Origin and Evolution of Leetspeak

[Pretzel]

Hello everybody. I searched for leetspeak and did not find any topic like this so decided to make one. If there already is one like this please direct me to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this topic I want to get a discussion going about how and why certain things in leetspeak are the way they are. Ever wondered why they use an instead of s plox for please, ever wondered why lol or rofl are used for laughter, ever wondered where the word noob originates? Well in this topic you can post your questions and theories as to why certain incomprehensible things they are like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me get the ball rolling. My thoery for why x replaces s in plox for please is that in many foreign languages such as French and indeed Latin, x and s make the same sound and can almost be used interchangably. for example in french 6 is spelt six (same as english) but is pronounced 'siss'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C'mon everyone, I know with as many people as there are, there's bound to be some people who know a few things about linguistics and could greatly contribute to this discussion.

[Happysniff]

Most are anagrams if that is of any help. Maybe noob and newb are also anagrams. N definitely stands for new on newb.

[Anesthesia]

Most are anagrams if that is of any help. Maybe noob and newb are also anagrams. N definitely stands for new on newb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N 'standing for something' would make it an acronym, not an anagram. However, it is neither. Noob is an alternate spelling of newb, which in turn is a shortened version of newbie - which is not 'leetspeak' and is used in fields other than games.

[calitoker90]

Darn happy you just got a morning beat down.

[issy2]

Let me get the ball rolling. My thoery for why x replaces s in plox for please is that in many foreign languages such as French and indeed Latin, x and s make the same sound and can almost be used interchangably. for example in french 6 is spelt six (same as english) but is pronounced 'siss'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sincerely doubt that the unintelligent losers who created 13375p34k actually give a damn what x means in Latin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I think it started out with people missing out letters in words, then evolved into something more complex. For instances, before the word 'noob' there was 'newb' and before that, 'newbie' a common term indicating little knowledge of the subject.

[cadburys_egg]

Leet finds its base in written communication over electronic media. Most simply, it has evolved as a way of forming exclusive cliques in online communities, notably Bulletin Board Systems and online multiplayer games (see Examples of Leet in videogaming).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been noted that the mechanism began because early online communication was quite slow, and people sought ways to shorten messages, so that they could be delivered more quickly. A similarly probable answer is that early users of BBS systems and other online boards were not skilled typists and thus shortened words so they could get their message across faster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A simple number-to-letter transposition cipher had also been used to send short text messages from telephone keypads to numeric-only pagers; the recipient could turn the LCD display upside-down so that the blocky digits resembled letters (for example, 07734 ÃÆââââ¬Ã Ã¢ââ‰â¢ hELLO.).[3]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some believe that the origin involved using a dynamic cipher, so that only experienced users would be privy to the message.[citations needed] As a result, newcomers would be excluded from communications with those who had defined (and continued to evolve) the cipher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When modem use became widespread and a large general audience gained access to online communication systems, these new users did not understand the abbreviations commonly used by the experienced users. These experienced users became known as ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åelite users,ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

[jak722]

The reason theres no topic for leetspeak is because we killed the posters in the past. :-k

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: 3333 post count lol. :lol:

[pompey_spud]

well i think its fairly obvious that 'pwn' is a mispelling of 'own', so theres a little origin for ya.

[Ddrmaster7]

I always thought that leetspeak was a way for certain groups of people to communicate without having the non-educated being able to understand. Hence, only the elite people were able to chat with each other. Then, everyone started using leetspeak and it because a widespread internet language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Plx" and "plox" are just mispellings of "plz". If you notice, the z and the x are right next to each other on a standard keyboard. So a person says "free stuff plx", it catches on, and "plx" is the new "plz". Then, people tried saying "plx" out loud, which sounds like "plox". Tada. At least, that's how I think of it.''

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

[indy500fan]

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHA! WoW wasn't even out when that became big.

[Anesthesia]

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Pwn" has been used since before WoW. It gained popularity in the same way in which you said 'plx' did.

[PSOfr33k]

 

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHA! WoW wasn't even out when that became big.

 

 

 

Actually, I seem to recall hearing something about one of the Warcrafts (not WoW) having mispelled "owned" with "pwned" o.o

[Star.]

There is chatspeak and leetspeak, chatspeak is with you = "u" your = "ur" and leetspeak is when you try to find other numbers to replace letters.. atleast that's what I've always thought.

