Leet Speak - What Are Those Gaming-Obsessed Nerds Talking About?

Ah, leet speak. That incredibly annoying and often confusing "language" in use by gaming-obsessed nerds all over the world. If you've ever been playing your favorite MMORPG (massively mutliplayer online role-playing game) and have seen "w00t", "ph4t l3wts", "hawt", or "pwn3d", then you have, unfortunately, been introduced to leet speak.

The word "leet" (you may also see this spelled 1337 or l33t) is actually a derivative of "elite". In the gaming world, this means being particularly good at playing your specific class or character, and/or having the "phatest lewts"--the best armor and weapons available in the game. Numbers are commonly used in place of letters when talking leet speak, the most widespread being "4" in place of "a", "3" in place of "e", and "0" (zero) in place of the letter O. So where did this peculiar brand of language originate?

Wikipedia says: "Leet... originated within bulletin board systems in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a BBS allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms.... It was primarily developed to defeat text filters created by BBS... to discourage the discussion of forbidden topics, like cracking and hacking... Leet has since entered the mainstream." Yes it has, in a major way. How the language progressed from something used to bypass text filters into something used by immature gamer idiots is beyond me. I am a verteran of the MMO world, and I can't recollect a single day when I have logged into a game and not seen some form of leet speak. It causes no end of aggravation and annoyance to those of us in the gaming world who actually have a great grasp on the English language and prefer to use real words.

It is more difficult to replace letters with numbers than it is to just simply type the letters, and for those unfamiliar with what I've been loosely terming this "language", it's much more difficult to decipher as well. There is no need for substitution. For people new to the MMO market, it can be quite confusing. For those who've been around the block, it's just plain annoying. I feel no end of irritation when I see leet speak. Each and every time, I seriously consider asking for their home addresses, so that I may mail out a dictionary for their perusal. Perhaps with a better understanding of English, they could forego those horrible excuses for phrases in lieu of ones that make sense. Then again, maybe not. Leet speak has been around for over two decades, and unfortunately for those of us who enjoy having normal conversations, it isn't going anywhere.