final stage is a more mature stage, where most words are spelt in full and grammar is used correctly. Most major websites are hosted by people in this stage—highly Internet savvy people who only use leet sarcastically. A newbie is a newcomer to a particular field, the term being commonly used on the Internet, where it might refer to new users of a game, a newsgroup, the Internet itself, or an operating system. ...
One of the currently important uses of such devices as Leetspeak is to allow some legitimate discourse on some subjects that cross the boundary of 'political correctness' in many tightly controlled communication medias. It is also sometimes used as a way to imply certain impolite expressions without causing offense (The emotive impact of these words in raw language overwhelm their denotive meaning), similar to the !@!*@($%) type expressions commonly seen in cartoons to indicate cursing (The desire is to interject the meaning without the negative impact). Another common use is to avoid activating automatic filtering systems which will intercept many expressions that are thought to indicate illicit content. Again the normal objective is to exercise free speech, not illicit activity in the general sense of the word. Zero tolerance policies and arbitrary banning of forms of expression by basically unconstrained authorities have made the use of alternate language forms a common tool of expression down through the ages. The use of "P0rn" for instance to reference ****ography in serious discourse to avoid an automatic E-mail filter from killing the conversation is a simple example.
Leet (meaning 'elite', most commonly represented as 1337) is an online culture or attitude sometimes identified by frequent use of leetspeak (a spelling convention for typed words). ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ...
The word itself is derived phonetically from the word "elite", and is a cipher, or cryptic form of English spelling. The spelling convention intended principally to bypass automatic text parsers, perhaps because the originators of the convention felt they may be under some form of surveillance, or desired for other reasons to have somewhat private conversations in public spaces — hence the term elite, as only those 'in the know' could easily read what was said (perhaps in an online chat forum, for instance). Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... In sociology as in general usage, the élite (the elect, from French) is a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys a privileged status which is upheld by individuals of lower social status within the structure of a group. ... This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A chat is a casual conversation. ...
The spelling convention of leetspeak is characterized by the use of non-alphabetic characters to stand for letters which bear superficial resemblance, as well as by a number of spelling changes such as the substitution of "z" for final "s" and "x" for "(c)k" or "(c)ks." Letters may be chosen as substitutes for other letters, based on visual similarity. Leetspeak was probably first used by hackers on Bulletin Board Systems, and then later adopted by users of Online Multiplayer Games and other Internet communities. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... ...
Spellings do not always follow a set convention, the same word may be spelled differently by different people, indeed by the same person. This is symptomatic of the desire, or affected desire or desire for an appearance of either a desire or affected desire, to elude comprehension by others unfamiliar with the art form.
Leetspeak is not popular among all hackers, and nowadays is most commonly used in an ironic manner to represent immaturity or to annoy people. Many consider it a pointless affectation, and as it has become widely used it is less useful as a way of showing membership of an "elite" group. It is nonetheless a cultural phenomenon well known amongst hackers and many other Internet users, especially gamers. The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background Hacker (folklore) - a race of Hobbits in Scandinavian folklore. ... Internet games (also known as online games) are games that are played online via the Internet. ...
Certain factions maintain that "true" leetspeak is spelled correctly, with the exceptions described above. They do not consider the use of extreme short forms (such as "b" for "be", or "u" for "you") as leetspeak; instead, they refer to it by such terms as "AOL speak". This is because they associate such habits with users who use ISPs like AOL, which is associated with "noobiness" and therefore not considered "elite". The chief difference between leetspeak and AOL speak is that leetspeak has the goal of obfuscating traditional written language while in AOL speak the goal is primarily to shorten words (and therefore allow "n00bs" to be able to communicate more quickly). Another convention sometimes associated with leetspeak or Internet chatting is capitalizing every other letter (LiKe ThIs), sometimes called studlycaps or stickycaps. A similar habit involves capitalizing every consonant (LiKe THiS).
