1337 5p3@|< Deciphering Guide
Are people on your message board posting strange symbols and code that you don’t understand? Are you concerned your children and doing inappropriate things but can’t understand their e-mail? Do you want to confuse the hell out of someone else who doesn’t know leet speak? Then they guide may (or may not) be the answer! In only a few simple steps you will be able to write and understand the strange code commonly referred to as leet speak!
Step one: Numbers and Symbols
The first thing you need to do when deciphering
leet speak is to understand what all the symbols mean. Usually the letters in a
word are replaced with letters, symbols or combinations thereof that look
similar to the letter. Trying to explain the actual rules is too difficult, but
below is a handy reference chart that contains all the letters and most of the
common changes.
Letter Common substitutes
a / A 4
/-\
b / B |o |3
c / C < (
d / D c| |)
e / E 3 3
f / F -|- |=
g / G 8 (+
h / H |n |-|
i / I ! 1
j / J ,/ u|
k / K |c |{
l / L 1 |_
m / M ^^ |\/|
n / N ^ |\|
o / O 0 ()
p / P |* |>
q / Q 9 ()\
r / R |2 P\
s / S 5 $
t / T + 7
u / U |_| L|
v / V v \/
w / W vv \/\/
x / X * ><
y / Y ,u \,/
z / Z % 7_
Beware that other symbols may be used that do not resemble
the letter at all. In these cases it is best to leave that out and try to guess
it using the context. This often happens on letters with no obvious substitutes.
Some symbols (especially letters) can be used for multiple letters. Again, it is
best to try and figure it out based on context. Capital letters are not listed
separately because often they are randomly exchanged in leet speak. Also, this
list is using only one line symbols. Some advanced leet speak may spread one
line of text over two or more lines to create a more complex message (eg.
\ /\ / |= |> /\ /- |/
V V |_ |\ \/ \_ |\
which translates to ‘we rock’), thought these tend to be closer to the real
letters and thus easier to read once you understand it. Sometimes rarer symbols
are used too, such as
¢or
ə,
but to list all of these would be impractical. You find most people who
habitually use leet speak do not use symbols that are not displayed on the
keyboard.
Lets show an example of this to give you the idea. A not too uncommon phrase in leet speak would be |>33|2 ^^,u 1337 5|<1|_|_5 (the exchange here is an extreme, but it does sometimes happen). Once the letters are replaced we are left with: Pheer my leet skills.
Step two: Actual words
Now that we have letters to work with it becomes a
bit easier. Next we just need to figure out what they mean. There are several
common cases when the words will not be actual words. Each of these will be
dealt with in turn below.
Phonic spelling: A common trick with leet speak is to spell something as
it would sound. A common example is Sux. Say it out loud and what does it sound
like? Sucks. Another example is Pheer. If we say that out loud what does it
sound like? Fear. In this case alternate letter combinations are used for the
sound pronunciation. Ph – f is the most common case.
Anagrams: Sometimes in order to further disguise the message anagrams are
used (ie. Swapping letters in the word around). The most common case is with ‘teh’,
which means the. Often these will appear as typos, but are deliberate. Sometimes
these are used to cover up things they do not want people to know about (eg.
pron is used often as an anagram for porn).
Misspellings: On occasions the words are simple not spelt correctly. This
may be because the person is simply a bad speller, but they may be on purpose.
If the word seems close to a real one it may be.
Acronyms: Acronyms are used very often. It is impossible to list them all
as different ones are used on different message boards, forums etc. and there
are far to many. One particularly common one is woot, which stands for We Own
(the) Other Team (often a victory cry).
Misc: There are a few other strange changes which have evolved in leet
speak, some of which I’ll list here. Often when making something plural instead
of just adding an s (or whatever would be correct) ‘ors’ is added. This is even
more common when the word ends in an ‘x’ in leet speak (eg. suxors means sucks,
or haxors means hackers). Adding ‘age’ to the end of a word refers to an
emphasis or similar to the suffix ‘ness’ (eg. chairage would refer to a lot of,
or close to, a chair or Leetage would mean very elite). Noob, newbie, or other
similar words refer to new and/or unskilled people in whatever the board is for.
Leet translates directly to elite and is used often for skilled people.
So let’s take out example phrase. After a bit of tinkering it becomes ‘Fear my elite skills.’
Step three: The meaning
Most of the time this will not be necessary, but sometimes even after
deciphering the sentence it may not make any sense. Often this is deliberate:
people who use leet speak don’t make much sense ever. But there are a few
phrases you should look out for. A common one is a reference to owning or pwning
something else. This does not mean own in a literal sense, it usually means to
defeat or be greater than (eg. ‘I OWN that guy badly!’). Again, to list all the
examples would be impractical. If you are still unsure try asking someone who
might know. You might sound like a noob, but at least you’ll know!
|-|@\/3 /-\ |\|1<3 |)4,u!