From English to 1337
March 13th 2007 00:04
This may make me sounds alot older than I really am, but I can remember when the internet was young. I don't mean I was on it (I think I was about 12-13 or so when I finally experienced the wonder of dial up) but I was certainly aware of it. I was about 15-16 when I started to chat to people online. I can remember the first heady days of lol and rofl (laughing out loud or lots of laughs and rolling on floor laughing). I wasn't much of an online gamer, but in the days that starcraft, warcraft and counterstrike were THE games to play (in fact, World of Warcraft has about 7 millions players, starcraft still has worldwide competitions and I think the only thing that could stop people playing Counterstrike is the extinction of the human race) a language started to develop. I beat him became "lol I pwned u n00b". But things didn't stop there. Pretty soon, numbers, letters and punctuation marks began to make their mark, so to speak and it was common to spell words incorrectly.
500n, 3\/3ry7h!/\/6 ch/\n63d. !7\/\/45 s00n !/\/\p055!b13 70 u/\/d3r57and \/\/h47 p30p13 \/\/3r3 54y!/\/g. 1337 5p34k h4d c0/\/\p13731y ch4/\/g3d 73h \/\/4y p30p13 5p0k3. Or.....
Soon, everything changed. It was soon impossible to understand what people were saying. Leet speak had completely changed teh (the) way people spoke. Terms like ROFLCHOPTER, LOLERSKATES, PWNAGE were typed furiously in full caps in order to put a point across on forums and began to also emerge into real life. Working with nerds as I do, it became common to say "lol" when someone made a funny, to call someone a noob, to say something was teh ownage and other leet speak terms.
What will be interesting to see is the impact that this language will have in the future of not just gaming, but in global communication. Will a boy in korea that doesn't know english but is fluent in leet taunt his german opponent with a witty "lol u g07 P\/\//\/3D n00b!!!11!!" Will a french girl, when breaking up with her new zealand boyfriend say "0h /\/035!!!" (oh noes, general term of sadness, anguish etc) despite the fact that only one of them speak english (they do great work now in french schools I understand).
Ahmed, would like your input on this. In english please.
JZ
500n, 3\/3ry7h!/\/6 ch/\n63d. !7\/\/45 s00n !/\/\p055!b13 70 u/\/d3r57and \/\/h47 p30p13 \/\/3r3 54y!/\/g. 1337 5p34k h4d c0/\/\p13731y ch4/\/g3d 73h \/\/4y p30p13 5p0k3. Or.....
Soon, everything changed. It was soon impossible to understand what people were saying. Leet speak had completely changed teh (the) way people spoke. Terms like ROFLCHOPTER, LOLERSKATES, PWNAGE were typed furiously in full caps in order to put a point across on forums and began to also emerge into real life. Working with nerds as I do, it became common to say "lol" when someone made a funny, to call someone a noob, to say something was teh ownage and other leet speak terms.
What will be interesting to see is the impact that this language will have in the future of not just gaming, but in global communication. Will a boy in korea that doesn't know english but is fluent in leet taunt his german opponent with a witty "lol u g07 P\/\//\/3D n00b!!!11!!" Will a french girl, when breaking up with her new zealand boyfriend say "0h /\/035!!!" (oh noes, general term of sadness, anguish etc) despite the fact that only one of them speak english (they do great work now in french schools I understand).
Ahmed, would like your input on this. In english please.
JZ
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Comment by Cibbuano
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To quote the Simpsons:
"I used to be with 'it' but then they changed what 'it' was. Now, what I'm with isn't 'it' and what's 'it' seems weird."
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I'm not against leet speak in it's right context, just as I am not against ebonics in the right context. The context for leet speaking is pretty much gaming, although it is starting to spread.
Interesting to see where it might end up. Personally looking forward to the first rapper that gets big by rapping about WoW or something.
JZ
Comment by Cibbuano
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And all these internet acronyms are degrading communication on some level. I get emails from students that have 'lol' and 'rofl' in them. Why?
Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
Oh sorry....LMAO....
I haven't got the faintest idea what you guys are talking about.
What is leet speak?
Ohhhh....I just got it...
leet = 1337.
Right.
But what does 'leet' mean?
I'm old school.
Nah, I'm just old.
I cannot stand 'teh' (lazy and just plain stupid) and I will never use 'lol' and 'rofl', etc but I don't mind when others use these terms.
I suppose it's this generations code...like that whole 'telefee' stuff (I never got the hang of it, which is why I chose to speak 5 proper languages instead)
As for Ebonics....I have to keep reminding my children and their friends and that particular generation of (forgive me...this is not my term....this is how they describe themselves) 'wiggers' to look in the mirror every time they 'Ebonicise'...so not cool.
Interesting post Josh.
I enjoyed it.
Hope you are well my friend...
Dusk
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
yes, I got a little smart in this post.
What interests me most of all about 1337 speak is how adaptive it could be. I also think about poets like Shakespeare and Milton, and consider what they did to the english language.
Interesting stuff.
Yes, wiggers are like emos. Just with more enthusiasm.
JZ
Comment by CAP
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
....and are 'giggers' computer 'wiggers'?
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
The interesting this is that 1337 speak has been around and growing, changing and developing. Yes, other linguistic influences are always around (particularly the ones that you cited) but what also fascinates me is the almost organic substance of 1337 speak.
It is like wikipedia. It can be changed by anyone and is perfectly self governing.
Glad to have you here.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Nice one.
I wonder how the people of Poland are doing with all the "piggers?"
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
leet is bastardised from the word elite. There is even 31337 and to get that you need to be more than 1337.
No, no giggers. Just nerds.
JZ
Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
that is terra, byte.
JZ
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
..as an earthy warrior woman-type, it's all bloody double dutch to me, one of the few REAL languages I don't speak.
That doesn't mean I'm against it, (in either form)... it just means that I don't understand it... I'm still trying to find the meaning of ROFL and if Dusk hadn't asked, I would never had been able to make the association of 1337 to LEET - or its meaning of Elite...
I find car number plates interesting these days as I drive along and have read that with the ebonisation of the english language, bro, the english is a dead language... only a matter of time... with half my life over and as a lover of classic works (yet to discover Chesterton)... you can imagine my absolute angst at discovering this fact ...
Great Post,
Lilla~
Comment by AnthonyB
Hey man, you must be my age or close-to. I grew up when the net was starting to become a key household item; like bread, milk.. Do we have any peanut butter left honey?... okay, peanut butter... oh and can't forget, we need to pick up the internet too.
And It was such a wonderful thing. When I was 12, people had more internet lovers than actual, real-life friends. It was amazing. Chat-rooms were like nightclubs, you'd run in, some people would have a go in a private convo ( Don't mention cyber sex ! A know a fair few who lost their virtual virginity before their teens ! ).
But even though we lived a complete other life online, only a few of us picked up leet and in fact, most people i know prefer to type full words now. AMAZING !!
BTW, what the hell is PWNage ?
Let me know, JZ and that was a radical post bro ! You used to say radical, right ?
- Anthony
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
glad to have you among the pages on which I am so open.
I don't think english is dead, like any living thing, it is dancing, changing, growing.
It is like chaos, never the same, not a pattern.
It is like time, always moving forwards.
It is not yet dead, but full of life.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
if it helps I am 25.
And yes, I can remember when suddenly EVERYONE had the net.
And I mean EVERYONE.
I was living in Auckland at the time and suddenly, all mymates had email addresses.
PWNAGE is when you beat someone so badly it was like they were playing to lose.
The communication over the net between people who wouldn't otherwise even have met is mind boggling though. I know of a few people that began their relationship through the net. Five years ago you'd laugh at them. In this day and age? You'd probably agree it is as safe and potentially as wise (if not both safer and wiser) than meeting face to face.
JZ