leetspeak

[David Kleinecke]

Consider this (from the Urban Dictionary)

<quote>

leet speak

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.

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

</quote>

Now I fins this in more or less mainline internet

The malware that's pwning the Internet of Things is
terrifyingly amateurish

Are we really adding the verb "pwn" to the English langauge?

Or, worse yet, "leet".

PS: Wikipedia says:

Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as
meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The
term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used
primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt
an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You
just got pwned!").

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

These words arrived in the OED in September 2016:

leetspeak, n.

Forms: 19– leetspeak, 19– 133t5p34k, 20– l33tsp33k, 20– l33tsp34k,
20– 133tsp33k, 20– 133tsp34k, 20– 133t5p33k, 20– 13375p34k.

Etymology: < leet adj. + -speak suffix.

In forms including numerals, 1 represents the letter l (owing to the
visual resemblance of the numeral to the lower-case letter), and 3,
7, 5, and 4 represent the letters E, T, S, and A respectively (owing
to the visual resemblance of these numerals to the upper-case forms
of these letters), according to the conventions of this system of
spelling.

An informal language or code used on the Internet, characterized by
its distinctive vocabulary and by a nonstandard system of spelling
in which all or some of the standard letters are replaced by
numerals, special characters, or other letters.
Originally associated with the subculture of computer hackers.

1999 Lingo used by Chatroom W*nkers in alt.geek (Usenet newsgroup)
19 Dec. I'd guess that 133t5p34k (leetspeak as it is called..)
probably started as a way to avoid moderation on usenet.
2003 Times (Nexis) 4 Feb. 16 ‘Hacker’ may be written ‘H4x0r’ and
the slang described as ‘133t5p34k’.
2011 B. Melançon et al. Definitive Guide Drupal 7 ix. 200,
13375p34k..[is] obnoxious to some and completely incomprehensible
to others.
2015 A. Coxhead & J. Bytheway in D. Nunan & J. C. Richards Lang.
Learning Beyond Classroom vii. 69 The acceptance of flexible
spelling is part of leetspeak and encourages creativity.


leet, adj. and n.5

Forms: 19– leet, 19– 133t, 19– 1337, 19– l33t, 19– l337.
Etymology: Representing the pronunciation of the second syllable
élite n.3

A. adj.

U.S. colloq. Of a person: skilled at computer programming or
hacking. Also as a general term of approval: masterful; ‘awesome’.

[1992 Gleanings (58) in bit.listserv.words-l (Usenet newsgroup)
7 Sept. C00l and EleEt are the words ‘cool’ and ‘elite’ spelled
in the currently preferred style of the 17-year-old self-styled
hacker. I was using those spellings to some now-forgotten humorous
effect.]
1995 McGill Dialup Softwares in mcgill.general (Usenet newsgroup)
8 Nov. Itz kewl, dude. You should check it out coz itz just for
the 'leet windoze userz.
1996 comp.sys.mac.programmer.games (Usenet newsgroup) 11 Jan.
(title of posting) leet GAME PROGRAmmers NEEDED!
2001 Austral. & Refugees in alt.games.starcraft (Usenet newsgroup)
1 Sept. Thank you Chas, that was 1337.
2006 C. K. Sample PSP Hacks ii. 89 As for you 1337 hackers who
scoff at how basic this hack is, consider it a challenge.
2013 C. Doctorow Homeland 343 If you guys are all so leet and
badass, why don't you do this?

B. n.5
....
2001 Any l33t Experts? in alt.games.half-life.counterstrike
(Usenet newsgroup) 5 Mar. l33t is hacker speak, Hackers use that
talk to talk without having written evidence.
2009 Canberra Times (Nexis) 21 Feb. a12 Don't be surprised if
you find yourself emailing in l33t afterwards.
2015 S. Baldwin Internet Unconscious ii. 32 A common use of leet
is for undesirable or illegal communication.


pwn, v.

Etymology: Alteration of own v., perhaps originating in a typing
error (the letters o and p being adjacent on a standard computer
keyboard).
colloq. (chiefly U.S.).

trans. To inflict a humiliating defeat on (an opponent), esp. in an
online game. Also: to gain unauthorized access to or compromise (a
computer, network, etc.). Cf. own v. 8.
The unusual spelling and syntax of quot. 2002 reflects the use
of leet code: see leetspeak n.

2002 AGD vs. AGD2 in alt.games.diablo (Usenet newsgroup) 18 Feb.
WE 1337 WE PWNS J00!!!
2007 Wired Apr. 109/2 Mad Catz Xbox 360 Arcade GameStick...
Three turbo settings let you impress and ‘pwn’ friends.
2008 Network World (Nexis) 26 Feb. 12 Are you saying that you
can pwn a network with ANY version of VNC installed on the
systems?
2011 Men's Health (U.K. ed.) (Nexis) July 19 We show you what
happened when our writers challenged athletes..to work out with
them. They got pwned obviously.
2013 C. Doctorow Homeland xiv. 343 You'd be amazed at how many
other peoples' computers we've pwned.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[David Kleinecke]

Thank You, I think. More than I wanted to know.

