# A Question about l33t sp33k
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 17, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627 "2005-06-17T00:08:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/1 "2005-06-17T00:08:39Z")
I get what most of it means, at this point, though I loathe it with most fibers of my being.
However, is there a pronuciation guide?
For instance, I know (think) that sux0rs (or suxx0rs) means sucks, generally, but do you pronounce the 0rs? Is it sucks-ors or just sucks? Or does it mean suckers and I’m totally un-hip?
I hear what I read, and this bothers me that I don’t know what the l33ts are saying.
This is pointless, yes, but I truly think this has an answer.
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/2 "2005-06-17T00:50:11Z")
Heres how I use them:
Teh - like in Technical
z0r - rhymes with bore
j00 - as jew
phat - as fat
h4x - as hacks
warez - rhymes with dares, NOT as rhyming with juarez
LOLz - As a word, not as an acronymn.
I want to know how people pronouce pwn though, I pronouce it like own with a p, some people prefer “pawn”.
---
### Author:  [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/3 "2005-06-17T01:16:17Z")
You’re assuming that leeters actually _speak_ to each other.
---
### Author:  [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/4 "2005-06-17T01:29:18Z")
1337 is not a spoken language. Instead, it is a text cypher for English, although there’s no reason you couldn’t have 1337 3// 35p4||07 (Spanish) or whatever other language. So you don’t really pronounce 1337 differently than you would the base language. However, I’m of the old school that remembers when 1337 was for obscuring certain files from easy viewing, and not just for being a dumbass in chatrooms.
---
### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/5 "2005-06-17T01:30:59Z")
In my experience I’ve always heard suX0rs pronounced “suck-zors”. Personally, if I were going to say pwn I’d do so as “pone”.
I don’t think this question really has an answer. Since the terms aren’t spread through speech, I’d imagine that each social group’s pronunciations would vary wildly.
---
### Author:  [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/6 "2005-06-17T01:41:46Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#):
>
> 1337 is not a spoken language. Instead, it is a text cypher for English, although there’s no reason you couldn’t have 1337 3// 35p4||07 (Spanish) or whatever other language. So you don’t really pronounce 1337 differently than you would the base language. However, I’m of the old school that remembers when 1337 was for obscuring certain files from easy viewing, and not just for being a dumbass in chatrooms.
Heh, same here! pr0n, baby, it’s all about the pr0n.
---
### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/7 "2005-06-17T03:21:29Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#):
>
> You’re assuming that leeters actually _speak_ to each other.
True, but I like to know at least how someone says stuff… me and my talkative brain. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/8 "2005-06-17T03:32:56Z")
“pwn” is pronounced “pOn” with the long O. “sux0rz” is “sucksoors”
---
### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/9 "2005-06-17T03:43:33Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> I hear what I read, and this bothers me that I don’t know what the l33ts are saying.
But who cares what they are saying? When I communicate with Internet sysadmins about security issues, I use normal English. If I actually used “l33t sp33k”, they’d probably have deleted my e-mail before bothering to look at it. The key to communicating on the Internet is actually knowing how to use the English language. A few iregulaities in usage (such as an African e-mailing an American) is overlooked. However, if the message is in l33t sp33k, it quickly ends up in the bit bucket. Real geeks are fluent in English.
---
### Author:  [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/10 "2005-06-17T05:06:58Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#):
>
> You’re assuming that leeters actually speak to each others
You have obviously never played online games with voice communication, especially first person ones. Of course, it is usually used as a joke, but when the 13-year olds come out it can be scary.
---
### Author:  [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/11 "2005-06-17T06:55:10Z")
Damn kids, they got no sense of history! When I was their age, it took half an hour to download a JPG of a naked chick! They don’t know how good they have it with their MPEG and WMV pr0n, the little bastards!
---
### Author:  [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/12 "2005-06-17T07:00:54Z")
A half an hour, only to find it it’s NOT a picture of a naked hot girl, but a naked not-even-close-to-hot girl doing unnatural shit to a horse.
…no? I was the only one who fell for that, wasn’t I?
Goddamnit!
---
### Author:  [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/13 "2005-06-17T13:36:37Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#):
>
> Damn kids, they got no sense of history! When I was their age, it took half an hour to download a JPG of a naked chick! They don’t know how good they have it with their MPEG and WMV pr0n, the little bastards!
And then you had to paste the encoded files together, UUdecode it, and perhaps crop it for “size maintenance”.
Damn kids with their automatic news readers!
---
### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/14 "2005-06-17T14:15:01Z")
And after all that, it was still dithered to the VGA palette, or worse, EGA!
---
### Author:  [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/15 "2005-06-17T14:45:16Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> True, but I like to know at least how someone says stuff… me and my talkative brain. 🙂
Well, I can’t speak for everybody else, but when I see stuff like that, I usually pronounce it “dumb-ass”.
> [@butler1850](#):
>
> And then you had to paste the encoded files together, UUdecode it, and perhaps crop it for “size maintenance”.
>
> Damn kids with their automatic news readers!
Heh – these days they’d probably ask, “Huh? How do you **unencode** something?” 😉
---
### Author:  [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/16 "2005-06-17T17:51:47Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> And after all that, it was still dithered to the VGA palette, or worse, EGA!
Dude, what the hell is she doing? I can’t tell if that’s her leg or the chair.
---
### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/17 "2005-06-17T18:55:41Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#):
>
> But who cares what they are saying? When I communicate with Internet sysadmins about security issues, I use normal English. If I actually used “l33t sp33k”, they’d probably have deleted my e-mail before bothering to look at it. The key to communicating on the Internet is actually knowing how to use the English language. A few iregulaities in usage (such as an African e-mailing an American) is overlooked. However, if the message is in l33t sp33k, it quickly ends up in the bit bucket. Real geeks are fluent in English.
Real Geeks who play MMORPGs hide good info in stupid l33t.
I would just like to read gaming boards and hear what they are saying in my head. This isn’t about how people in professional situations act with each other. This is me, asking a simple question about the world.
---
### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/18 "2005-06-17T19:18:37Z")
My friends and I I pronounce pwned as “owned-with-a-p.”
E.g. “Dude, I own you—_with a p_!”
Follow with “eleven” for added emphasis.
“Your ass is owned-with-a-p, eleven.”
---
### Author:  [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/19 "2005-06-17T19:25:15Z")
Heh, yes!
“Pwned~!!111”
---
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627/20 "2005-06-17T21:18:16Z")
Oh. Em. Gee.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-l33t-sp33k/308627.md?page=2)