What's on your mug?

A derivitave of the 80's software piracy scene. Originally "elite" was used to show status on a BBS. Commonly the people who cracked the software, or had sysop access on a board would be referred to as Elite. Later it became common to just use "leet." With the internet explosion it was later used to describe hackers as well as crackers. Due to it being great to be known as leet, newbies started adopting the term and using to describe themselves, often with numerical variations. Anyone who considers themselves "leet" should be able to tell you who/what Razor1911 is, anyone failing to answer this question should be laughed at.

"Wow, those guys that run this new board are leet, they had win 3.1 a week before it came out!"

By Ayin

Originating in the early 1980's, leet speak was first used by hackers as a way to prevent their websites/newsgroups from being found by simple keyword searches. Leet speak grew and became popular in online games such as Doom in the early 1990's as a way of suggesting that you were a hacker (h4x0r), and therefore to be feared. Leet, or 1337, is a short form of "elite," commonly used by video gamers to suggest that they are skilled. Generally, "leet speak" is not used these days by anyone who could actually be considered "elite." Leet speak has been widely adopted by North American culture and these days is used by pretty much anyone. (Aka., n00bs.)

Leet: l337 Hacker: h4x0r skills: s|<1llz

By Jess (and her m4a1)

1t'5 4 v4r14t10n 0f t3h w0rd 3l1t3 u53d by 14m3r5 wh0 th1nk th3y 4r3 3l1t3... 0ft3n us3d w1th 4r3 v4r1at10n 0f d1g1t5 1n5t34d 0f l3tt3r5...0ft3n u53d by 5cr1pt k1dd135 t0 d35cr18e th31r 5k1ll. (0ri9in4l d3finiti0n by 5cav3ng3r)

Translation: It's a variation of the word Elite, used by lamers who think they are Elite... often used with are variation of digits instead of letters... Often used by script kiddies to descripe their skill. (Original definition by scavenger)

By EJL

(also known as L337 or L33t or 1337, or Leet-Speak... etc) A language commonly used in chat rooms where letters are replaced by numbers and symbols, and words are commonly mispelled.

0mF6, j00 r s0 f$|<1n6 6h3y!

By Trunks Oliver Wood

I'm tired of the stupid shits thinking that they know anything. I'm surprised to see that there hasn't been one correct origin of leet in four fucking pages. Yes, leet means elite. Shut the fuck up about it already. Your insulting or not insulting definition isn't worth putting in just becuase you (just like everybody else) know that stupid little fact. It also isn't funny. Yes, leet is a language, now used by gamers, some deserving of using such a language and some not. As for origins, it started with hackers who DIDN'T create a language when the hacked into Microsoft or whatever shit was put before. In fact, it was used in a sort of sub-text that is included in coding so that hackers who send lines of code to each other would know what it did while others would not. Generally speaking there are two forms of leet; soft and hard core. Softcore can range from simply staggering the case of letters to substituting as many letters as possible for numbers. Hardcore leet involves substituting every character for one or more symbol, creating a complex, purposefully nearly unreadable language that attempts to make symbols look like letters. Despite apparent popular belief, it is not stupid or idiodic, at least when used in moderation and in context. Would you seriously take your opinion from somebody as illiterate as those who posted the shit they did? Please. n: a language originally created by computer hackers to communicate through their coding while others could not do such a thing. It misspells words that have been commonly misspelled in English, such as "Teh". It also spells most words phonetically, making it as easy to type in leet as possible. When a word ends in "X" or "cks", it is suitable to put an "orz" at the end. DO NOT put this on the end of every word. leet is also a very flexable language, so you can make your own words and modify the English language (teh smecks is a common substitute for sexy) in any way you see fit as long as it's close. adj: superior; elite. If I missed anything, fuck it, I'm tired.

n: 1 |2 1337 (Direct translation: I r leet. English: I am elite.) adj: That dude's so leet!

By Suck it, bitches