Cool. I was just curious. I find myself wishing that someone would compile one of those for us mechanically-inclined geeks. Must be nice to have that token of exclusivity that your jargon is documented…
A long long time ago, in an internet far different from the modern incarnation, some hackers, mildly annoyed at newbies bugging them for information, made up a tongue in cheek code language that they would use with each other, and thus, be able to tell hackers from newbies. This became known as l33tspeak. The basis varies on the sect of hacker culture, but in its generalized form, it translates as follows:
ABCDE F GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX Y Z
———————————–
48CD3 PH GH1JK|MN0PQR57UVWX Y(J) Z
To/Too becomes 2
You becomes j00
I becomes 3y3
elite becomes l33t.
plurals are usually done with a z instead of an s.
the kay sound is usually replaced with -x0rz.
e.g. rocks becomes r0x0rz, sucks becomes sux0rz
w00t! is a general exclamation, meaning nothing, equivalent to “sweet!” or “groovy!”, but not necessarily with a positive connotation. it is doubled for emphasis.
excessive punctuation is also used to imply emphasis.
It didn’t last long, but the documentation on how to speak it did, and quickly got into the hands of the wannabee hackers, who embraced it, which quickly made it extremely uncool for serious hackers to use. However, most members of the hacker (and later, gaming) scenes occasionally use it in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
It is commonly referred to as l33tspeak, or script-kiddie speak (derogatory).
I have seen it, and its fairly on target. Some of it is dated, but I find myself more or less speaking like it dictates…
Cool. I was just curious. I find myself wishing that someone would compile one of those for us mechanically-inclined geeks. Must be nice to have that token of exclusivity that your jargon is documented…
:o)
w3 d4 l33t!
:)
I’ve tried and I’ve tried… I still don’t understand that lexicon. “we da leet!” What? I don’t get it… *sigh*
again, :)
(ask Spot)
(whiney voice) Spot… What’s she talking about?
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/elite.html
A long long time ago, in an internet far different from the modern incarnation, some hackers, mildly annoyed at newbies bugging them for information, made up a tongue in cheek code language that they would use with each other, and thus, be able to tell hackers from newbies. This became known as l33tspeak. The basis varies on the sect of hacker culture, but in its generalized form, it translates as follows:
ABCDE F GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX Y Z
———————————–
48CD3 PH GH1JK|MN0PQR57UVWX Y(J) Z
To/Too becomes 2
You becomes j00
I becomes 3y3
elite becomes l33t.
plurals are usually done with a z instead of an s.
the kay sound is usually replaced with -x0rz.
e.g. rocks becomes r0x0rz, sucks becomes sux0rz
w00t! is a general exclamation, meaning nothing, equivalent to “sweet!” or “groovy!”, but not necessarily with a positive connotation. it is doubled for emphasis.
excessive punctuation is also used to imply emphasis.
big example:
3y3 h4x0r3d j00r w34k c0mpu73r! 3y3 4m l33t! ph33r!
I hacked your weak computer. I am elite. Fear me.
It didn’t last long, but the documentation on how to speak it did, and quickly got into the hands of the wannabee hackers, who embraced it, which quickly made it extremely uncool for serious hackers to use. However, most members of the hacker (and later, gaming) scenes occasionally use it in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
It is commonly referred to as l33tspeak, or script-kiddie speak (derogatory).
Hope this helps.
3x0rz3||3nt. Thanks :o)