Common transliterations
(subject to a great deal of individual variation):
[A] 4 or / or @ or /- or ^ or ä or д or ằ or ª
[B] 8 or 6 or |3 or ß
[C] [ or ¢ or < or (
[D] |) or o| or [) or I> or |> or ₫
[E] 3 or & or £ or ë or € or ê or |=-
[F] |= or ph or |#
[G] 6 or & or (_+ or 9 or C-
[H] # or [-] or {=} or <~> or |-| or ]~[ or }{ or ]-[ or н or }-{
[I] 1 or ! or | or & or eye or 3y3 or ï or []
[J] ,| or _| or ;
[K] X or |< or |{ or ]{ or }<
[L] 1 or 7 (note the interchangability of 7 for either L or T) or | or |_ or # or ℓ
[M] //. or ^^ or |v| or [V] or {V} or |/| or // or (u) or []V[]
[N] // or ^/ or || or // or [] or ][ or <> or {} or [][] or ⁿ
[O] 0 or () or ? or p or ö
[P] ph or |^ or |* or |o or |^(o) or |> or |" or |? or 9 or []D or |°
[Q] 9 or (,) or <| or ^(o)| or ¶ or O_
[R] |2 or P or lz or [z or Я or ®
[S] 5 or $ or z or §
[T] 7 or + or -|- or 1 or ']['
[U] (_) or |_| or v or ü
[V] / or <
[W] // or '// or ^/ or (n) or V/ or //
[X] >< or Ж
[Y] Y or '/ or `/ or V/ or -/ or j also ¥ or %
[Z] 2 or z or ~_ or ~/_
In recent years, leet has dropped out of style in some communities. Some gamers and Internet users choose not to use it as they consider it to signify weakness and immaturity rather than coolness or of "having skills/sk1LLz". However, many words from leet are now a significant part of modern Internet culture, such as "pwned", the common leet misspellings such as "teh" (73|-|), and especially the "z" at the end of words, such as "skillz". Another prominent example of a surviving leet expression is the ever-popular "woot/w00t". Also, gamers for whom using leet speak seriously is out of style, sometimes use it in an ironic sense. "h42 h42, u ar3z s00 1337" or "ph342 m`/ 1337 sk1llz". Zhe (Ж, ж) is the letter of Cyrillic alphabet which represents the voiced postalveolar fricative /Z/ (sound file), the same sound which is represented by s in the English word treasure. Zhe is the 7th letter of the Bulgarian and Belarusian alphabets, the 8th letter in the Macedonian, Russian and Serbian alphabets... A player is pwned in a game of Counter-Strike. ... Teh is a common typo for the. ... WOOT, channel 6, is a low-powered TV station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ...
Another location for similar text obfuscation is in multiplayer gaming, especially involving other characters from the ASCII set. Some multiplayer games allow for users to be kicked out if they are "being n00bs" or generally annoying the crowd, by using a simple command like "!kick username" which works fine as long as the username constitutes letters that can be typed with a normal keyboard. To prevent some kicks, people may use names such as "E'li'†è Hàxo'r" which are more difficult to type in.
An alternate theory to this obfuscation while gaming exists, however. While it is true that the use of text obfuscation helps to prevent kicks, often these characters are used to make the player's name appear more unique (perhaps simply because of a nick-clash with another user (or users) of the same (similar) name). One can look at the use of different attributes, such as the ability to change the color of each character in games that support it, as evidence of this theory. This may lead to players feeling that they can "psych out" the competition, as having spent the effort to make even their name superior shows their dedication to their skills.
Use of x0r
Note that the construction "-xor" or any variation thereof can be pronounced variously as "-ker", "-zor", or "-ksor" (the latter two being the way the majority of English speakers would pronounce it).
In the phrase "r0x0rz my b0x0rz" (a phrase expressing approval, especially of something computer-related) for example, the "x0rz" in "b0x0rz" and "r0x0rz" is often pronounced as "ksors". Originally in this phrase "b0x0rz" refers not to "boxers" (i. e. underwear) but actually to "boxes" (in computer slang, computers). The more naive interpretation "rocks your boxers" is still meaningful however as the sentiment is much the same. A man modeling a pair of boxer shorts Boxers shorts are a type of underwear, worn usually by men. ... A pair of mens briefs Undergarments, also called underwear or sometimes intimate clothing, are clothes worn next to the skin, usually under other clothes. ... More boxen is a slang term in computing expressing a need for more computing power. ...
The term "r0x0r j00r b0x0r" itself is probably a derivation from "r0x0r j00r s0x0r", "rocks your socks". It should be noted that although the spelling of leet is fairly standardized, pronunciation differs widely, as does the actual alphabet used. Much depends on which forum, newsgroup, or chat room the Leetspeak is being spoken in. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... Forum, originally a Latin word, currently refers in English to a place or a space for meeting or for trading. ... A newsgroup is a repository, usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. ... A chat room is an online forum where people can chat online (talk by broadcasting messages to people on the same forum in real time). ...
An increasingly common use of the "-xor" is changing its grammatical usage to be deliberately incorrect. Instead of using "Bob r0x0r", "Bob am teh r0x0r" is deliberately used to increase the level of irony and to separate it from less ironic, true leetspeak.
