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For the legal institutions, see court leet.
File:Leetspeak.png
For those who do not normally read or write like this, automatic translators facilitate ciphering and deciphering Leet.

The name Leet generally refers to a linguistic phenomenon associated with the Internet. Leet is defined in terms of the corruption or modification of written text. For example, the term "leet" itself is often written "l33t" or "1337". Such corruptions are frequently referred to as "Leetspeak" or "L33t5p34k," et cetera (see below for cipher definitions). In addition to corruption of standard language, new colloquialisms have been added to the parlance. It is also important to note that Leet itself is not solely based upon one language or character set. In fact, Greek, Russian, Chinese, and other languages have been subjected to the Leet "cipher". As such, while it may be referred to as a "cipher", a "dialect", or a "language", Leet does not fit squarely into any of these categories.

Origins

The name Leet itself is derived from the word elite. Elite has been used in the past to designate a group of users as belonging to a higher social echelon than other users. Originally, "elite" had been reduced to one syllable, "'leet." The origins of the use of "elite" itself is popularly considered to stem from the classic game Elite for BBC Master/Micro and contemporary machines, where Elite was the highest status in a series of combat rankings.

Leet has its basis in written communication over electronic media. Most simply, it evolved as a way of forming exclusive cliques in on-line communities, notably Bulletin Board Systems and online multiplayer games (see Examples of Leet in videogaming). The mechanism was simple: by taking standard text and corrupting it with a dynamic cipher, only those privy to the cipher could understand what was being conveyed in the ciphertext. Through this, newcomers to a given community were excluded from communication with those who had defined the cipher. Primitive Leet was generally much less elaborately substituted than modern forms. Typical spelling changes were to swap "f" and "ph" (as in "fone phreaks"), using "z" for "s" (generally only in the final position, ie. "phi1ez" but not "za1ezman"), "1" for "l", "k" for "c" and "0" for "o". In some positions, "y" was used for "i", most notably in the earliest spelling of elite as "e1yte." On BBS systems running on Commodore 64 computer, CBM graphics characters were also sometimes used to substitute letters. Over time these tendencies of replacing letters became increasingly exaggerated. Another early derivation of the letter replacing phenomenon was the prefix "k-" to some words. This began with the redundant substitution of "k" for "c" as seen in "k-kool" but was soon transposed to the much more common and enduring "k-rad." Some historians of Leet say that the first "k" in k-rad was a metaphorical reference to the metric system's "kilo" prefix, indicating "1000x (hence, "very") rad". "Rad" of course has its roots in general youth slang as a contraction of "radical" (compare extreme).

After the dawn of Leet on bulletin boards and other non-real-time communications media, Leet found something of a renaissance in real-time protocols such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and Instant messaging (such as AIM). It can be said that something of a conflict existed between those who used Leet in communication on such realtime services, and those who did not.

Through this process, Leet acquired an expanded vocabulary. As Internet slang grew (such as w00t, teh, and so on), it was absorbed into Leet (and subsequently enciphered). Along the way, additional languages began to be enciphered with Leet-like processes (see "krieg," "ist" below). In this regard, Leet resembles a creole or pidgin polyglot.

In addition to the broader vocabulary, Leet's ciphers became even more complex and dynamic. Where originally, a one-to-one relationship existed between the source and cipher text (such as "e" -> "3"), newer one-to-many and many-to-many ciphers began to emerge (such as "a" -> "@", "4", and so on).

Several outside sources have been instrumental in the formation and evolution of Leet as a dialect or cipher. Primarily, the exclusive nature of enciphering text in communities drove the evolution of the cipher. Additionally, in online games where certain text was forbidden (such as swearing, causing corruptions like "fucked" -> "phux0red"), newer, more clever ciphers had to be created to prevent software limitations from hindering communication. The same sort of evolution has been spurred by e-mail content filters which may prevent a user from including certain words in their "written" communication. As such, in addition to the socially exclusionary properties of using a cipher, it may be said that Leet is used as a means to defeat regular expression engines used for matching content in written communication.

More recently, the exclusive value of Leet as a cipher has been reduced. As Leet has become popular in the common Internet "vernacular," many users who would previously have been excluded by enciphered text have "caught on" to the cipher. Even highly irregular ciphers (see below for a full discussion of various ciphers) have proven to be easily decipherable by users determined to do so. Because of this, using Leet in discussion has become something of a novelty or joke. Users, instead of attempting to exclude other people with the cipher, have instead been using Leet to indicate that they are part of the Leet-using counterculture, or to mock the existence thereof.

