leet
1
9.9
- noun
- /liːt/
- Slang
- The actual origins of Leet speak are tough to pinpoint, but since its home is the internet, many believe it was used the same way the rest of the internet is.
Examples
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In fact, Leet is far removed from English that it's arguably become its own language worthy of study.
Blog text (2) -
In old internet slang, that means LEET, a fad way of spelling elite.
Blog text (30) -
Leet speak is an alternative alphabet used primarily on the Internet.
Academic text (2015) -
When Manny wants to communicate with friends online, he obfuscates his communications using leet (1337) speak.
Academic text (2015) -
But it was man's love for titties that saw leet evolve into a bona fide language.
Blog text (2) -
If you've spent any time whatsoever on the internet, you've seen some form of leet speak; chances are, though, you've only seen a shadow of its former self.
Blog text (2) -
Leet Speak iterated from *youth* usage of such systems, but long before that, BBS users were employing their own euphemisms and jargon like any other social group.
Blog text (2) -
A BBS utilized the original telecom infrastructure (kinda server-less, more point-to-point), while those that developed leet sloughed onto the stage as
Blog text (2) -
Now admins weren't stupid either, so it didn't take long until they started blocking or filtering out the misspellings too, leading to an arms race of sorts where users were constantly trying to one-up each other to create the most bastardized version of the English language possible; the result was leet.
Blog text (2) -
Many programmers use leet speak to create unique usernames that showcase their skills.
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word leet also names the style of writing that uses numbers and symbols for letters, like turning leet into 1337 to make a unique username. So when people say a name or message is in leet, they mean it is written in that playful code.