i r teh l33t 1!

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.

You are not cool because you use numbers or make words into single letter ones.
You will not be taken seriously by me or anyone else that have even a remote understanding of the english language.
You don't actually write any faster when using "any1" or "u" etc. You only make yourself look stupid.
There is absolutely no excuse in the world for using elite speak as apposed to regular english.
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 3)

Sembetu

on Aug 16, 2005

Um, it is refreshing to me that we all seem to have the time to spend on such a useful topic. Doen't really matter how I communicate, does it? If I get my point across to my intended audience, isn't my communication successful. 1337 or not, is really irrelevant. If I were using English in a German community or French in a Greek community, I would surely alienate those who were seeking to communicate in their native language. Therefore, if you are speaking to your audience and your aim is to offend, then use a way of separating yourself from them so as to further serve your self indulged false sense of eliteism, but if you want to engender trust and effective communication, make an attempt to bridge the communication gaps that are already present. Choose effectiveness over chaos...or not. Your choice.

KBV

on Aug 17, 2005

It does matter how you communicate, that the thing. I myself can't take people who use elite speak seriously because I only see them as 12-year-old boys. If I'm reading comments on something, and the guy who comments uses elite, I'll skip his comment. If he dosn't have the time to use propper english for any reason, I won't use my time reading his respons on said topic.

skinsmaster2

on Aug 17, 2005

Hey i was joking about the leet comment, but yer interesting article but most little kids, dont use leet they use what they call "quick type"

KBV

on Aug 17, 2005

Ah, sorry.

"Quick type" you say? Interesting. They should nonetheless stop using it.

It's not that much quicker.

BluePhoenixNC

on Aug 17, 2005

Well, I must say I partially agree with the statement that l33t has no place in the day to day communication. I believe that l33t has it's roots when they tried to generate passwords, who can remember "frhet87rt2s" it's much simpler to associate letters with the numbers.
But, writing so called shorthand and writing l33t has nothing to do with each other only those "script kiddies" and wannabe use the combination of both and yes I believe with the more widespread usage of cellphones and SMS, this will get worse.
However, neither form of writing has any business in our day to day communication and defnitly no business in our schools. I would fail every kid that uses either form, regardless of how well they wrote. These are just my 2 cents.

Dr Guy

on Aug 17, 2005

Ah, sorry. "Quick type" you say? Interesting. They should nonetheless stop using it. It's not that much quicker.

It has its place, like in text messaging and license plates.

Jafo

on Aug 17, 2005

These are just my 2 cents.

These are just my two cents. Spell checker

HappiKoTo

on Aug 17, 2005

wow..
i can write fluete uber leet but i only do that when im tlkaing to peopel in chat and i dont want certain people to know what im saying..otehr than that i use it to annoy people and stuff. my friend cna write backward leet spanich...it hurst to read

brieaux

on Aug 18, 2005

I use it when I have to write a summary on what the problem is. As an example: when you are requesting help or info from a site and they only allow you 250 spaces. It's very hard to explain all I need to say sometimes with 250 spaces (especially when blank spaces count). It is those times when you find l33t very helpful.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central

fishdonuts

on Aug 18, 2005

I only ever use leetspeak in an ironic/sarcastic way, because it's so funny, particularly when there's someone who doesn't know what it means on a game server or something. For example:

Noob: "Your cheating!!!11!1" <-to someone who obviously isn't
Me : "OMG TEH H4X!!!" <-sarcasm

Oh, and that is a real-life example. ¬_¬

alienfast

on Aug 18, 2005

eh, it just sounds like youre bitching, honestly. it doesn't bug me. ive used it a few times, just for the absolute hell of it...and thats what many people do....youre right that some people do it just to, i dunno, look cool in some kind of weird way, but for the most part ive found out that its in a "just because" kind of way. oh, by the way, your little section on "its not really faster to type stuff that way" is completely void....take, for example, my obvious lack of punctuation and capitalization throughout this whole comment....i do it that way because its faster...it gets the job done. people do that all the time, even with their "neways" or "ne1" or whatever else. it IS because it is done faster. dont call it lazy, call it "not important" thats right....I take things that dont have a large impact on my life such as a simple comment like this, or a blog not-all-that-seriously and type without punctuation or capitals...because its faster...hell, im not being graded on it, why care?

Urgo

on Aug 20, 2005

2 words "ignore on"

i understand the frustration(spelling?) though

but i usually just ignore people that use haxxor/l33t to much shorten one or 2 words i have no problem with but when people use it for complete sentences then i usually just ignore and move on.

The younger generation usually outgrows that kind of heavy abuse of the english language.

carsonauto

on Aug 20, 2005

Dude, that is not 1337! You do not know l33t. That, is chat language! I will write you a sentence in the REAL l33t.

0/\/\G 1 !2 73|-| 53x3|-| ]33457!!! Z0/\/\G 1 |-|4(k 4/\/\3!21(45 4!2/\/\7.

That is the REAL 1337. Trust me, I know. To someone who knows the real 1337, they can read, and understand that sentence as if it were in proper english.

starkers

on Aug 20, 2005

We all complain about the abomination of computer viruses, yet somehow, to some it's okay to corrupt the language of their ancestors with this 'cretin-speak'

Some diminishing cultures are struggling to prevent their heritage and language from becoming extinct, yet some seem hellbent on throwing theirs away for the sake of appearing intellectually on the ball. Makes no sense at all!

Heaven forbid....generations in the distant future having to get out their archaelogical deciphering books to interpret our history and the 'average joes' writings and records

My two bob's worth!

Jafo

on Aug 20, 2005

That, is chat language! I will write you a sentence in the REAL l33t.

I think that declaring there is a 'real leet' is a clear indicator that someone MUST get out more.....

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