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#!57ØЯЧ of “leet”

Even several years before Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web saw its first light of day back in 1991, leet speak was born. Back then when the internet was young, most search functionalities simply looked for keywords in text to show relevant documents. However, hackers weren’t very keen on having their information displayed on websites, bulletin boards, newsgroups or any other place, so they started to replace certain letters in words to obfuscate their communications… It started out with simple vowel substitutions like a 4 instead of an A, or a 3 instead of an E. This made it more likely for postings related to cracking or hacking to remain undetected.

• Alternatively, there is a conspiracy theory is that 1337 speak was invented as a way to beat automatic government surveillance programs, such as the legendary Echelon program‽
• Initially, “leet speak” was only known within small circles, and was only used when necessary; it originated within bulletin boards subcultures, wherein someone having an “élite” status meant that person was allowed special access to file folders, games, or chat rooms… but the use of “leet speech” increased with expansions of internet connectivity into one of the most influential titles in the history of videogames: Doom and Doom II…
• In summary, “leet speak” evolved from a simple substitutions method to mislead search functionalities into a subcultural vernacular language for online gamers to describe formidable prowess or accomplishment. Phrases such as “1 4m 3l33t!” (“I am elite!”) were used by braggadocios experienced gamers (or hackers).

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NUMBERS:

1️⃣ l I

2️⃣ R Z

3️⃣ E

4️⃣ A

5️⃣ S

6️⃣ b G

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8️⃣ B

9️⃣ g q

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