Use of $
This is the subject of some controversy among Leet-speakers. While $ is considered an acceptable substitute for "S" in any context by casual users of the language, among the more geeky it is considered proper usage only when used in an ironic or insulting context. Ie, "M$" (MS, short for Microsoft) is proper usage, but "r0xx0r$" is more properly spelled "r0xx0r5". Concept drawing of a geek A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT) headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. ...
Phonetic spellings
There are many incarnations of leet, and it is continuously evolving as more people add to it, and thus, a single word can be "spelled" in many different ways. For example, "phonetic" could be |>|-|0n371><, p|-|0||3+1|<, |>h0||371<, ph0n371k.
Some common spellings:
"d00d" for "dude"
"joo" for "you", also written as "j00" or "_|00"
"ph" for "f", as in "phear" for "fear" (as in "ph34r my l33t skillz") and vice versa, such as spelling "phonetic" as "f0||371("
Note that in true leet, the following are considered improper. They are seen more as IM lingo or AOL speak. A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface An instant messenger is a client which allows instant text communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. ...
"kewl" or kwel or ku or ql for cool
"r" for are, m for am, y for why, d for "the", b for be, c for see, u for you (giving the common see you: c u)
"2" for to or too, 4 for for (but note "4" can also represent an "A" in proper 1337)
"8" for -ate, as l8r for later
"ne" for any
"u 1 2" for "you want to" ("icq"="i seek you" style)
"nite" for night
"10x" for thanks
Frequent misspellings
Frequently, common typing errors are also absorbed into leet, such as:
"aer" for "are"
"yuo" for "you"
"teh" or "t3h" for "the" (also sometimes used as an intensifier: "He is teh lame"). Another form can also be "deh" (As in "| em deh ro><00rz!!11!").
"smrt" for "smart" (This may also be an intentional reference to an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer misspells smart in song whilst burning his High School Diploma: "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean S-M-A-R-T!")
"waht" for "what"
"caek" for "cake"
"gaem" for "game"
"leik" or "liek" for "like", usually sarcastic—generally when making fun of a script kiddie or AOL-er
German "ist" for "is", often used with word "death". For example, "mp3 ist death."
"pwn" or "pwned" for "own" or "owned". This originates from the 'P' key on a QWERTY keyboard being immediately beside the 'o' key and pressed by the less-than-nimble pinky (little) finger.
"flase" as opposed to the word "false"
"Evar" or "Ev4r" as opposed to the word "Ever". This is usually used in such phrases as "BEST. GAME. EVAR."
"Laymur" for "lamer", as in one that is lame.
"Tiem" for "Time"
Some of these examples, in particular 'teh' and 'pwn' are frequently used on purpose, to lighten up a mood, strengthen a point, or annoy the receiving parties. Teh is a common typo for the. ... The Simpsons is the longest-running animated television series in American television history, with 17 seasons and 356 episodes since it debuted on December 17, 1989 on FOX, and is a spin-off of The Tracey Ullman Show. ... Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is one of the main characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. ... Japanese high school students in uniform High school, or Secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (Republic of China) (only junior high school) and the United States. ... A diploma (from Greek diploma) is a document issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that is one of the following: A certificate testifying that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, A deed conferring an academic degree. ... In computing, a script kiddie (occasionally script bunny, script kitty or skiddie) is a derogatory term for inexperienced crackers who use scripts and programs developed by others for the purpose of compromising computer accounts and files, and for launching attacks on whole computer systems (see DoS). ... Internet slang (also AOL speak, AOLbonics — coined to sound like ebonics) consists of slang that users of the Internet have developed and utilized. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY (pronounced kwerty) is the most common modern-day layout of letters on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ...
Phrases
"WHeRE @Re J00" or "Wh3re aer j00?" for "where are you"
"wH4+'S j00R nAME" for "what is your name"
"//?|<£'§ 1££+ §|<?11§ þ|/||| _|??", an example of especially obfuscated leet (see:obfuscated code), this translates to "Mike's leet skills own you".
"g0s/" for gosu, meaning "pro", from Korean players of Starcraft
"skilled r0x0rt looking for a team pgm only high lvl, pv me" for "I'm a qualified player looking forward to be hired by a progaming clan in electronic sports, contact me now".
"Leet time", or 13:37
"1337teen", used commonly on forums and suchlike to denote the 1337th post, pageviews, etc. eg; "My 1337teenth hit"
"1 4t3 j00r r4m3n n00d135" for "I ate your ramen noodles"
"ph33r teh 1337 h4x0r" for "Fear the elite hacker"
Obfuscated code is source code that is (perhaps intentionally) very hard to read and understand. ... In Korean, gosu (lit. ... StarCraft StarCraft (SC) is a real-time strategy computer game produced by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998. ...
