Leet Explained

Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, or simply hacker speech, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. Additionally, it modifies certain words on the basis of a system of suffixes and alternative meanings. There are many dialects or linguistic varieties in different online communities.

The term "leet" is derived from the word elite, used as an adjective to describe skill or accomplishment, especially in the fields of online gaming and computer hacking. The leet lexicon includes spellings of the word as 1337 or leet.

History

Leet originated within bulletin board systems (BBS) in the 1980s,[1] [2] 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.[3] 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.[1] Creative misspellings and ASCII-art-derived words were also a way to attempt to indicate one was knowledgeable about the culture of computer users.

Once reserved for hackers, crackers, and script kiddies, leet later entered the mainstream.[1] Some consider emoticons and ASCII art, like smiley faces, to be leet, while others maintain that leet consists of only symbolic word encryption. More obscure forms of leet, involving the use of symbol combinations and almost no letters or numbers, continue to be used for its original purpose of encrypted communication. It is also sometimes used as a scripting language. Variants of leet have been used to evade censorship for many years; for instance "@$$" (ass) and "$#!+" (shit) are frequently seen to make a word appear censored to the untrained eye but obvious to a person familiar with leet. This enables coders and programmers especially to circumvent filters and speak about topics that would usually get banned. "Hacker" would end up as "H4x0r", for example.[4]

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.[5]

Algospeak

See main article: article and 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.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] 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 due to the rise in conflict between Israel and Gaza with the topic's contentious nature on the Internet, especially on Meta and TikTok platforms.[11] [12]

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.[13] [14] 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.

Another use for leet orthographic substitutions is the creation of paraphrased passwords.[1] Limitations imposed by websites on password length (usually no more than 36) and the characters permitted (e.g. alphanumeric and symbols)[15] require less extensive forms when used in this application.

Some examples of leet include:

However, leetspeak should not be confused with SMS-speak, characterized by using "4" as "for", "2" as "to", "b&" as "ban'd" (e.g. "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

Notes and References

  1. Mitchell.
  2. An Explanation of l33t Speak.
  3. Web site: Mello. John P.. Google Expands Bug Bounty Program. February 2, 2015. E-Commerce Times.
  4. Web site: A guide to leetspeak. 2021-12-17. IONOS Digitalguide. 17 November 2021 . en.
  5. Web site: 10 classic memes that owned the Internet. Ben. Huh. CNN. March 12, 2014. April 23, 2013.
  6. News: Lorenz . Taylor . Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean' . The Washington Post . 8 April 2022 . 2 January 2024.
  7. Web site: What is 'algospeak'? Inside the newest version of linguistic subterfuge . 13 April 2023 . 2 January 2024.
  8. Web site: 'Mascara,' 'Unalive,' 'Corn': What Common Social Media Algospeak Words Actually Mean . . 2 January 2024.
  9. Web site: From Camping to Cheese Pizza, 'Algospeak' is Taking over Social Media . . 2 January 2024.
  10. Book: https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3543873.3587355 . 10.1145/3543873.3587355 . How Algorithm Awareness Impacts Algospeak Use on TikTok . Companion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2022 . 2022 . Klug . Daniel . Steen . Ella . Yurechko . Kathryn . 234–237 . 9781450394192 . 258377709 . 2 January 2024.
  11. News: Nix . Naomi . Pro-Palestinian creators use secret spellings, code words to evade social media algorithms . The Washington Post . 20 October 2023 . 2 January 2024.
  12. Web site: How pro-Palestinians are using 'Algospeak' to dodge social media scrutiny and disseminate hateful rhetoric . . 23 October 2023 . 2 January 2024.
  13. Sterling, 70.
  14. Blashki & Nichol, 80.
  15. Web site: Username and Password Guidelines. help.pearsoncmg.com. 2019-12-10.
  16. Web site: Gallagher . Fred . Caston . Rodney . "MegaTokyo - [9] Speak L33t?" ]. MegaTokyo . 2024-01-31.
  17. Web site: Hussie . Andrew .

    >

    . Homestuck . 2024-01-31.
  18. Blashki & Nichol, 79.
  19. LeBlanc, 33.
  20. Blashki & Nichol, 81.
  21. Blashki & Nichol, 83.
  22. Computer Hope Dictionary.
  23. LeBlanc, 34-35.
  24. Van de Velde & Meuleman.
  25. LeBlanc, 30; 32.
  26. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/pwn-what-it-means-and-how-you-say-it Merriam-Webster: What Does 'Pwn' Mean? And how do you say it?
  27. Book: Pwned – 10 Tales of Appropriation in Video Games. Pichlmair, Martin.
  28. Book: Computer Slang . December 9, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081209115317/http://books.ifmo.ru/book/vip/196.pdf . December 9, 2008 .
  29. Book: Ludlow. Peter. Wallace. Mark. 2007. The Second Life Herald. MIT Press. 53. 978-0-262-12294-8. registration.
  30. LeBlanc, 32-33.
  31. News: Naone, Erica . November 2008. The Flaw at the Heart of the Internet. Technology Review. 111. 6. 62–67.
  32. Book: Peckham, Aaron . 2007. Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined. Andrews McMeel Publishing. 230. 978-0-7407-6875-0.
  33. News: Go Forth And Pwn For Shizzle, Word List Guardians Tell Scrabble Players. 2020-07-05. NPR. 21 May 2015. en. Chappell. Bill.
  34. The Acronym Finder.

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