Curiously, as Leet's effectiveness as a cipher has waned, the language has evolved due to its continued use in communities which tend to value it solely for humor value. The process of using Leet for humor, combined with its highly flexible and dynamic nature, causes it to metamorphose into further derivations of its original cipher. Thus, the language evolves, its vocabulary expands, and new expressions emerge from older constructs.

Sociological considerations

File:Jeopardy-1337.jpg
A contestant in Jeopardy! surreptitiously makes reference to Leet in the amount of his wager.

Leet can be defined as an expression of the general laws of sociology as it applies to small tribes or cliques. Leet is a manifestation of the need to maintain an elitist cultural identity in the midst of 'outsiders' (in this case, ignorant masses). In so doing, users have invented novel linguistic and fashion styles. Such is common human behavior, and many other linguistic behaviors (such as Idioglossia) have similar mechanisms and effects. In literature, an example of this behavior can be found in Lord of the Flies.

A trajectory through social acceptance on the Internet could be seen as:

  1. The "newbie" stage, wherein a user is ignorant about languages and customs.
  2. A "Leet" stage, where a user may over-compensate in their actions, by using Leet excessively, so as to "fit in" with the "elite" social cadre. These users may also attempt to ostracize other users who have not progressed to such a stage.
  3. A more "orthodox" stage, in which attention is paid to grammar and spelling. Communities seeking credibility in the eyes of the rest of the Internet may seek to portray this level of maturity. It is at this stage when Leet is most used in a sarcastic tone.

Yet another view is that obsessive attention to grammar, vocabulary, and spelling is increasingly outmoded on the current medium (the Internet) or the current period (of increasing internationalism). Underemployed academics - a group that is well known for fastidious attention to spelling - may constitute a large portion of the group that assess themselves as highly Internet-savvy, and (conversely) Leet users somehow less-savvy. While the academy, (the prime locus of the aforementioned group) may serve as a conservatory for Standard English, live languages are known to evolve (sometimes rapidly).

It may be said that part of the difficulty around use of the Leet dialect is due to the fact that it is an early example of emergent language in a non-spoken medium. As language universally has arisen out of spoken communication, a dialect which arises out of a polyglot of written languages and slang does not fit into the normal descriptions of language. As such, it is not offered any protection based upon ethnicity or nationality (whereas speakers of Italian in a primarily German speaking forum may expect some deference based on Italian being their native language, users of Leet may have no such consideration).

As such, Leet has been viewed almost universally as a misuse of language, as well as a misuse of resources. Users who do not engage in "Leet speak" complain that having to de-cipher the text is irritating. Conversely, users who do engage in the practice tend to argue that they are not intending for non-Leet-speaking users to read their communication.

Ironically, despite the fact that Leet itself does not symbolize any one ethnicity or nationality, it does represent a homologous group of users: "residents" of the Internet. Similarly, the position that use of Leet is indicative of level of Internet mastery may seem a thinly-veiled nationalist or ethnocentric criticism (cf. the English-Only movement; the Ebonics Controversy).

Because of the problems surrounding its lack of a spoken component, as well as its (seemingly) ethnocentric beginnings, there has recently been something of a stigma attached to use of the Leet cipher. Because of its popularity with children, parenting organizations have seen fit to warn parents about the cipher. Parents, it is reasoned, may not be able to understand what their children are saying in email, SMS's, or instant messenging, and dismiss it as nonsense. It is argued that children may be discussing such nefarious things as drug use. Guides have been published to help parents decipher their children's Leet-enciphered communication.

Despite the hurdles to attaining social acceptance, Leet has become such a part of common culture that the cipher is used even in mainstream advertising, such as the Sears Kenmore "HE4T" washing machine and dryer. Entire websites have been written with the Leet cipher, such as Something Awful's JeffK, and Google's "xx-hacker" dialect.

Additionally, Leet's use is proliferated by the increasing number of systems that require more secure passwords. The Leet spelling alterations often fulfill the need for non-dictionary passwords, while remaining easy to remember.

The Leet cipher and syntax

The Leet cipher is a highly dynamic, subjective cipher. It can be applied to many languages and character sets. As it incorporates new vocabulary and morphemes, the set of transliterations and corruptions increases. As the cipher was originally based upon English and the Latin alphabet, it is possible to derive a very basic set of common transliterations and corruptions.

