Leetspeak

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Wikipedia leet

Leetspeak [ liːtspiːk ] (also Leetspeek , 1337 ; of . English elite, "elite" and speak, "talk") denotes the network jargon replacing letters with similar looking numbers and - depending on the definition - even special characters .

The common spelling 1337 for Leetspeak was derived from the English word elite . It was only beginning to Eleet verballhornt and then 'leet for short, which in Leetspeak as 1337 is written. Other spellings are e.g. B. 1337 5P34K or 313373 .

The game Counter-Strike made the term Leet or 1337 very popular in the gamer scene. In the game a model (player appearance) of the terrorists can be found in the selection menu under Leet Crew . This model is still very popular today, which is also a consequence of the console command cl_minmodels 1 , for which the leet model is set by default for the terrorists.

Leetspeak can be difficult to read and can therefore be regarded as a kind of secret code for certain groups in the computer scene. Originally meant seriously, today it is almost only used self-deprecatingly in the form of individual, known set pieces or to individualize nicknames using special characters . Otherwise, Leetspeak is mainly used in online games, where the aim here is often to impress other players or to exclude less experienced players from the conversation. Occasionally, senders of spam emails also use a kind of leetspeak (e.g. "V1AGR4" instead of "Viagra") to fool the spam filter .

Origins

Originally, Leetspeak was used to prevent tapped e-mails or other digital documents from being automatically read and filtered by computers. Since a computer, for example W!K!P3D!4, couldn't do much with the character combination " ", but humans can read it as " " due to the linguistic redundancyWIKIPEDIA , Leetspeak offers a certain protection against eavesdropping software or spam filters that work according to the blacklisting method. For comprehensive protection, their lists would have to be expanded to include the corresponding spelling in Leetspeak, which would be very time-consuming due to the large number of possible combinations. For this reason, passwords that contain Leetspeak in the form of numbers or special characters are also more secure against attacks using blacklists or brute force methods .

This replacement method is therefore also used in advertising e-mails ( UCE for “unsolicited commercial e-mail”) to disguise stimulus words such as “ Viagra ” from spam filters . In contrast to normal Leetspeak, however, an attempt is usually made to maintain legibility in order to reach potential customers. Example:

Plain text Viagra absolute Beginner Wikipedia
1337 v!49|24 48501u73 839!nn3|2 w!k!p3d!4
UCE \/|ágrà /-\|3$0|_\_/']['€ |3€G|/V/V€|2 \V/||<||D€|)|/-\
Ultra 1337 \/!@9|2@ @ߧ0£µ7€ ߀9!|\||\|€|2 \/\/¡|<¡p€þ¡@

Origin of the spelling "1337"

In the early days of Leetspeak, "1" was used as "T" and "7" as "L", since the number "1337" is rotated 180 degrees like the word "Leet" written in capital letters. Often, however, "turning the numbers" made them difficult to write and read, so that later it was almost exclusively used for the term "Leet" itself. Most numbers were later assigned different letters. Last but not least, this is also due to the fact that the number "1" is not displayed in every font with serifs , which in a rotated form represents the top line of the "T". The "7" also has a different appearance in other fonts, so in many cases readability would be severely restricted. That is why both numbers were later interchanged as a replacement for the letters corresponding to them today and assigned to the visual recognizability described above. B. in a "7" shows a "T".

to form

Traditionally, only individual letters were replaced by the similarly shaped numbers. Only in the course of time did the practice develop that individual letters were crafted from (several) special characters (such as the “D” in “WIKIPE |) IA”, which consists of brackets; however, this modern form is more likely to be assigned to ASCII Art than to the 1337 language).

Because of these developments, a wide variety of spellings have emerged; Leetspeak nevertheless follows an individually varying but fixed orthography and morphology . The English personal ending -erof verbs and nouns in the singular is basically replaced by -0r, in the plural by -0rz. The string cksor is also ckoften replaced by xx. This is how a ruler is used to become a rul0rhacker too h4xX0rZ. Capital letters are usually not used, but some Leet users put them in the middle of the word in Pseudo-Leetspeak to change the appearance of a single letter .

