What is Text Speak?
Text speak could be referred to as a new language for the online generation, It is used a lot in chat rooms, on instant messenger systems and in text messages on mobile phones. It was born out of convenience and tends to use shortened and abbreviated words as well as replacing whole or parts of words with numbers and removing most or all of the vowels from a word.
Some Examples Of Text Speak Are:
- Text could become Txt
- Mate could become M8
- For could become 4
- You Too could become U 2
- Before could become B4
- Be Right Back is abbreviated to BRB
- Laughing Out Loud is abbreviated to LOL
What is Hacker Speak?
Hacker speak or Leet speak (often spelt 1337 or l33t and stands for elite) is similar to text speak but is much more complex. As well as shortening and abbreviating words some words can stay the same length, with a symbol or number replacing a letter, or even become longer when many symbols are used to replace single letters.
Some examples of Hacker Speak are:
- Hacker is often changed to H4x0r
- Rocks is often changed to r0x0r
- The is often changed to teh
- Well could be changed to \/\/311 or w3ll
- Next could be changed to |\|ex7 or N3x7
One problem with this sort of text is that many people do not understand how to read it, potentially leading to misunderstandings and arguments. Another issue arises for users using text readers to access webpages, as the text would not make any sense when read aloud.