Common transliterations

The cipher itself is highly dynamic, and subject to stylistic interpretation. A simple list of transliterations follows:

A 4 (note the use of 4 for either !, F, or H), /\, @, /-\, ^, ä, ª, aye, ∂, Fl, O H 4, #, /-/, [-], ]-[, )-(, (-), :-:, |~| {=}, <~>, |-|, ]~[, }{, ]-[, ?, }-{ O 0, (), ?p, [], *, ö V \/, \_/
B 8, 6, 13, |3, ß, P>, |:, !3, (3, /3,)3 I 1, !, |, &, eye, 3y3, ï, ][, [] P |^, |*, |o, |º, |^(o), |>, |", 9, []D, |̊, |7 W \/\/, vv, '//, \^/, (n), \V/, \//, \X/, \|/, \_|_/, \_:_/, \x/, Ш
C [, ¢, <, (, © J _|, ;, _/, </, (/ Q (_,), ()_, 0_, <| X ><, Ж, }{, ecks × or )(
D |), o|, [), I>, |>, ?, T) K X, |<, |{, ]{, }<, |( R |2, P\, |?, /2,|^, lz, ®, [z, 12, Я, 2 Y '-/, j, `/, \|, Ý, ÿ, ý, Ŷ, ŷ, Ÿ, Ϋ, Υ, Ψ, φ, λ, Ұ, ұ, ў, ץ ,צ, -), Ч
E 3, &, £, ë, [-, €, ê, |=- L 1, £, 7 (note the use of 7 for either L or T), 1_, |, |_, #, l, i, \_ S 5, 2, $, z, §, ehs, es Z 2, ~\_, ~/_, %
F 4, |=, ƒ, |#, i=, ph, /= M M, m, //., |v|, [V], {V}, |\/|, /\/\, (u), []V[], (V), (\/), /|\, Μ, М, м T 7, +, -|-, 1, '][', †
G 6, &, (_+, 9, C-, gee, (γ, N //, ^/, |\|, /\/, [\], , <\>, {\}, []\[], n, /V, ₪ U (_), |_|, v, ü Ü

J, Q, and Y typically are not transliterated and are often used as themselves. There are some common Leet alternatives for other sounds, e.g. "cks" is often replaced with an "x" as in "hax0r" and "sux0rs" (hacker and sucks/suckers). Characters such as € and ü are used, usually designating a new user or new member of the community.

Additionally, letters in the middle of words may be transposed. This has become the subject of some discussion in the linguistics community [1]. People seem to be able to discern meaning from words in which the first and last letters are correctly placed, even if the intervening letters are incorrectly placed.

The misspelling of "!"

  • The number 1 and the word "one" instead of exclamation points (!). Often used to show intense sarcasm (OMG I R TEH BEST!!!!11!one!11). Further, another common usage in this context is "eleven" as a substitute for multiple exclamation marks, as in: "I r0xx0red j00!!!!1!!11one!!eleven!!". Again this context denotes (extreme) sarcasm.
  • "shift+1" is also another commonly used joke to use for "!"
  • Along this line is the mispelling of "?" following the same line of "!" The most common being "/" and "slash", as in: W@t r j00 ta1kin b0u+, n00b???//??/?SLASH//?QUESTIONMARK? ("What are you talking about newb?")
  • In addition to the "one," "two," and "slash" being used to accentuate the sarcasm of the statement, "+shift" or "+shifty" is used in the same manner, for example: "NOWAI!!11one1!one+shifty"
  • The number mistyped for "!" varies on different Non-English keyboard layouts as "Shift + 1" is not always the combination for "!". For example, those using the Hungarian keyboard layout on their computer will mistype the number 4 for "!" as the key combination is "Shift + 4" in the Hungarian setting. Thus, this area of Hungarian leetspeak will appear differently (eg. "!!!!444!!!" instead of "!!!!111!!!") from its English counterpart.

As with most alternate Leet spellings or grammar, inclusion in a sentence is done on purpose, in order to lighten the mood, strengthen a point, or convey a sense of irony, depending on the context.

Word endings

File:Leet Screenshot.png
The ELinks web browser, set to Leet language, on the Leet language version of Google.
Use of x0r and "z0r"

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).

Originally in the phrase "r0x0r j00r b0x0rz", "b0x0rz" refers not to "boxers" (i.e. underwear) but actually to "boxes" (in computer slang: computers, though boxen or b0x3n may be more commonly used in this context). The more naïve interpretation "rocks your boxers" is still meaningful, however, as the sentiment is much the same and is often used to carry a connotation that one was 'rocked' so hard they felt it in their boxer shorts.