Over-exclamation
Another common feature of Leet is over-exclamation, where a sentence is postfixed with many exclamation marks: pHu><x0|2z j00 L4yMUr!!!!!!!!!!
In some cases, because the exclamation symbol (!) resides on the same key as the number one ("1"), over-exclamation can be accidentally typed with extraneous digits, owing to the excitement of the typist: y0 d00d th1s 5h1zZ47 R0Xx0rzZ!!!!!11. This was especially likely in the context of online multiplayer games, such as Quake. Quake is a first-person shooter computer game that was released by id Software on May 31, 1996. ...
Additionally, the adjacent ~ (tilde) and @ keys may be used in this fashion: t3h leik this OwNz!!11!?!??!@!!????//1!!~~ Some users have adopted this and include it deliberately.
A growing phenomenon is deliberately typing the word "one": pwnz0r3d!!!!!11oneoneone, and deliberately typing the words "exclamation mark", as in the next example. In some cases, this has been purposely exaggerated for comic or ub3r-L33+ effect, for example, L0l!!!11!eleventy-one1!1!11one1!!!exclamationmark!!11oneone!1. It can also be used to poke fun at users of AOL speak, and other "lesser" cultures. Note that letter-to-number translations tend not to occur within these "oneoneone" blocks.
Another example of accidental misspelling may also be used in this manner, such as "omg!!11oneoneelven", where elven is the misspelling of eleven. On rare occasions "zOMG!!!!shift+1!!!" has shown up, where the user is taking it further and typing the keyforms that make up letters. ZOMG is a *******ization of the Internet shorthand term for Oh My God, OMG. The term is commonly used to express humorously overwrought excitement and as a way of mocking internet slang as a whole. ...
Even more satirical is the insertion of non-one numbers into a phrase as well as improper acronym usage in a humorous way, such as "OMGBRBBBQ!!11!11FORTY-TWO!!111!!17!1NINE!1111!1!", where 42 comes in as a joke stemming from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy originated as a 1978 radio comedy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
Yet another variation of the use of "one" in over-exclamation satire is the phrase "eleventyone," a reference to the distinctive way hobbits say the number 111. Hence "LoL!!!!111eleventyoneone!" Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Hobbits are a race from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth universe which first appears in the book The Hobbit. ...
The trend is not limited to English speakers, and in many forums a mix of English and other languages can be observed, for example the Germish, "**** das rockt!!!!1111einsshifteins". Germish (in German Denglisch), a portmanteau of the words German and English, also referred to as Denglish, Engleutsch, Germlish, Genglish or Ginglish describes language based on the German grammar that includes a jumble of English and pseudo-English idioms, or vice versa. ...
Leet as a spoken language
Not much thought is given to leet as a spoken language, for reasons relating to its origins as a sort of evolved form of Internet cipher. While Leet can be pronounced, it rarely occurs outside the mediums of multiplayer online gaming and IRC. It is not known whether this is because Leet, very uncommonly heard by the human ear outside of individual words which have made their way into the vernacular and slang of our time ("pwned", "roxxed," "haxxor", etc.), produces an unfamiliar and awkward sound for both the speaker and the listener, or whether it is because, for the same reason that abbreviations and ciphers are usually omitted from everyday speech, spoken Leet often takes more time to pronounce and articulate than the original sentence. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. ...
There may be people who speak almost entirely in the Leet language with words pronounced as they would be spelled in written Leet, but the only such individuals we know about are fictional (see "Largo", Megatokyo) in media where there is no spoken word (in this case, a comic). It is commonly said (in jest) that if leet speakers met and attempted to communicate by speech, they would have to communicate through subtitles. Megatokyo is also a city name in the Bubblegum Crisis anime series. ... In printed material In printed material, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title. ...
Leetspeak is, however, extremely common in high school gamer groups, especially in those who frequently play LAN/online games such as Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Halo, and others. Often, those with a reasonable amount of playing experience in any of these games will make fun of "n00bs" by using Leet to intimidate them. Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ... Unreal Tournament is a popular first-person shooter computer game. ... Quake is a first-person shooter computer game that was released by id Software on May 31, 1996. ... Halo 2 Promo Screen The Halo series is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. ... The slang term newbie (also spelled noob, newb, or n00b in leetspeak) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, the World Wide Web itself, or an operating system. ...
