To 1337 or not to leet
Getting slammed by a bunch of foreign combinations of letters, numbers, acronyms, and abbreviations can be maddening. One theory on leet speak’s origin is that it was developed as a way for people to share and discuss subversive material (read: hacks and porn) without getting nailed by text searches and filters. Today, leet speak is fairly synonymous with internet slang, covering everything from “pr0n” to arcane game-specific code words. Knowing when and when not to speak leet can make the difference between being “teh 1337 sauce” and “nubilicious.”
Write with proper punctuation and spelling, and you’ll be labeled as an uptight noob. On the other hand, if you overload your messages with too much “leetness,” you’ll wind up looking like a total jackass. It’s a tough tightrope to walk, so we’ve put together a few examples below to illustrate the dos and don’ts of leet speak.