The term "r0x0r j00r b0x0r" itself probably relates to hacking itself, with a person being able to gain access to and, from there, "rock their box". It is also possible that it is a derivative from "r0x0r j00r s0x0r", "rocks your socks" (The phrase is used to denote some magnitude or importance). SOCKS is also a type of proxy.

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" or "Bob are teh r0x0r" is deliberately used to increase the level of irony and to separate it from less ironic, true Leet. -xor is also sometimes used in user nicknames (e.g: "Luxxor").

Due to the phonetic sound of "xor" (ksor), Leet speakers quickly began using "zor" and "zorz" as well and in similar context. "zorz" however is often used on the end of every major word in a sentence for comedic effect such as "H0ly sh1tzorz j00 0wnzorzed himzorz upz!1"

Additionally, the suffix "izzle" may be added to words in the same way as "zor," "xor," and similar may be used. This practice entered the popular culture based upon rapper Snoop Dogg's use of the term.

Use of the -age suffix

Many times, a verb will be changed into a noun simply by adding -age in addition to adding 'ness' to the end of an adjective, such as speak becoming speakage or leet becoming leetage, as in "1 k//0w 1337//355 5p34k4g3" or "h15 pwn4g3 sh00d b3 ph33r3d'".

Due to the fluid nature of Leet, such (derived) nouns can subsequently be used (again) as verbs: "h3 pwn4g3d m3," for example.

Words ending in -ed

Words ending in -ed may have -nt substituted. A common example of this would be pwned -> pwnt. This should not be confused with misspellings such as samrt for smart.

The grammar

Leet, like other hacker slang, enjoys a loose grammar. Because the deliberate misusage of grammar, just like spelling, encodes some of the level of emphasis, ironic or otherwise, a reader must rely more on intuitive parsing of Leet to determine the meaning of a sentence rather than the actual sentence structure. In particular, speakers of Leet are fond of verbing nouns, turning verbs into nouns (and back again) as forms of emphasis (e.g. "Bob rocks" is weaker than "Bob r0xx0rz" (spelling) is weaker than "Bob is t3h r0xx0r" (grammar)). Leet, like in other hacker slang, employs overgeneralization in construction of new words. For example, if "h4xx0r3d" is the past tense of the verb "to hack" (hack->haxxor->haxxored), then "bl0wz0r3d" would be easily understood to be the past tense conjugation of "to blow", even if the reader had not seen that particular word before (e.g: "I g0+ t3h qu4d damag3 4nd bl0wz0r3d h1m up!!1"). "Pwnz0r3d" is used often in the same way as owned hence "1 pwnz0r3d his @$5 L4s+ N1gh+ on C$" (I owned his ass last night on CS (Counter-Strike))

Also, any word ending in -xor (eg h4xx0r) can be construed as a noun, thus rendering "I @m t3h h@xx0r" grammatically correct.

Rhyming and rhythm

While Leet is not generally spoken, it can be deemed close to stress-timed. Care is taken by users of Leet to combine similarly timed words, or to encipher words into ways such that they have a common rhythm or rhyme. The archetypal example of this is the phrase "roffle my woffles" (note both spelling error, "woffle", and word timing). Other examples would be "r0xed j00r s0x" (in this case, only matching sounds). Leet can be highly lyrical and stylistic (even poetic) the way a typical pidgin language can be.

Over-exclamation and other emphasis

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. Some Leet speakers purposely type exactly one "1" for every 3 "!"s. This is a satire of noob players who let go of the shift key too soon and some of their intended exclamation marks become the number 1.

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 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. This is also usually used only when poking fun at people who happen to over-use exclamation marks as well as other punctuation. One might respond to someone saying "}{31p /\/\3 p13a53!!!!!!!!1" by saying "No!!11oneoneshift+1!!!".

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 "[2] OMGWTFBBQ!!11!11FORTYTWO!!111!!17!1NINE!1111!1!", where 42 comes in as a joke stemming from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels.

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 (in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring). Hence "LoL!!!!111eleventyoneone!"

Among the most strained echelons of the over-exclamation, particularly related to the number one, are mathematical formulas which would result in one. Example: OMGWTFBBQ!!1![2+(e^(pi*i))]!1!!uno!!

