
But now it’s used as a joke, so you should try to make your leetspeak as legible as possible. In the past, it was meant to be nearly illegible, and it often included loads of obnoxious symbols (|_!|<3 7|-|!5) that are a pain to read or type. Leetspeak is the act of replacing alphabetic characters with similar-looking numbers and symbols (leet looks similar to 1337 or l33t, etc.). Gosh, you really want to use leetspeak? Alright, different strokes.
#2 in leet speek how to#
How to Use Leetspeak (Gosh, You Really Want To?) fizkes/Shutterstock Today, leetspeak is basically the internet equivalent of talking in a surfer’s voice.

Some people used it to mock children online while other people used it to mock nerdy internet subcultures. That purpose (a cipher) started to erode in the 90s, and leetspeak devolved into a weird joke.

This isn’t to say that leetspeak should be taken seriously, but it did serve a purpose for a while. The use of leetspeak as a cipher continued into the 90s, where it was used as a calling card by the Cult of the Dead Cow.
#2 in leet speek registration#
Leetspeak was also used to identify other elite computer nerds, and it was used in the registration process for some elite groups (to weed out anyone who wasn’t a hax0r). Have fun creating novel Leet Xbox Gamertags, clever license plates, and unique usernames of any kind. Enjoy watching what you say turn into Leet in real-time For example, Leet Speak becomes 133t 5p34k. It was also used to get around the automatic censorship programs that ran on most public BBSes (a BBS might censor any mention of “porn,” but it won’t notice “pr0n”). You can type in your text or use speech recognition. On public boards and chats, leetspeak was used to talk about nefarious topics that went against the rules. Elite BBS users invented leetspeak as a sort of cipher.

So it’s only natural that some BBSes focused on illegal activities, like file sharing and early forms of hacking. They were sometimes called elite boards (or leet boards), and they spawned an “elite” computer subculture. These BBSes were similar to modern websites, and computer hobbyists usually operated them in their own homes.īBSes usually centered around a topic or hobby chosen by the system operator. Where Did Leetspeak Come From?ĭuring the early 80s (before the launch of the World Wide Web), computer users connected via bulletin board systems (BBS). For example, leet spellings of the word leet include 1337 and l33t eleet may be spelled 31337 or. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. Using leetspeak today is like saying “dude” in a hippie’s voice, and most people stick with basic, legible leetspeak to avoid confusing people (or looking like a dork). Leet (or '1337'), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. Leetspeak is nearly forty years old, and it isn’t relevant to modern internet conversation or culture.
