It's what's for dinner!
Elite speak - butchering the english language since 1990
Published on August 14, 2005 By KBV In Living in Cyberspace
I just feel like writing something for a change. It's been a long time since I made a blog entry here on JoeUser.com. What do I want to write about this time? Well, I thought "Why not write about people use l33t."

For the people who don't know what "l33t speak" is, I'll give you a short run down. Leet (meaning elite) mostly written as 1337 or l33t, is a form of virus that has spread across the internet and now also into the real world. Mostly these individuals use words and numbers to either shorten down the english word, or feel that they look "cooler". Some words and numbers are as follows:

  • "1" instead of "one". Meaning, "Anyone" will be written "Any1".
  • "R" instead of "are".
  • "U" instead of "you".
  • "Thanx" instead of "Thank you" or "Thanks".

I've asked people who write in l33t why they do so, and the answer, which is most frequent, is almost always "It's easier" or "It's faster". I myself have been using the english language since the age of 5, seeing as I'm Norwegian I can't say that my spelling or grammar is perfect. But, for a Norwegian, I would say that I'm pretty good. Also seeing as english isn't my mother tongue, I still get pissed when I see people butcher the language with gibberish like what you have seen above. If you are a person who use "leet speak" please read below.

  1. You are not cool because you use numbers or make words into single letter ones.
  2. You will not be taken seriously by me or anyone else that have even a remote understanding of the english language.
  3. You don't actually write any faster when using "any1" or "u" etc. You only make yourself look stupid.
  4. There is absolutely no excuse in the world for using elite speak as apposed to regular english.
  5. Elite speak is not a language, and if you were to use it in any official capacity, everyone would laugh and point at you.

If you still don't understand what I'm saying in the five points above, I would suggest you crawl under a rock and die. Since you surely will lead a life as a mental retard with absolutely no hope at being normal. And don't even try giving me that "But I don't want to be normal" crap.

I've read that many teacher in the United States are having problems with teenagers who use these abbreviations in schoolwork. There is even a senior at age 52 on WinCostumize who use words like "Thanx". I mean, what's wrong with the world, what is wrong with these people? I myself believe they couldn't come up with a coherent sentence if given a lifetime to create one.

I know I might step on some toes with people who feel they have superior intellect and have an extremely good reason for using this type of "language". For that I am not sorry, you should all root and die. It is called "English" for a reason and not "3nglish". So please, do the world a favor, get your act together and stop using elite speak, while you still can.


Comments (Page 2)
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on Aug 14, 2005
on Aug 14, 2005
i guess that style of "shortcuts" was popularize with the advent of SMS. it spread through emails and now it is something commonly used even in blogs. (perhaps)
on Aug 14, 2005
Much addo about nothing
on Aug 14, 2005

'ado' .... Spell checker 

on Aug 14, 2005
i guess that style of "shortcuts" was popularize with the advent of SMS. it spread through emails and now it is something commonly used even in blogs.


Er. Try the Wikipedia link above. Buried there are tidbits of information, kernels of truth.
on Aug 14, 2005
I'm not changing my nick
on Aug 14, 2005
...still scares me that I can understand every word. Even to the point where I picked up a mistake in Jafo's post

31337 5PE@K


on Aug 15, 2005
apposed
i do believe this is spelled as "OPPOSED". or is it a l33t spelling?
on Aug 15, 2005
i read the first part and i was ready to agree with you! i only came here to read it so i could decifer the "i r teh l33t 1" thing and see if there was anything coherent going on. i allways new it was some lame kid TRYING to be one of the cool one's but, you hit the nail on the head.
on Aug 15, 2005
English to n003ish tanslator
:Link
on Aug 16, 2005
Argh. Don't confuse leet with AOL kiddie shorthand, they're completely different, although the line may be blurred these days in some respects, you pretty much only defined the 12 year old AOL kiddie language, with the exception of numbers being substituted for letters. But that's where the difference lies with numbers as well.

Leet is where you use numbers and other characters to spell out words (with some variations on regular English, eg. teh, it's rarely abbreviated, and is generally only used these days to make fun of those who use it or have used it seriously in the past.

12 year old AOL kiddie language (for want of a better term) is where numbers are replacements for sounds and even whole words, as one of the many means of abbreviation they employ. eg. "im goin 2 da mall wan2 cum? were gona go sk8in" etc. God, even using that small amount of it makes me feel dirty.
on Aug 16, 2005

How true, Mr Eroticus Prime ...AOL Kiddie-lingo is horrible...but LEET is 1337....

....and yes, it's now used more as a bit of a 'stir'...hence such animals as 'leet-speak generators'...

But let's face it...we who practise the Queen's English need to resort to leet et al to compete with these 'Murderers of the Language' aka Americans....

I say 'aluminium', wot?.....Spell checker

Note....Kona...this is in jest....knickers can remain unknotted, it's OK, OK?....

on Aug 16, 2005
Americans say Erbs (for herbs), why the english say Herbs. You know why? Because there is a fucking H in the word.
on Aug 16, 2005
OMGWTFBBQ!1!111!!!

I can't believe this was omitted.
on Aug 16, 2005
There was a site called http://omgomgwtfbbq.info/ but it seems to be no more.
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