I'm cirrhosis, I've never heard of it.
For other uses, see Leet (disambiguation).
Leet
Type: Alternative
Languages: English, with some use in other languages
Time period: 1980 to the present
Parent Writing systems: Roman alphabet
Arabic numerals
Leet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.
Leet (or 1337, l33t, l33+, etc, derived from the word "Elite") is a linguistic phenomenon associated with the underground culture centered on telecommunications, manifested primarily on the Internet, and is especially prevalent in gaming (as in video games) communities. For the purposes of this text, leet is defined as the corruption or modification of written text. For example, the term "leet" itself is often written "l33t" or "1337". Such corruptions are frequently referred to as "Leetspeak" or "13375p34k," etc. (see below for cipher definitions). In addition to corruption of standard language, new colloquialisms have been added to the parlance. It is also important to note that Leet itself is not solely based upon one language or character set. In fact, Greek, Russian, Chinese, and other languages have been subjected to the Leet "cipher". As such, while it may be referred to as a "cipher", a "dialect", or a "language", Leet does not fit squarely into any of these categories. This article primarily concerns the English Language variant of Leet.
The name Leet itself is derived from the word elite (also 31337). Elite has been used in the past to designate a group of users as belonging to a higher social echelon than other users. Originally, elite had been reduced to one syllable, leet.
Because of this derivation from the word elite, calling someone or something leet may be considered a compliment, although it is also used in an ironic derogatory manner[1].
You'd be surprised how many time it doesn't come up in everyday conversation! And except for BCK & Wicked Thistle, nearly all the computerese I know comes from forum members under the age of 22.