R3pl4c1n9 l3773r5 w17h numb3r5 – WHY?

This blog from MACMILLAN DICTIONARY says that Leet speak can be defined as a type of informal electronic communication, using abbreviations, acronyms, misspellings, typos (as demonstrated in the next post), synonyms, punctuation marks, phonetic combinations, or combining similar sounds, and homographic substitution.

Homographic substitution is where similar looking letters, punctuation marks, or graphics are used to represent the correct letter

Simply, leet is homographic substitution.

Leet means “elite”. By coining this phrase, those who use leet are saying that they are above and better than everyone else. They are the elite. Everybody use is a n00b, or a newbie or rookie.

In the 1980s, leet was used to get past restrictive text editors. Today, however, leet is used primarily as a way to reduce key strokes. Like mentioned above, it embraces the idea of abbreviations, often by eliminating vowels and creating acronyms.

MACMILLAN DICTIONARY contributor, Jonathan Cole, defined leet speak in what I think is a perfect way:

“Leet speak has developed from an obscure communication system into a cultural phenomenon, widely and increasingly used in online games, chat rooms, text messaging, instant messaging, websites and wider electronic communication.”