Leet Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Leet (often Eleet, leetspeak, leetspeek, 1337SP33K, l33t, ej33t, 31337, or 1337; from "elite" or "élite") is a cipher, or novel form of English spelling. It is characterized by the use of non-alphabet characters to stand for letters bearing a superficial resemblance, and by a number of quasi-standard spelling changes such as the substitution of "z" for final "s" and "x" for "(c)ks". Leet is traditionally used on the Internet and other online communities, such as bulletin board systems, sometimes to complement Internet slang or "chatspeak". Leet is used by hackers, crackerss, script kiddies, gamers, Animators, and even lamers. Although leet is not popular amongst some hackers, who think that it is immature and prefer their prose to reflect the cleanliness of syntax of their code (although consistent leetspeak could arguably do so), it is nonetheless a cultural phenomenon well-known amongst hackers and many other Internet users, and is used by many computer professionals because of this.
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") to be leet or leetspeak; instead, they refer to it by such terms as "AOL speak" because they associate such habits with users who came to the Internet later, many of whom first used software such as AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger to communicate with each other. Another convention sometimes associated with leetspeak or Internet chatting is capitalizing every other letter (LiKe ThIs), sometimes called stickycaps. A similar habit involves capitalizing every letter except for vowels (LiKe THiS).
Overview
The term "leet" comes from the word "elite". Leet can be either pronounced as "leet" (monosyllabic, rhymes with "meat", SAMPA /li:t/) or by pronouncing the L separate from the rest of the word as "el eat" (elite)", SAMPA /Eli:t/. Leet is a form of written slang or street talk for the information highway. It is sometimes used to create group identity and to obscure meaning from outsiders, especially newbies (which may be written "n00bs", possibly from "new one on block"). It also establishes a hierarchy, as more complex forms of leet are increasingly unreadable to the untrained eye (consider the phrase "PHr3Ku3N7ly H4s|{3d K0o£St330nZ!": it translates to "frequently asked questions". Note the extraneous h in front of asked and the construction "teeonz" as meaning "tions"). Simple forms of leet have become quite mainstream, as employees use the alternative spellings to circumvent their companies' mail filters designed to censor swearwords and other objectionable content.
One probable explanation of its origin is from bulletin board systems (BBSs) in the 1980s and early 1990s. It started from the hackers who were trying to participate in spurious activities. Many BBSs didn't want these things happening on their servers, so they would filter or ban people who talked about questionable topics. Most notably the word "hacker" became one of the "naughty" words. Rather than leave to more boring domains, the simply replaced "hacker" with a slightly different variaton. ("hack0r", "h4cker", etc.) These got banned too, and then they would change the word more and more until it was barely recognizable. ("h4x0r", "|-|^><()|z") Eventually the system adminstrators realized that there was no way of banning words in a polymorphic language like Leet.
This later turned into the condition where having "elite" status on a BBS allowed a user access to file areas, games, and special chat rooms, often including archives of pirated software, pornography, and text files of dubious quality documenting topics such as how to construct explosives and manufacture illegal drugs. Some people think that leetspeak or hakspek that shortens text may have been developed to decrease bandwidth usage before the bandwidth explosion of the 1990s, but this is most likely not the case, as such methods would have had extremely minimal effect on actual bandwidth usage.
Leet is regaining popularity in SMS (Short Message Service) media. More recently, leet has re-entered the mainstream thanks to its use on various popular websites such as blogs, webcomics and forums. People who enjoy irony sometimes use leetspeak to draw attention to "secrets" they believe no one actually cares about, to joke, or emphasize a nuance.
Websites exist that are written entirely in leet. There are also converter programs which automatically convert ordinary English text into leet, at varying levels of complexity (depending on how 1337 the program is). External links: The l33t surfer, a web tool to surf the web the l33t way; A version of Google aimed at the 1337 demographic. Also, The Ultra-1337 Translator lets you convert things into basic or advanced 1337-speak and back.
Examples
Note that the construction "-xor" or any variation thereof can mean not only "-ker" but also "zor" (which is how majority of English speakers would say it). In the phrase "r0x0rz my b0x0rz", which means the object of the phrase (usually a game, program, exploit, etc.) is of high quality, "x0rz" in the word "r0x0rz" is almost ignored (pronounced "ks" so that the whole word is "rocks") while the "x0rz" on "b0x0rz" is pronounced "kszors". It is important to note that while "b0x0rz" appears to be leet for "boxers", it is actually from a common leet expression "r0x0r j00r b0x0rz", "b0x0rz" meaning "computers" (sometimes referred to as boxes, or among system administrators, boxen). "r0x0rz" is generally pronounced as "roks-ors", which is how it is spelled; however, a very small minority pronounce it "rockers", following the usage in "hax0rz". 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 leet is being spoken in.
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.
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 lame" 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 "Élí†è Hàxór" which is difficult to type in.
This is an Article on Leet. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Leet "Phonetic" spellings
Note that in true leet, the following are considered improper. They are seen more as IM lingo
Frequent misspellings
Frequently, common typing errors are also absorbed into leet, such as:
Other examples
Another common feature of leet is over-exclamation, where a sentence is postfixed with many exclamation marks: pHu>Megatokyo
The webcomic MegaTokyo has caused a popularisation of leet through the characters Largo and Junpei, who are fluent in leet, and the use of leet on some of the other characters clothing. Even Boo, the hamster of Baldur's Gate fame, can squeek in leet. Some of the phrases are regularly quoted by fans of the webcomic in many forums, chats and multiplayer games, like 'ph33r my l33t skillz' (fear my elite skills)
A
4 or /\\ or @ G
9 or 6 M
//. or ^^ or |v| or [V] or {V} or |\\/| or /\\/\\ or (u) S
5 or $ or z Y
Y or '/ or `/ or V/ or \\-/ or j also ¥ (alt+0165) or %
B
8 or 6 or |3 or |> H
# or [-] or {=} or <~> or |-| or ]~[ or }{ N
// or ^/ or |\\| or /\\/ or [\\] or <\\> or {\\} T
7 or + or -|- or 1 Z
2 or z or ~\\_ or ~/_
C
[ or ¢ or < or ( I
1 or ! or | O
0 or () U
(_) or |_| or v
D
|) or o| or [) J
,| or _| or ; P
|^ or |* or |o or |> or |" or |? V
\\/ or <
E
3 or & K
|< or |{ or ]{ or }< Q
9 or (,) or <| or ¶ W
\\/\\/ or '// or \\^/ or (n) or \\V/
F
|= L
1 or | or |_ or # R
|2 or 2 or P\\ X
><
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", 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 a joking context. "h42 h42, u ar3z s00 1337" or "ph342 m/\\ 1337 sk1llz". Leet as a spoken language
Not much thought is given to leet as a spoken language, for reasons relating to its origins as as a sort of evolved form of internet cipher. While Leet can be pronounced, it rarely occurs outside the medium of multiplayer online gaming. 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. There may be people who speak 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). However, if society's current trend towards technological dependence and reliance continues, leet may evolve into more than just an obscure perversion of the Queen's English. More than likely though, those who speak Leet exclusivley can't exist in a normal English speaking society.Related articles
Examples of leetspeak
External links