# What's using numbers 2 replace words called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446 "2013-03-20T14:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/1 "2013-03-20T14:22:42Z")
Abbreviation? Contraction? It’s so hard 2 search 4, too. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/2 "2013-03-20T14:43:37Z")
Interesting question. Never thought if that has a name, but I always begin to use numerals first for low numbers, and change it, because it looks offensive in non-scientific writing. And of course texting is changing the way people consider the issue. If I rail against using-numerals-when spelled-out-numbers-should-be-used, I need to have a decent noun! ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/3 "2013-03-20T14:54:44Z")
No, I don’t mean spelling out numbers (that’s what makes it so hard to search). More like txt speak, using 4 for for, 2 for to, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/4 "2013-03-20T15:09:06Z")
Leetspeak? Wikipedia also has “[numeronym](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym).” ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/5 "2013-03-20T15:23:30Z")
Annoying? Illiterate? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/6 "2013-03-20T15:44:38Z")
Lazy? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/7 "2013-03-20T15:50:24Z")
I’d like to second “annoying” and “illiterate.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/8 "2013-03-20T15:54:33Z")
L33T (leet) It’s short for Elite, and comes from the days when not many people communicated over computers, and saving bytes by shortening in creative ways was necessary to speed transmission. Now it’s more to do with speeding typing. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/9 "2013-03-20T15:58:27Z")
I would vote for lazy, but I don’t want to. It’s a form of abbreviation, for efficiency. This is a fairly recent creation, and language is dynamic, so what you want to call it? I’d call it; textling ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/10 "2013-03-20T16:03:20Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > L33T (leet) It’s short for Elite, and comes from the days when not many people communicated over computers, and saving bytes by shortening in creative ways was necessary to speed transmission. > > Now it’s more to do with speeding typing. The distinquishing feature of l33t is the use of numbers to replace letters, not words. Numbers may replace whole words, but that’s not a unique feature of l33t. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/11 "2013-03-20T16:08:20Z")
It’s actually a form of rebus, isn’t it? The numeral (a symbol, after all) replaces a word that sounds like the name of the numeral. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/12 "2013-03-20T16:54:17Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#): > > This is a fairly recent creation \ textling It’s been prevalent in marketing for ages at the very least. The first example I wikied, [“Food-4-Less”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_4_Less), was named in 1930. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/13 "2013-03-20T17:04:56Z")
The movie title _Se7en_ is actually quite a nice play on this. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/14 "2013-03-20T17:12:51Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s actually a form of rebus, isn’t it? The numeral (a symbol, after all) replaces a word that sounds like the name of the numeral. So ‘4’ (four) isn’t a word? 2 when used instead of ‘too’ is as a heterograph. This is when a word is spelled differently but has the same meaning. And the origins of it in text communication are definitely not laziness, but economy. Back in the days when text messages only allowed you to have 160 characters, or it would charge you extra, it was often important to shorten words down. That’s still the case on some contracts I think, but most people now have (for all intents and purposes) unlimited texts. 1337 (Leet) is different. Leet is a completely alternative alphabet and was originally designed (as the name suggests) to obfuscate meaning, not assist in typing speed. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/15 "2013-03-20T17:33:01Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > The movie title _Se7en_ is actually quite a nice play on this. Similar to the band name Jackson 5ive (as it appeared on some of their albums). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/16 "2013-03-20T17:57:54Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > So ‘4’ (four) isn’t a word? > > 2 when used instead of ‘too’ is as a heterograph. This is when a word is spelled differently but has the same meaning. But neither “4” nor “2” is a word. They’re numerals, which are symbols for a concept. The _names_ of the concepts they stand for (“four” and “two”) are words. The numerals themselves are not. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/17 "2013-03-20T18:46:30Z")
> [@Stana\_Claus](#): > > Annoying? Illiterate? Correct. ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/18 "2013-03-20T19:00:50Z")
Prince used that back in the 80’s. Remember “I Would Die 4 U”? And I’ve seen many a “4 Sale” sign since I was a little kid. But yeah, it became common with text messages back in the days when phones had only a number keypad so entering whole words was a PITA. With today’s full QWERTY keyboards and touchscreens and predictive text it’s no longer necessary but people still do it for efficiency and also because kids think it looks cool. Also, text messages and tweets have 140 character limits so if you have a lot to say then it becomes useful. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/19 "2013-03-20T20:21:40Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s actually a form of rebus, isn’t it? The numeral (a symbol, after all) replaces a word that sounds like the name of the numeral. It’s more of a Homophone. A homophonic-abbreviation? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446/20 "2013-03-20T21:41:33Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > No, I don’t mean spelling out numbers (that’s what makes it so hard to search). More like txt speak, **using 4 for for, 2 for to, etc.** FTFY: …using 4 4 4, 2 4 2, &c. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-using-numbers-2-replace-words-called/653446.md?page=2)