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, "OMFG das rockt!!!!1111einsshifteins".

In addition to variations on punctuation-based emphasis, it is common to combine two (or more) words and capitalize them to show emphasis. Perhaps most common would be the combination of "omg" and "wtf" to produce "OMGWTF". Also common is "NOWAY/NOWAI" (from "no way"). Constructions such as these are frequently reduced to abbreviations when their use becomes frequent, and repeated typing becomes time consuming (such as "holy fucking shit" -> "HOLYFUCKINGSHIT" -> "HFS!").

Vocabulary

Main article: Internet slang

Many words originally derived from Leet slang have now become part of the modern Internet slang, such as "pwned". Additionally, the common (intentional) misspellings such as "teh", and especially the "z" at the end of words ("skillz"). Another prominent example of a surviving Leet expression is the ever-popular "w00t" (now sometimes purposely done as w0t0). Gamers in particular may use Leet in a sarcastic manner, e.g. "ph34/2 m`/ 1337 sk1llz" ("Fear my leet skills"), as the practice is frowned upon by the community.

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 evicted (kicked out) by issuing a simple command such as "!kick username." To foil this method, some users have resorted to making their usernames difficult to type. An example of this would be "E'li'†è Hàxo'r".

Additionally, new words (or corruptions thereof) may arise from a need to make one's username unique. As Internet gaming reaches more people, the number of names available to a given user is drastically reduced. While many users may wish to have the username "Muad'Dib", in many cases it is only possible for one user to have the monniker. As such, degradations of the name may evolve, such as "M00ad'd33b" and so on. As the Leet cipher is highly dynamic, there are virtually limitless combinations of phonemes and transliterations.

In addition to the common transliterations and enciphering, misspelling (intentionally) is particularly prevalent in Leet dialects.

Frequently, common typing errors are also absorbed. Transposition of adjacent characters is a common construction (make -> maek, you -> yuo, is -> si). Other common misspellings now standard in Leet are:

  • "evar", "evah", and "eva" for "ever." Generally used the phrase "Worst. <something>. Evar." (Worst. Game. Evar.) This construct is largely credited as a reference to a phrase oft uttered by The Comic Book Guy, a recurring character on The Simpsons.
  • German "ist" for "is" has crept into Leet, including English encipherings. Frequently used with word "death". (mp3 ist death.) Also, "krieg" — German for "war" — in this context means, approximately, "favourable". (mp3 ist krieg). This may be a parody of the nargaroth song Black Metal Ist Krieg. Tends to be especially prevalent in heavy metal communities.
  • "smrt" or "samrt" for "smart" (The former 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!")
  • "teh" or "t3h" for "the". "Teh" is the archetypal example of Leet's letter-transposition construction. Additionally, "teh" may have a different grammatical function than "the". Consider the following: "I rock" versus "I am teh r0xx0r."
  • "gom" for "omg" for "oh my god/gosh!". Originating from gomgomgom in which the user moved the last g to the beginning.
  • "pron", "prawn", "pr0n", etc., for porn. Due to the prevalence of pornography in Leet-speaking communities, "porn" has many derivatives.

Kekeke

It is widely believed that the expression "kekeke" comes from the Korean players of StarCraft who have a key on their keyboards that they use to express giggling or laughter and when typed in an English server it apears as the text "ke". It is commonly associated with the simple but effective tactic in the game of amassing a large force of units known as Zergling or any type of Zerg unit and rushing the enemy base before they can properly defend themselves. The phrase "Zerg rush! kekeke!!" is often used out of context for any form of rushing or Blitzkrieg tactic, sometimes replacing "Zerg" with what suits the situation. Gamers also use "kekeke" as a form of laughing (usually meant to be a sort of sinister, demented laugh), although it is mostly used by Korean and Japanese players.

Another theory is due to the recently popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) known as World of Warcraft. Players who belong to the faction known as 'The Alliance' have a language barrier created between them and members of the opposite faction, 'The Horde'. Using a complicated cipher, certain letters (or combinations of letters) are substituted for other letters to create what seems like a foreign language to the opposing faction. However, some words are easily translatable, one of which is "kek" which is 'Orcish' (Horde) for "lol". Worth noting is that conversely, from the Horde point of view, "lol" (as spoken by Alliance) is read as "bur". The usage of kek has become a sort of 'in-joke' or even a fad among the informed people who know of its translation (most commonly WoW players) and so "kekekekek", although not quite as it would appear if the cipher were used properly, is a play on the common use of "lololol" (to indicate repeated laughter out loud).