Leetspeak is also often used in combination with abbreviations and terms from network jargon . A single letter or number can be used, for example, as an abbreviation for a word that is pronounced the same or similarly in English (or, more recently, in German). The word z. B. you is written as the letter u, sometimes also yuor j00. A typical Leetspeak sentence could be:

ph342 m9 1337 h4xX0r 5k! 11Zz! 0m9 u 5uxX!
Fear my leet (elite) hacker skills!
Fear my leet hacking skills! (Elite hacking skills!) 		Omg (Oh my god / goodness / gosh), you suck!
Omg (oh my god) you are bad!

application

In addition to the visual change, Leetspeak is usually also characterized by a certain, arrogant style of speech. Leetspeak is often used in chats by more experienced players to differentiate themselves from less experienced users, who usually do not understand Leetspeak. Not least because of this, the term leet is derived from the word elite . Thus Leetspeak users designate themselves as frequently 2u132(engl. Ruler = "ruler") or 0wn32(Engl. Owner = "Owner"; to own somebody = "somebody be superior"). Others, however, are called 14m32or 14m02(English lame = "lame", in newsgroup jargon a lamer is a failure) or newbies or n00b(also b00n), lowbirds(English low = "low", and bird = "bird" - for example for: "Playful low-flyer") or n4p= nap , "non-aiming person" or "not a pro" (= "not a professional"), insulted.

Leetspeak is often frowned upon: On the one hand, there is criticism from people who cannot do anything with the mostly youthful subculture on the Internet . In addition, Leetspeak is also criticized by computer activists who advocate equal access to information for all and reject the positive reference to an "elite" because it contradicts the hacker ethic or has little to do with traditional 1337 use.

Leetspeak is also used to make simple words look more interesting. For example, the word “Party” becomes “P4rty”. Leetspeak is used here, but traditional Leetspeak is not, as not all letters are necessarily transliterated accordingly. It is exactly the same with Leetspeak in game and film titles, for example in T4XI ( Taxi 4 ), Driv3r (for: "Driver 3") or F.3.ar ( Fear 3 ). There, however, Leetspeak is only used to bring serial numbers into the title and thus make the whole thing look more distinctive. The movie Who am I , produced in 2014, often uses the Leetspeak in films, e.g. B. in the name of the hacker group "Fr13nds". The singer Pink also uses a stylized spelling with P! Nk . There is even a voice output “Leetspeak” for the social network Facebook and the search engine Google.

Cant

  • ! 11! 11 = Exclamation marks are often written as ones.
  • !! 11einseinseinself = several exclamation marks in the form of a one are also written out ("one, one, one, eleven, ...")

This mixture of many exclamation marks, ones, and spelled out numbers is the result of typing errors caused by typing quickly. The exclamation mark "!" Is entered on a German keyboard layout (and on many others) using the combination ⇧ Umschalt+ 1; Errors when holding the Shift key thus lead to a quasi-random sequence of 1 and “!”. This typo is made jokingly on purpose (mainly in in-game chats, but also in forums or the respective online community) in order to emphasize what has been said or to emphasize irony.

Example: 

Gamer A: hlp!!!!!!!!1
Gamer B: Cannot hear you !!!111oneone

Outside of gaming circles, this joke is usually not understood.

Terry Pratchett is often quoted in this context : “ 'Multiple exclamation marks', he went on, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a diseased mind.' ”(German:“ 'Multiple exclamation marks', he continued, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a sick mind.' ")

Spellings

Leetspeak alphabet

Numbers / characters and associated letters:

