Leet

Leet originated within bulletin board systems (BBS) in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a BBS allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms. The Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective has been credited with the original coining of the term, in their text-files of that era. One theory is that it was developed to defeat text filters created by BBS or Internet Relay Chat system operators for message boards to discourage the discussion of forbidden topics, like cracking and hacking. s showing 1337 Leet symbols, especially the number 1337, are Internet memes that have spilled over into some culture. Signs that show the numbers "1337" are popular motifs for pictures and are shared widely across the Internet. Algospeak Algospeak shares conceptual similarities with leet, albeit with its primary purpose to circumvent algorithmic censorship online, "algospeak" deriving from algo of algorithm and speak. These are euphemisms that aim to evade automated online moderation techniques, especially those that are considered unfair or hindering free speech. One prominent example is using the term "unalive" as opposed to the verb "kill" or even "suicide". Other examples include using "restarted" or "regarded" instead of "retarded" and "seggs" in place of "sex". These phrases are easily understandable to humans, providing either the same general meaning, pronunciation, or shape of the original word. It is furthermore often employed as a more contemporary alternative to leet. The approach has gained more popularity in 2023 and 2024 with pro-Palestinian social media users as the Gaza war intensified, in order to circumvent algorithms used by platforms such as Meta and TikTok. ==Orthography==

One of the hallmarks of leet is its unique approach to orthography, using substitutions of other letters, or indeed of characters other than letters, to represent letters in a word. For more casual use of leet, the primary strategy is to use quasi-homoglyphs, symbols that closely resemble (to varying degrees) the letters for which they stand. The choice of symbol is not fixed: anything the reader can make sense of is valid in leet-speak. Sometimes, a gamer would work around a nickname being already taken (and maybe abandoned as well) by replacing a letter with a similar-looking digit. • However, leet is also seen in situations where the argot (e.g. secret language) characteristics of the system are required, either to exclude newbies or outsiders in general, i.e., anything that the average reader cannot make sense of is valid; a valid reader should themselves try to make sense, if deserving of the underlying message. • Mild leet can be used to mess with frequency analysis "as is". Another use for leet orthographic substitutions is the creation of paraphrased passwords. require less extensive forms when used in this application. Some examples of leet orthography include: • B1ff. • n00b – a term for "noob", the stereotypical newbie. • The l33t programming language. • "E5C4P3": stylized cover of Journey's Escape album. • k3w1 deciphers as "kewl" (which is derived from "cool"). • The web-comics Megatokyo and Homestuck contain characters who speak variations of leet. • The digit "5" in the stage name of musician Deadmau5. • "DEF 4L7" plates are used by Defalt (sic), a hacker from the Watch Dogs videogame (the first in the series). "DefAlt" nickname is a possible reference to "default [settings]" • Upside-down "1337" (with a bar under "1") also reads as "LEET" (see example on the photo). • "1 (4/\/"7 |_|/\/[)3|2574/\/[) '/0|_||2 \/\/|2171/\/9.17’5 (0/\/|=|_|51/\/9" is heavily leet-styled "I can’t understand your writing. It’s confusing". • Sometimes, a word can be typed in leet with digits only: • "360" codes the word "EGO" in leet. • "2007 2008" deciphers as "QOOT QOOB" which is derived from "cute cube"). • "2083" or "12083" somewhat resembles "ROBE" noun. • "11363015" means LIEGEOIS, e.g. Liège. • "1231474813" is an encoding of the word "RELATABLE" • "137 17 83 137 17 60" hides the phrase "let it be, let it go" • "4150" may stand for "ALSO" • "33571 – 18124" translates to "Eesti – Ibiza". • "2077" can be found in the logo of German dairy company "ZOTT" logo • Sometimes words or phrases with 6 letters can be leet-ified into a valid hexadecimal color code: • █ "614D05" is a valid HEX-code for a dark shade of gold color, referencing GLaDOS; • █ "572E55" (or █ "572355") is a dark purple color, coming from the word "STRESS"; • █ "1C373A" is a dark cyan ("icy") color, derived from "ICE TEA"; • █ "C47C47" is a peach-orange color, derived from the word cat twice; • █ "C01025" is a pink-ish shade of red, derived from the word "COLORS"; • █ "D35327" is a dark orange color, produced from "DESERT". • █ "80771E" is a yellowish-orange color, produced from "BOTTLE". • █ "B00B15" is a redish color, derived from "BOOBIE". • █ "B4DD1E" is a yellowish-green color, produced from "BADDIE". • It is possible to spell words and names in leet-speak to create additional references. • For example, the name "Marisa" can be spelled as /\/\AR15/\ – with a reference to the AR-15 platform. • 834-613 means BEA-GLE all while also referencing to the Beagle Boys and their names (e.g. 6-digit IDs) in particular. • 2017Δ1337 is a reference to Colt Delta Elite, where "2017" stands for "Qolt" (derived from "Colt") and "1337" bears aforementioned "Elite" meaning. However, leetspeak should not be confused with SMS-speak, characterized by using "4" as "for", "2" as "to", "b&" as "ban'd" (i.e. "banned"), "gr8 b8, m8, appreci8, no h8" as "great bait, mate, appreciate, no hate", and so on. Table of leet-speak substitutes for normal letters |] l) I) Đ 3 4 ==Morphology==