The term was and is also commonly used in the public chat channels of Diabo II, and other Battle.Net games.

Pwn

Main article: pwn

Pwn refers to the domination of a player in a video game (rather than just a win). For example, one pwning another is equivalent to scoring a dramatic kill, or several kills, in a video game shooter, against the other person. Similarly, to "get pwned" means that a more skilled player in a game has scored a convincing or even humiliating victory against you. Outside games 'pwnd' describes being in a highly humiliating position. The term "z0r" may also be suffixed for added affect: "pwnz0red". There is also pwnt, pwnded, and owndizzled.

Pwned can be pronounced phonetically several ways; Usually, the pronunciation is "owned", "powned", "punt", "pawned", "pooned", "peened", or "pioned". In terms of extreme excitement or joy, a Leet speaker may use the terms "pwikiwoned!!" or "pwakawakaowned!!".

The origin of the term is controversial and many claim to have invented it. Due to its nature, the term is most likely to have occured in several places at the same time (due to a common misspelling of the word "own", caused by the proximity of 'P' and 'O' keys on QWERTY keyboards), similar to the discovery of the J/ψ. There are also theories of the term meaning power-owned (I own you all), or pistol-owned and this is certainly used in particular circles. Another theory is that if you remove the vertical line on a 'p', it leaves the shape of an 'o'.

Cans of Pwnage

Cans of pwnage is a newly evolving term in 1337speak, which is traditionally used to denote "ownage" or "pwnage" in which the 1337 person (person A) typically pwns the "nubcake" or "nubcaek" (person B). So if person A got a headshot on person B, for example, person A may say something along the lines of "I just open3d a can of pwn4ge on you nubcake," or "I just opened a can of pwnage on you nubcake." The phrase originated from professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin's popular tagline "open up a can of whoop-ass."

Also used in the phrase "I need to go down to the corner store and buy some more cans of pwnage." Occasionally, when the 1337 speaker feels the need to be extremely 1337, a higher quantity of pwnage is used. For example, if person A just picked up the double damage and killed five players, he might exclaim "ph34r my keg of pwnage, nubcakes!!11" in which "ph34r," "keg of pwnage," "nubcakes," and over-exclamation are all used to heighten the dramatic effect and 1337ness of the speaker. The "keg" of pwnage, rather than merely a "can," especially correlates the effect, and the 1337 pwner feels extremely powerful.

"Pwnage" isn't always the term used when measuring the quantity one one's l33tness. Like most 133t$p33k, there are many variations, such as "Can o l33tsauce," "pwnz0rized," etc. Sometimes, the verb pwn isn't always used. In the event where player A kills player B, one might also brag of "fragging j00r a$$" or merely use a simple interjection such as "w00t" or "nubb"

Newbies, the nubcake, and nub

Main article: newbie

Within Leet, the term "newbie" (and derivations thereof) is used extensively. This is due in part to its origins as a means of segregating the "elite" echelon from outsiders. A contemporary derivative of "newbie" (or "n00b") is the "nubcake". Nubcake may be used in conjunction with puns such as "what do you eat for breakfast, nubcakes?" While nubcake is in itself not entirely offensive, it is derived fom the term "noob," which is generally viewed as being diminutive. Additionally, the term nubcake may evoke the pejorative "fruitcake," [3] which references homosexuals.

Further corruption of nubcake may lead to products such as nubcaek, nublet, nubsauce, and so on.


In primitive Leet as used on BBS systems in the 1980s and into the very early 1990s, the usual term was "greenie" which was derived from the cowboy slang "greenhorn." A variant was "Christmas greenies" which referred to the phenomenon where BBS systems were flooded with new members immediately following Christmas and Hanukkah owing to the fact that modems were a common holiday gift.

Roffle, Roffles, and combinations thereof

Main article: LOL (Internet slang)

Among the early Internet slang were "rofl," "lol," and others indicating an appreciation of humor. As such, derivations thereof quickly became incorporated into the Leet vocabulary. Leet is prone to corruptions of words to suit rhythm and rhyming. This, in addition to various plays on the word (such as the "ROFLCOPTER","ROFLAMETHROWER", "LOLERBLADES", "lollergasm", "lollercoaster", etc) has led to the creation of phrases such as "roffle my woffles" (misspelled for humor's sake).