  • A = 4, @, / \, / - \,? , ^, α, λ
@ is also used as an abbreviation for at , its phonetic origin. An example: "I'm @ Home."
  • B = 8, | 3, β, l³, 13, I3, J3
  • C = (, [, <, ©, ¢
  • D = |), |], Ð, đ, 1)
  • E = 3, €, &, £, ε
  • F = | =, PH, | * | - | , | ", ƒ, l²
  • G = 6, &, 9
  • H = #, 4, | - | ,} {,] - [, / - /,) - (
  • I =! , 1, | ,] [, ỉ
  • J = _ | , ¿
  • K = | <, | {, | (, X
  • L = 1, | _, £, | ,] [_
  • M = / \ / \, / v \, | V | ,] V [, | \ / | , AA, [] V [], | 11, / | \, ^^, (V), | Y | ,! \ /!
  • N = | \ | , / \ /, / V, | V, / \\ /, | 1, 2,? , (\), 11, r,! \!
  • O = 0, 9, (), [], *, °, <>, ø, {[]}
  • P = 9, | °, p, |>, | *, [] D,] [D, | ², |? , | D
  • Q = 0_, 0,
  • R = 2, | 2, 1², ®,? , я, 12, .-
  • S = 5, $, §,? , ŝ, ş
  • T = 7, +, †, '] [', |
  • U = | _ | , µ, [_], v
  • V = \ /, | /, \ | , \ '
  • W = \ / \ /, VV, \ A /, \ V /, \\ ', uu, \ ^ /, \ | /, uJ
  • X => <,) (,} {,%,?, ×,] [
  • Y = `/, ° /, ¥
  • Z = z, 2, "/ _
  • Ä = 43, ° A °, ° 4 °
  • Ö = 03, ° O °
  • Ü = | _ | 3, ° U °

The combinations of several characters, such as B. | - | for H or VV for W, not to be assigned to the Leetspeak itself, but rather to ASCII-Art .

Whole words:

  • 1 = one ("sum1" = "someone" = "someone", "n1" = "nice one" = "nicely done, very good")
  • 2 = to, too ("I am 2 hard" = "I am too hard", "me2" = "me, too" = "me too")
  • 3 = three ("3st" = "brash", "Get3de" = "G3d" = "grain")
  • 4 = for ("kill 4u" = "kill for you")
  • 8 = eight / eight / "-aite" / "-ate" ("m8" = "mate" = "buddy", "h8 u" = "I hate you" = "I hate you", "w8" = " wait "=" wait "," n8 "=" night "," gn8 "=" good night "," Sk8er "=" skater "," gr8 "=" great "," ur 2 l8 "=" you are too late "=" you're too late "," l8r "=" later "=" see you later ")
  • 9 = nine ("9, I don't want that!" = "No, I don't want that!")
  • 11 = eleven ("n811" = "night elf")

Combinations

  • 00 = ü
  • 0w = au
  • ph = f
  • sh = sch
  • qq = ck, gg, where a capitalized QQ often symbolizes two watery eyes (see also: O_O, U_U, T_T, Y_Y, or V_V)
  • vv (vv) = w
  • rn (rn) = m

Mixed forms

Mixed forms are often used for nicknames . There are different ways to write a name. For example:

  • Yetrael = Y372431
  • Yetrael = ¥ 3tr4el
  • Yetrael = Y3tr43l
  • Yetrael = Yetr4e1
  • Yetrael = ¥ e7ra3l
  • Yetrael = `/ 37 | 2431

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: 1337  - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Curt Bauer: Leetspeak: What does that mean? In: praxistipps.chip.de, (last) accessed on May 23, 2016
  2. ↑ Richard "Korrupt" Joos, Randolf "Gulli" Jorberg, Axel "LexaT" Gönnemann: gulli wars (tm). underground piratainment since 1998. Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-4294-8 , p. 229.
  3. ↑ Christian Rentrop: Leetspeak: What does forum talk mean? Leet understand for dummies. (2.) Fixed rules? Nothing! In: netzwelt.de, October 22, 2005, (last) accessed on May 22, 2016.
  4. ↑ Christian Rentrop: Leetspeak: What does forum talk mean? Leet understand for dummies. (3.) Upper and lower case? Never heard! In: netzwelt.de, October 22, 2005, (last) accessed on May 22, 2016.
  5. ↑ Terry Pratchett: Eric. Gollancz, London 1990, ISBN 0-575-04636-8 (German Eric. Eine Scheibenwelt-Erzählung. Completely revised. New edition. Translated from the English by Andreas Brandhorst . Piper, Munich / Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-492-28615 -2 ).