Text rendered in leet is often characterized by distinctive, recurring forms. ;-xor suffix :The meaning of this suffix is parallel with the English -er and -or suffixes (seen in hacker and lesser) These nouns are often used with a form of "to be" rather than "to have," e.g., "that was pwnage" rather than "he has pwnage". Either is a more emphatic way of expressing the simpler "he pwns," but the former implies that the person is embodying the trait rather than merely possessing it. ;-ness suffix :Derivation of a noun from an adjective stem is done by attaching -ness to any adjective. This is entirely the same as the English form, except it is used much more often in Leet. Nouns such as lulzness and leetness are derivations using this suffix. ;Words ending in -ed :When forming a past participle ending in -ed, the Leet user may replace the -e with an apostrophe, as was common in poetry of previous centuries, (e.g. "pwned" becomes "pwn'd"). Sometimes, the apostrophe is removed as well (e.g. "pwned" becomes "pwnd"). The word ending may also be substituted by -t (e.g. pwned becomes pwnt). ;Use of the -& suffix :Words ending in -and, -anned, -ant, or a similar sound can sometimes be spelled with an ampersand (&) to express the ending sound (e.g. "This is the s&box", "I'm sorry, you've been b&", "&hill/&farm"). It is most commonly used with the word banned. An alternative form of "B&" is "B7", as the ampersand is with the "7" key on the standard US keyboard. It is often seen in the abbreviation "IBB7" (in before banned), which indicates that the poster believes that a previous poster will soon be banned from the site, channel, or board on which they are posting. ==Grammar==

Leet can be pronounced as a single syllable, , rhyming with eat, by way of apheresis of the initial vowel of "elite". It may also be pronounced as two syllables, . In particular, speakers of leet are fond of verbing nouns, turning verbs into nouns (and back again) as forms of emphasis, e.g. "Austin rocks" is weaker than "Austin roxxorz" (note spelling), which is weaker than "Au5t1N is t3h r0xx0rz" (note grammar), which is weaker than something like "0MFG D00D /\Ü571N 15 T3H l_l83Я 1337 Я0XX0ЯZ" (OMG, dude, Austin is the über-elite rocks-er!). In essence, all of these mean "Austin rocks," not necessarily the other options. Added words and misspellings add to the speaker's enjoyment. Leet, like hacker slang, employs analogy in construction of new words. For example, if haxored is the past tense of the verb "to hack" (hack → haxor → haxored), then winzored would be easily understood to be the past tense conjugation of "to win," even if the reader had not seen that particular word before. and alternate mark inversion Leet has its own colloquialisms, many of which originated as jokes based on common typing errors, habits of new computer users, or knowledge of cyberculture and history. Leet is not solely based upon one language or character set. Greek, Russian, and other languages have leet forms, and leet in one language may use characters from another where they are available. 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. The term leet itself is often written 31337, or 1337, and many other variations. After the meaning of these became widely familiar, 10100111001 came to be used in its place, because it is the binary form of 1337 decimal, making it more of a puzzle to interpret. An increasingly common characteristic of leet is the changing of grammatical usage so as to be deliberately incorrect. The widespread popularity of deliberate misspelling is similar to the cult following of the "All your base are belong to us" phrase. Indeed, the online and computer communities have been international from their inception, so spellings and phrases typical of non-native speakers are quite common. ==Vocabulary==

t-shirt using leet to highlight password vulnerability Many words originally derived from leet have now become part of modern Internet slang, such as "pwned". especially the "z" at the end of words ("skillz"). Terminology and common misspellings Warez (nominally ) is a plural shortening of "software", typically referring to cracked and redistributed software. j00 takes the place of "you", Haxor and suxxor (suxorz) Haxor, and derivations thereof, is leet for "hacker", and it is one of the most commonplace examples of the use of the -xor suffix. Suxxor (pronounced suck-zor) is a derogatory term which originated in warez culture and is currently used in multi-user environments such as multiplayer video games and instant messaging; it, like haxor, is one of the early leet words to use the -xor suffix. Suxxor is a modified version of "sucks" (the phrase "to suck"), and the meaning is the same as the English slang. Suxxor can be mistaken with Succer/Succker if used in the wrong context. Its negative definition essentially makes it the opposite of roxxor, and both can be used as a verb or a noun. The letters ck are often replaced with the Greek Χ (chi) in other words as well. n00b Within leet, the term n00b (and derivations thereof) is used extensively. The term is derived from newbie (as in new and inexperienced, or uninformed), both refer to the domination of a player in a video game or argument (rather than just a win), or the successful hacking of a website or computer. It is a slang term derived from the verb own, meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. As is a common characteristic of leet, the terms have also been adapted into noun and adjective forms, used primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You just got pwned!"). In 2015 Scrabble added pwn to their Official Scrabble Words list. Pr0n Pr0n is slang for pornography. where a zero is often used to replace the letter O. It is sometimes used in legitimate communications (such as email discussion groups, Usenet, chat rooms, and Internet web pages) to circumvent language and content filters, which may reject messages as offensive or spam. The word also helps prevent search engines from associating commercial sites with pornography, which might result in unwelcome traffic. Pr0n is also sometimes spelled backwards (n0rp) to further obscure the meaning to potentially uninformed readers. It can also refer to ASCII art depicting pornographic images, or to photos of the internals of consumer and industrial hardware. Prawn, a spoof of the misspelling, has started to come into use, as well; in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, a pornographer films his movies on "Prawn Island". Conversely, in the RPG Kingdom of Loathing, prawn, referring to a kind of crustacean, is spelled pr0n, leading to the creation of food items such as "pr0n chow mein". == See also ==