Another "pheared" 1337 phrase is, "1s1k". Used almost exclusively in FPS games, "1s1k" refers not only to a person's playing style, but also to his "1337" ability. Standing for "one shot, one kill", this moniker draws on the great tradition of snipers in the world today. Where as any n00b can record a kill using (and wasting) a large amount of ammunition, "1s1k" points to the players adherence to using sniper rifles, also known as "chocolate chips." Ex. after a team member is sniped "I wouldn't venture out there fellas. This sniper's got talent... 1s1k".

Leet influence on other languages and character sets

Hong Kong Leet

Leet's influence on Chinese characters originated in online forums in Hong Kong. Corruptions generally begin by breaking characters into their elemental radicals. As with the original enciphering of the Latin character set, Hong Kong Leet may be viewed as rude in public arenas. However, it may also be used simply as a method of defeating automated censoring processes.

Examples:

Original Converted Meaning
硬膠仔 石更月翏亻子 Very stupid boy (vulgar)
不願作答 不原頁亻乍答 Not willing to answer it
鋪頭 金甫豆頁 A shop
仆街 亻卜彳圭亍 Fall down on the street (vulgar)

Kusachu Leet / 2ch slang

The Kusachu language (クサチュー語 or 勹廾千ｭ―言吾 Kusachū-go) is a form of Leet enciphering for Japanese. It is written with a set of characters that replace common Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji characters which look similar to them. As with Hong Kong Leet, Kusachu Leet is primarily used in online forums, such as 2channel (or 2ch). The etymology of Kusachu derives from the words "Kusare," meaning "gone bad" or "rotten", and 厨房 ("kitchen"), which is pronounced the same as 中坊 ("junior high kid", 中=middle and 坊=kid in this context). 厨房 is itself "2ch slang" for "dimwit".

Kusachu also resembles (to the point of being almost the same) ギャル文字 (gyaru-moji, "girls' alphabet"), which is common among high-school aged girls. In 2ch slang, words are written using their homonyms (an abbreviation process similar to "you" => "u"), e.g. "ドキュン" (dokyun) => "DQN". In gyaru-moji, characters are composed using (sometimes very vaguely) similar-looking characters or their components, e.g. 話 => 言舌, し => ∪, キ => ≠, ハ => / \. Kusachu could be seen as a selective mixture of bohramt.

Of Kusachu, there are many "dialects." Distinctions between dialects are not immediately easy to make. The character-splitting style is closest to Leet in that it may be hard to read for the uninitiated. By the same token, Kusachu, like other dialects of Leet, may be disliked by non-users of the cipher. The 2ch style is less corrupted than other forms of Leet, but it encompasses a larger novel vocabulary.

Examples:

Original Converted Meaning
フリー百科事典ウィキペディア ┐リ―百科事典ゥィ‡∧・〒"ィ了 The Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia
あやしい ぁゃιぃ strange
爆死 火暴歹ヒ die in an explosion

Japanese leet laugh

Back in the dawn of commercial MO/MMO games, most games didn't support Japanese characters in game chat. That created a problem when Japanese wanted to express laughter online. It is thought that in 1997, on the renowned Diablo1's Battle.Net, laughter was expressed as "(w" , abbreviated from " (warai) " or " waratta ", meaning laugh and/or laughter. Then time passed and in 1998 (w was shortened to a simple " w " or " ｗ "　( ｗ is w in Japanese 2byte chracters. It looks the same, just a little wider)))

  • for example, a very typical leet PvP player may rant like this:

　　those crybabies (who came from other non-PvP mmos)sucks w

To express farther leetness, you may add more w's, capitals may be used randomly, and misspelled e (lying next to the w key) could be placed between the w's.

  • ex.2

　　those crybabies sucks wwwww

  • ex.3

　　those crybabies sucks WWWwwWWEeEWｗっうぇｗｗwwWｗｗ

Hardcore gamers and wannbies tend to overuse w's, some using w at the end of every sentence, annoying other serious-minded players. Some say Ragnarok Online players and Final Fantasy XI players use w to its very maximum. Sometimes a simple w will be given as an answer to other player's comment, meaning anything from a simple nod to a warm aproval, yawn, snicker, a healthy laugh, or a sarcastic and sly smile.