I just wondered about "pwn".

[Richard Tobin]

In article <132cebb3-8273-499b...@googlegroups.com>,

David Kleinecke <dklei...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Are we really adding the verb "pwn" to the English langauge?

Yes, but only temporarily.

-- Richard

[the Omrud]

On 04/10/2016 18:15, David Kleinecke wrote:

> Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as
> meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The
> term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used
> primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt
> an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You
> just got pwned!").

For some reason I am reminded of "All your base are belong to us". Say
that to youngsters these days and they will consider you barmy.

--
David

[Tony Cooper]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 20:05:46 +0100, the Omrud <usenet...@gmail.com>
wrote:

It's not just youngsters. I've seen that 100s of times and still
don't know the origin. I suppose it's from some movie that I never
saw. Something to do with space and/or aliens, which is the reason I
never saw it.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[the Omrud]

It's one of the earliest Internet memes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

--
David

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

It's from a video game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

"All your base are belong to us" is a broken English ("Engrish")
phrase found in the opening cutscene of the 1989 video game Zero
Wing which became a popular Internet meme. The quote is included in
the European version of the game, which features poor English
translations of the original Japanese version.[1]

The meme developed from this as the result of a GIF animation
depicting the opening text which was initially popularized on the
Something Awful message forums.

<snip>

[RH Draney]

On 10/4/2016 10:15 AM, David Kleinecke wrote:
>
> 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.
>
> Leet: l337
> Hacker: h4x0r
> skills: s|<1llz
> Own: Pwn

A recent failure of leet spelling came when a "30-something lady" wanted
the license plate "MAMABEAR" but found it was unavailable...unwisely,
she went for "M4M4BEAR" instead, which has a meaning she probably didn't
intend....r

[Tony Cooper]

On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 22:20:58 +0100, "Peter Duncanson [BrE]"
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:

>On Tue, 04 Oct 2016 16:06:09 -0400, Tony Cooper
><tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 4 Oct 2016 20:05:46 +0100, the Omrud <usenet...@gmail.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On 04/10/2016 18:15, David Kleinecke wrote:
>>>
>>>> Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as
>>>> meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The
>>>> term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used
>>>> primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt
>>>> an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You
>>>> just got pwned!").
>>>
>>>For some reason I am reminded of "All your base are belong to us". Say
>>>that to youngsters these days and they will consider you barmy.
>>
>>It's not just youngsters. I've seen that 100s of times and still
>>don't know the origin. I suppose it's from some movie that I never
>>saw. Something to do with space and/or aliens, which is the reason I
>>never saw it.
>
>It's from a video game.

Even more of a reason I didn't know the origin of it.

[Adam Funk]

cf. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeclark/4570275380>


--
You're 100 percent correct --- it's been scientifically proven that
microwaving changes the molecular structure of food. THIS IS CALLED
COOKING, YOU NITWIT. --- Cecil Adams

[Charles Bishop]

In article <132cebb3-8273-499b...@googlegroups.com>,
David Kleinecke <dklei...@gmail.com> wrote:

I had heard it wasn't necessarily "derived" but resulted from a typo
since the "p" is next to the "o".

--
charles

[Charles Bishop]

In article <nt1al...@news3.newsguy.com>,

What's the meaning she wouldn't like?

--
charles, if you would be so kind

[RH Draney]

C&P from a Tumblr who was asked the same question:

These are (uncommonly used) abbreviations used to solicit threesomes. M4
means “a man looking for [particular partner type / gender / etc], so
M4M4BEAR reads like “a man looking for a man and a bear” and 2M4M reads
as the more common “two men looking for a male third”.

Drilling down further to another source, "Bears are hairy big gay men"....r

[Peter Moylan]

It probably originated in a newsfroup somewhere.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Richard Tobin]

In article <nt46oh$juu$2...@dont-email.me>,

Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>>> Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as
>>> meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The
>>> term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used
>>> primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt
>>> an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You
>>> just got pwned!").

>> I had heard it wasn't necessarily "derived" but resulted from a typo
>> since the "p" is next to the "o".

>It probably originated in a newsfroup somewhere.

Alt.games.diablo, as far as the OED knows.

2002 AGD vs. AGD2 in alt.games.diablo (Usenet newsgroup) 18 Feb. WE
1337 WE PWNS J00!!!

-- Richard

[Charles Bishop]

In article <nt46oh$juu$2...@dont-email.me>,
Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

By a cow orker.

--
charles, or teh cow orker

[Adam Funk]

That's the bit I didn't get...

> Drilling down further to another source, "Bears are hairy big gay men"....r

...but I've heard of that.


--
Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random.
--- Donald Knuth