[indy500fan]

 

 

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHA! WoW wasn't even out when that became big.

 

 

 

Actually, I seem to recall hearing something about one of the Warcrafts (not WoW) having mispelled "owned" with "pwned" o.o

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, it was one of the earlier ones.

[das1330]

Hello everybody. I searched for leetspeak and did not find any topic like this so decided to make one. If there already is one like this please direct me to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this topic I want to get a discussion going about how and why certain things in leetspeak are the way they are. Ever wondered why they use an instead of s plox for please, ever wondered why lol or rofl are used for laughter, ever wondered where the word noob originates? Well in this topic you can post your questions and theories as to why certain incomprehensible things they are like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me get the ball rolling. My thoery for why x replaces s in plox for please is that in many foreign languages such as French and indeed Latin, x and s make the same sound and can almost be used interchangably. for example in french 6 is spelt six (same as english) but is pronounced 'siss'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C'mon everyone, I know with as many people as there are, there's bound to be some people who know a few things about linguistics and could greatly contribute to this discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

leet speek was originally created by hackers to hide meaning for what they where saying ("leet" meaning elete) and was later adopted by gamers used in chat programs in games so the opposistion couldnt tell what they were saying (i use it, lol). thats pretty much all i nkow.

[cadburys_egg]

leet speek was originally created by hackers to hide meaning for what they where saying ("leet" meaning elete) and was later adopted by gamers used in chat programs in games so the opposistion couldnt tell what they were saying (i use it, lol). thats pretty much all i nkow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No... If the opposition used leet speak... Then their opposition used it... Do I smell time paradox?

 

 

 

It was generally used to bypass filters and go un-noticed with searches. Like it said in what I quoted, a search for say; "cork" would return all posts with the word in it, but if it was spelt with a zero, "c0rk", it wouldn't be returned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is chatspeak and leetspeak, chatspeak is with you = "u" your = "ur" and leetspeak is when you try to find other numbers to replace letters.. atleast that's what I've always thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truth.

 

 

 

"Chat speak" came about in an attempt to shorten messages, usually for SMS (text messages) which used to have a small character limit. But sadly some people got on to computers and do the same, even on forums which have seemingly limitless character limits.

[Ddrmaster7]

 

 

 

And yes, in World of Warcraft, one of the game designers mispelled "own" in a dialogue box or something as "pwn", which lead to its popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHA! WoW wasn't even out when that became big.

 

 

 

Actually, I seem to recall hearing something about one of the Warcrafts (not WoW) having mispelled "owned" with "pwned" o.o

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, it was one of the earlier ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm, I suppose I must go kill my friend for telling me that. Excuse me.

[Astralinre]

Hmmm, I suppose I must go kill my friend for telling me that. Excuse me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season's beatings?

[cadburys_egg]

 

Hmmm, I suppose I must go kill my friend for telling me that. Excuse me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season's beatings?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see what you did there.

[indy500fan]

I see what you did there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rune2thescape]

Nerds started it to avoid chat filters

[Pretzel]

so basically what most of you are saying is that its just mindless misspellings and SMS short hand that produced this, with no sort of linguistics involved at all. An idiot's english in other words. Alright fair enough, nothing unexpected there, but what about where some of the acronyms come from? i mean, I'm rolling on the floor laughing (rofl) and I'm laughing my *** off (lmao), are almost something you could say in real life, but lol? I'm laughing out loud? doesn't quite sound right.

[One Too Far]

 

Let me get the ball rolling. My thoery for why x replaces s in plox for please is that in many foreign languages such as French and indeed Latin, x and s make the same sound and can almost be used interchangably. for example in french 6 is spelt six (same as english) but is pronounced 'siss'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sincerely doubt that the unintelligent losers who created 13375p34k actually give a damn what x means in Latin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I think it started out with people missing out letters in words, then evolved into something more complex. For instances, before the word 'noob' there was 'newb' and before that, 'newbie' a common term indicating little knowledge of the subject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x do's not mean s they just say it LIKE s a real s is stil different

[elmo_killer6]

i always thought that using number for letteres in leet originated from text messaging where its faster to use a number than a letter cause letters take more button presses

[Poopingman]

There is no REAL reason to type like this, it is silly. Anyone who uses it often and seriously has issues..