Volapuk encoding

Main article: [[:Volapuk encoding]]

For IRC and other programs as well as when a suitable character/font set is lacking, some users of the cyrillic alphabet (such as in the Russian, Serbian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian languages) instead use phonetic versions of normal cyrilic words. They use letters that are similar in both alphabets, and where they need to use a character that isn't present in latin they may substitute an ASCII character that in some way represents the original. This practice is widely popular as it saves time and also gives the text a rather cryptic look, but is sometimes prohibited in BBS and other services because some administrators believe it degrades the traditional cyrilic alphabet or is harder to read and too informal in most cases. Here is a brief guide to converting a word from cyrilic to latin:

The usual cyrillation styles are loosely based upon the phonetic and BDS cyrillic keyboard layouts. It is also notable that some characters share their appearance but have different pronunciations in Latin and Cyrillic - for example B in Cyrillic is equal to V in Latin. Alternations of this style are also present in other non-latin alphabets.

While both a transliteration system (above) and a pictogram system exist, they are not used in conjunction as the combination would be too difficult to understand.

Examples:

Similar/shared letters
Cyrillic ASCII
А A
Е E
К K
М M
О O
Т T
Letters converted by pronunciation
Б B
B V
Г G
Д D
Ё Yo (in the beginning of the word), Io (in the end)
Ж ZH
З Z
И I
Й Y, J
Л L
Н N
П P
Р R
С S
У U
Ф F
Х H, KH
Ц C, TS
Ч CH
Ш SH
Щ SCH, SHT
Ъ(hardener) Q
Ы Y, I (harder)
Э E (phonetically like "ae")
ю JU, YU
я JA, YA
Other converted letters
Ь(silenter) ' (apostrophe)
Ъ(hardener) " or (bracket / double apostrophe)
Pictograms
Ч 4
З 3
Б 6
Щ LL|
Ж }|{
ю |-0
Ш w
и u
м m

Greeklish

A similar method of enciphering is used for the same reasons as "Cyrillization" is Greeklish. Greeklish is a way of writing Greek using only Latin characters, punctuation and numerals. Like Cyrillization, Greeklish is often difficult to read even for native speakers and is frequently discouraged.

In Addition, many Leet words or slang have been internalized within the Greek spoken language through Greek gamers online in games such as World of Warcraft.

Examples:

Greeklish Explanation
Noobas, Noobidi, NoobAs "Noob" with a Greek masculine suffix (-as) and neutral (-idi)
Ownaro, OwnAro Meaning "I own"; used as a verb
Gkosas Stemming from the word Gosa, meaning experienced player
OMG, OhMiGi Mispronunciation of OMG (OhEmg); "Oh My God"

Problems classifying Leet as a language

Murky origins

1337 draws its origins from the early 1990, when it was used by unix programmers. It is a simplification of the term "elite". This short form has evolved into a slang term used by gamers and programmers alike.

Relative youth

While most languages have a long history, many being thousands of years old, Leet has no such history. In fact, Leet is no older than a few decades. Determining an exact taxonomy of Leet is therefore rather difficult. Leet is more accurately described in terms of itself. As Leet evolves, it gains more vocabulary and additionally nuanced syntax, through recursively applying its syntax to itself (in this respect, Leet is not unlike a recursive filter).

Lack of appropriate terminology

As Leet is largely defined in terms of itself, or the languages it corrupts, very little terminology exists to classify it. The term "meme" comes close in some respects, but fails significantly in others. The abovementioned terms fail in similar ways.

Problems publishing research

Because Leet is not an internationally recognized language (or officially a language at all), and because it lacks a set of formal definitions, referring to it in publications is difficult. Further, publishing research in Leet is problematic due to the a lack of proper indexing, professional sanctioning bodies, peer reviewers, and so on. To illustrate this, imagine a text written in Leet being indexed in a library in which most of the text is in English.

See also

Terminology

Leet in the Internet social corpus

References

  2. "Lexical tensions in 'internet english' : 1337 as language?", Van de Velde, Kristof and Meuleman, Jeroen, viewed 29 January, 2006 [4]
  3. "A History and Analysis of the 'l33t' Dialect", Dyck, Sasha, 12 January, 2003 [5]
  4. "According to research at Cambridge University ...", Davis, Matt, 2003 [6]
  5. "Can you raed this?", Slashdot.org, 15 September, 2003 [7]
  6. "E-commerce lexicon: communicating in brief", Jacobs, Joanne, viewed 29 January, 2006 [8]
  7. "Twin Language", Hudon, Mindy, viewed 29 January, 2006 [9]
  8. "Origins of Written Language", Gay, Greg, viewed 29 January, 2006 [10]

Leet guides and instruction

Translation tools

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