A few days ago the subject here was Internet “shorthand,” and I pretty much admitted that it was one of those modern trends that I simply didn’t understand. The subject came up because I was “cleaning out” my phone in preparation for getting a new one. That electronic cleaning initiative spilled over to my computer and I ran across an old article that I’d apparently saved because I thought it might help me come up with really “strong” passwords that my computer is always asking me use.
The article discussed something called Leetspeak — a type of online jargon in which a computer user replaces regular letters with other keyboard characters to form words phonetically. I gather that it was originally used by hackers and gamers. According to the article, “leet” is a vernacular form of “elite.”
Leet words can be expressed in hundreds of ways, using different substitutions and combinations. Nearly all characters are formed as phonemes and symbols — for example:
Numbers and symbols often replace the letters they resemble — the term “leetspeak” could be written as “!337$p34k.” The character ! replaces the letter L, “3” poses as a backwards letter E, and “7” is the letter T, etc.
Here’s another example, and if you follow along, you may figure out that it gets complicated enough that it just got “too hard” for me…. Letters can be substituted for other letters that might sound alike. For example, the letter Z can replace the final letter S in the word “skills.” With the letter X replacing the letter C or K, the example becomes “sxillz.” Then using numbers and symbols, leetspeakers might refer to their computer skills as “5x1llz.” This might make a good password, but it’s too complicated for me to come up with on the spur of the moment when I need it.
To use the system, rules of standard English are rarely obeyed. Some Leetspeakers capitalize every letter except for vowels, or drop vowels from words (like converting “very” to “vry.”
From what I can tell, the result of all this is the creation of a dynamic written language that contains no conformity or consistency.
After reading the article, I realize why I saved it, and I think it would be a good system to create passwords — in fact, Claire, who is much better at coming up with good passwords than I am, uses some kind of a modern version of this system.
So leetspeak is a good system and I had a valid reason for saving the article at the time, but I’ll probably just continue to use my own system to choose passwords — ask Claire to make one up for me.
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