A Parent's Primer To Computer Slang

Microsoft ^ | 2.4.05 | Microsoft

[KoRn]

While it's important to respect your children's privacy, understanding what your teenager's online slang means and how to decipher could be important in certain situations and as you help guide their online experience. While it has many nicknames, information-age slang is commonly referred to as leetspeek, or leet for short. Leet (a vernacular form of "elite") is a specific type of computer slang where a user replaces regular letters with other keyboard characters to form words phonetically—creating the digital equivalent of pig Latin with a twist of hieroglyphics.

Leet words can be expressed in hundreds of ways using different substitutions and combinations, but once one understands that nearly all characters are formed as phonemes and symbols, leetspeek isn't difficult to translate. The following serves as a brief, and by no means definitive, introduction to Leet through examples. Key points for learning leetspeek •

Numbers are often used as letters. The term "leet" could be written as "1337," with "1" replacing the letter L, "3" posing as a backwards letter E, and "7" resembling the letter T. Others include "8" replacing the letter B, "9" used as a G, "0" (zero) in lieu of O, and so on.

[KoRn]

LOL This is too much!!

A parental guide to 'LEET Speak' from Microsoft hahaha.

R |_| teh 1337 1?

It's funny to read it explained in an educational matter.

[Theresawithanh]

Hey, now I know what n00b and w00t mean! I can sleep tonight!

Thanks for posting this, I got quite a kick out of it!

L8R, G8R!

[KoRn]

$\/\/33+! \/\/'311 PWN @77 teh +R077$

Don't Spell Check while in 'LEET Speak mode'...

[JenB]

Ph34r my 1337 sk1llz, d00d.

[Sonny M]

Beware if the young ones start speaking of "cybering".

[Bones75]

Sweet... now I know what all the "l337 haxx0rz" are saying.

Bones

[KoRn]

My children aren't old enough for '1337 $p3@k' yet, but at least I'll be on top of things when the time comes LOL.

(prays they will stay away from online multiplayer games...)

[Uncle Fud]

You mean like this?

[M-cubed]

]-[ey! Ima phreepurr RU12?

[KoRn]

LOL!

[Jagman]

Funny.

[Theresawithanh]

\/\/!-!473\/...

(I have no idea what the last part of your post says!)

Oh, wait, I do! LOL! w00t!

[Toto_for_breakfast]

From what I had heard, w00t is derived from "root" in linux or something like that.

[Kretek]

Sweet... now I know what all the "l337 haxx0rz" are saying.

If the L33T-O-Mat had all its bugs worked out...

[KoRn]

I have no idea. I know 'w00t' is an expression of celebration, like when someone would cheer or something. No one I've asked who uses the term has been able to tell me exactly what it means or where it originated from. Only it's something someone says online when they are very happy about something.

[Kretek]

From what I had heard, w00t is derived from "root" in linux or something like that.

More information than anyone needs about w00t!.

[Slump Tester]

OO - I812.

[KoRn]

Thanks for the enlightenment!

Leave it to the FReepers. :^)

[processing please hold]

I am more confused than ever. I shall leave this thread with my dignity intact. Intelligence at all time low on this subject, but dignity still intact.

[July 4th]

I can't believe MS wasted their time with this. Too funny.