Rarely, with the introduction of such applications as teamspeak and general real life meeting of familiar gamers, some have been known to pronounce the more common terms such as "pwn" (pawn, pown, poon, pween, pwown), "own", and "noob" (nub, noob, newb, naab). The informal term newbie (n00b or noob in leetspeak is not the same) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, or the World Wide Web itself or to an operating system. ... The informal term newbie (n00b or noob in leetspeak is not the same) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, or the World Wide Web itself or to an operating system. ...
Leet in videogaming
.hack (Dot Hack)
In the anime, video game, manga and book franchise .hack, there is a character named Sora. In the original Japanese versions of the various media, he adds sound effects and assorted strange phrases to his regular speech. In the fourth video game of the franchise, he is a playable character. In that game, his speech turned out to be a problem for the translators. As a solution, it was transposed into Leet, the closest English equivalent. .hack (pronounced dot-hack) is a multimedia franchise primarily created by Bandai. ... A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is Japanese animation, sometimes referred to in the Western world by the portmanteau Japanimation. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Rurouni Kenshin manga, volume 1 (English version) Manga (漫画) is the Japanese word for comics; outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese comics. ... Look up Book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A book is a collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, bound together along one edge within covers. ... .hack (pronounced dot-hack) is a multimedia franchise primarily created by Bandai. ...
Batman Begins
In the Batman Begins video game, the keypad code to enter a computer room is 1337. Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero/action film based on the comic book fictional character Batman.
Counter-Strike
Leetspeak can be most commonly found amongst the hardcore gamers and hackers playing Counter-Strike. Some say that Counter-Strike can be traced back as one of the first places leetspeak was seen by non-hackers. It can be seen in all aspects of the game ranging from player names, server names, and items in the game. Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ... Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ...
In earlier versions of the game, players could opt to play as the terrorist force 'L337 Crew'. Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. ...
Sociological aspects of Leet
Leetspeak can be said to be an expression of some general laws of sociology as it applies to small tribes or cliques which strive to maintain a sense of elitist cultural identity and uniqueness in the midst of the 'ignorant masses' by inventing linguistic and fashion styles. Such behavior is deeply ingrained in the human psyche, perhaps to the point of being encoded in the genes. In literature, the book Lord of the Flies depicts the evolution of such behavior. Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... This article is on the social structure. ... For clique in graph theory, see Clique (graph theory) For clique in professional wrestling, see Clique (professional wrestling) For The Clique, the group of Victorian artists see The Clique A common feature in cliques is an Outcast, the party in which are shunned, ostracized and left out. ... Elitism is a belief or attitude that an elite (a selected group of persons whose personal abilities, specialized training or other attributes place them at the top of any field) are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken most seriously, or who are alone fit to... Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as she/he is influenced by her/his belonging to a group or culture. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... The term fashion applies to a characteristic means of expression or presentation; fashions may follow trends, in which they gain or lose popularity. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... A Lord of the Flies cover Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author William G. Golding. ...
Leetspeak often represents an intermediate stage in a user's use of the Internet. First there is the "newbie" stage, where the user is ignorant about the customs and language of the Internet. Next there is the Leet stage, where the user has obtained enough information to "speak leet" to prove their superiority over "newbies" or to simply shorten typing time. Grammar (especially capitals etc) is often ignored in this stage. Many Internet users of high-school age are in the stage. The third and final stage is a more mature stage, where most words are spelt in full and grammar is used correctly. Most major websites are hosted by people in this stage—highly Internet savvy people who only use leet sarcastically. A newbie is a newcomer to a particular field, the term being commonly used on the Internet, where it might refer to new users of a game, a newsgroup, the Internet itself, or an operating system. ...
One of the currently important uses of such devices as Leetspeak is to allow some legitimate discourse on some subjects that cross the boundary of 'political correctness' in many tightly controlled communication medias. It is also sometimes used as a way to imply certain impolite expressions without causing offense (The emotive impact of these words in raw language overwhelm their denotive meaning), similar to the !@!*@($%) type expressions commonly seen in cartoons to indicate cursing (The desire is to interject the meaning without the negative impact). Another common use is to avoid activating automatic filtering systems which will intercept many expressions that are thought to indicate illicit content. Again the normal objective is to exercise free speech, not illicit activity in the general sense of the word. Zero tolerance policies and arbitrary banning of forms of expression by basically unconstrained authorities have made the use of alternate language forms a common tool of expression down through the ages. The use of "P0rn" for instance to reference ****ography in serious discourse to avoid an automatic E-mail filter from killing the conversation is a simple example.