Re: [!nt] \n2+0\ Re: Biography and its discontents

On Thu, Sep 14, 2000 at 10:13:33PM -0400, Steg Belsky wrote:
> this guy reminds me very specifically of that person who used to hang out
> here a while ago....used the same kinds of mutations:
[snip]

Hmm, ever poked around in so-called "l33t" (mutation of "elite") culture?
Basically the kinda stuff computer-addicted teenagers do... e.g.:

i r00l3z 4ll j00 d00dz cuz 1 4m 31337 & I w1ll h4X0r ur 80x!

Transliteration: "I rule all you dudes because I am elite and I will hack
your box (computer)".

Translation: typical insult / macho declaration in l33t culture.

OK, I made up that one. But here's an actual one I found on the net:

How l337 would a l337 sp34k l337, if a l337 could sp34k l337 sp34k?

Basically a combination of computer lingo, chatroom shorthands, colloquial
slang, and lots of graphical imitations of ordinary letters using unlikely
things like numbers and other esoteric ASCII characters.  Typical
substitutions include 4 <-- A, 3 <-- E, 7 <-- T, 1 <-- I, 1 <-- L, 0 <--
O, 5 <-- S, 8 <-- B. Sometimes you also see things like |\/| for M, etc..

Sometimes I wonder if this is qualified as conlanging (or at least
pidgin-ing)... :-P


T