Things I'm Obsessed With: Leet Speak
Leet speak, where leet or 1337 (see how it looks like letters?) means elite, is an internet dialect of sorts used primarily for text chats in online gaming and on message boards. It often involves replacing letters with numbers or other characters which resemble them, the use of deliberate misspelling and punctuation for comedic effect, and frequently features overly dramatic emphasis.
The most important word is pwn (own), which supposedly evolved from the proximity of the p to the o on the qwerty keyboard, making it an easy typo. To pwn is to dominate or claim victory over someone.
Examples: "You just got pwned!" "Dude I powned your ass!!11!!1!" or simply "PWNT!!!11eleventy!!!!
More about leet and some video examples after the jump.
A few other key words...
n00b: newbie, one who is inexperienced and therefore inferior
w00t!: an exclamation of joy
Suxorz: to suck
Haxx0r: a hacker
lolz: the noun form of lol, sometimes spelled lulz
popular suffixes -ed, -age (i.e. "pwnage!")
The best thing about leet is that there are no defined rules and you can really mix it up however you want so long as it legible, but a good rule of thumb is to make it look like you're on crack as much as possible.
Now that you're slightly less of a n00b, enjoy these leet clips:
Jeopardy finalist wagers leet.
Local newscasters tell you how leet speak will melt your brain and kill your children. Everything in this report is wonderfully inaccurate.
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