Slang from different cultures and sub-cultures

[OZEED]

I love linguistics, I can sit for hours and just listen to people chatting.It's amazing how peoples language styles are influenced by music, fashion, sport, literature, cultures and sub-cultures. Sometimes a language style that may be frowned upon by a certain group maybe totally exceptable by another.
So I'm curious as to slang that you use in your culture.
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT FORUM RULES APPLY. NO SWEARING, RACIST, DEROGATORY SLANG PLEASE.
These are some of the slang that I've come to hear from people around me.

Lekker - nice, tasty (it's afrikaans)
Howzit - how-is-it? (how are you?)
chow - Food
Heita - how are you? (Zulu slang)
Arb - from the word arbitrary (surfer, skater slang, most of the time used out of context)
Bru - friend, brother, mate (surfer slangs)
Skuif - cigarette

I'll post more once this gets going.

[Shannanigan]

Ah! I love linguistics too! (Not all that experienced, but I've taken a couple classes and love sitting around listening to dialects and slangs as well).

We actually just finished presentations in my Virgin Islands history class, and a lot of students worked on a dictionary of Virgin Island slang. Some mentioned the Dutch/English Creole that used to be spoken here, but the last speaker of it died in 1987, so sad to know the exact date of the death of a language...

Anyways, some slang here:

"Safe" : equivalent to America's "cool"...instead of "Yeah, that guy is cool," here you would say "yeah, dah boy safe."

"Nasty" : means "really nice," as in "those are some NASTY Timberlands you got on" or "That was a NASTY trick he did on that jet ski meh son!" (Some teens have moved up a step and now use the word "disgustin" to describe something REALLY "nasty")

"Conty" : someone from the continental US (like me)

"Vex" : a shortening of the word "vexed," used much more often than "angry," you will hear at least once a day at my university "he duh get me vex me son"

There's a wikipedia article on "Virgin Islands Creole," though according to my linguistics professor it's not really a Creole. It includes a list of common phrases and words along with their standard English translations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Islands_Creole

[kathycf]

Hmm, the only example I can think of off hand is wicked. I think it is more commonly used in the New England regional area, but maybe other places too. It is used like "very" or "really".

"Wasn't that movie awful? Yea, wicked."

"I love your shoes, they are wicked cool!"

[kilted exile]

Glaswegian is pretty much a language by itself, here are a few:

Haud yer wheesht - Shut up
Away raffle yersel - Go away and stop annoying me
Joe Baxi - Taxi
Chic Murray - Curry
gallus - pretty
Ya Dancer - Exclamation of happiness (usually also contains word beginning F ending G)
Ned - Young ruffian (usually dressed in trackie bottoms and wearing a LaCoste or big Berghaus jacket - also likely to be "tooled up" and drinking Bucky or Mad Dog)
Trackie Bottoms - Tracksuit trousers
Tooled up - Carrying a weapon of some desription (knife, hammer, razor blade, chisel or just ordinary golf club)
Bucky - Buckfast, sickly sweet fermented wine made by monks and drank by people who want to "get oot their nut"
Mad Dog - MD20/20, another drink
Get oot their nut - get drunk till they cant stand up anymore

[TEND]

Out in the country we have some slang that no one in the city uses which is fun, because really though we live an hour apart they have (well I do to) a bit of an accent. I really can't think of all the slang we use because it's stuff that's pretty natural.
We have about 30 different words for a dip (of tobacco, for those uninformed) and about 30 different phrases for putting one in.
Examples being:
Dip, Chew, Chaw, Charlie, Heater, Lipper. and than use those to fill in the blanks of phrases like....
Chuck in a ______, Throw in a ______. In the city for those that do know what a dip is they don't know all the other words we use for it.
Hmm, lots of alchohol slang and everything we try and shorten. We call supper sups (don't know if they do this anywhere else but I've never heard it outside of my hometown), when we want say a whiskey and water, it's whiskey and wats. Lots of slang just focused on shortening things, everybodies name is shortened (usually last name is what we refer to people by and big or little if they have siblings). I can't think of lots off the top of my head, but those are some starters.

[Taliesin]

Role-playing slang.
But that is probably huge. Need to think more aobut it.

[cuppajoe_9]

I've heard that 'whack of' to mean 'large amount' is specific to the western provinces. As in: "We got a whole wack of snow last night."

[TEND]

I've heard that 'whack of' to mean 'large amount' is specific to the western provinces. As in: "We got a whole wack of snow last night."

Yup, we have that here, didn't know that we were the only ones to use it though, interesting.

[dramasnot6]

Oh, i moved to Australia from the US in 2005 and have witnessed some really interesting slang.
They love to abbreviate EVERYTHING(and end it with y or ie). Chrissy=Chrsitmas, Pressy=Present, Rellies= Relatives, etc. So its really confusing during December when you hear "Gonna get some chrissy prezzies for the rellies mate" for the first time.
Barbie=barbecue
Good on ya= good for you
Hell= very, like "hell cool" "hell easy"
Bogan= person who acts like a bum spending all day guzzling beer and not bathing
Bush= the outback, the desert

Oh, they have many. Some their own, some derived from British slang. But sometimes with their accents its hard to tell which is which.


Wow, Ive already learned so much from this thread. Virgin island and Glaswegian sayings are really out there. Ill have to try some out today just to confuse people:p

[higley]

"Emo" is getting really popular around the States, I think. I hear it a lot. There are differing opinions on what it means, though. ;) I think it means "over-dramatic and full of angst."

[SheykAbdullah]

Out in the country we have some slang that no one in the city uses which is fun, because really though we live an hour apart they have (well I do to) a bit of an accent. I really can't think of all the slang we use because it's stuff that's pretty natural.
We have about 30 different words for a dip (of tobacco, for those uninformed) and about 30 different phrases for putting one in.
Examples being:
Dip, Chew, Chaw, Charlie, Heater, Lipper. and than use those to fill in the blanks of phrases like....
Chuck in a ______, Throw in a ______. In the city for those that do know what a dip is they don't know all the other words we use for it.
Hmm, lots of alchohol slang and everything we try and shorten. We call supper sups (don't know if they do this anywhere else but I've never heard it outside of my hometown), when we want say a whiskey and water, it's whiskey and wats. Lots of slang just focused on shortening things, everybodies name is shortened (usually last name is what we refer to people by and big or little if they have siblings). I can't think of lots off the top of my head, but those are some starters.

It may be an interesting point. The 'heater' word for 'chew' (and I have hard lots of terms for 'chew', using the word I prefer) dates back to the early parts of the last century. The word 'heater' originally meant a cigar...Well a cigar and a hand gun both.

The transposition of this word from 'cigar' to 'chew' is not very difficult to figure out when one learns that a long upstanding Southern tradition (and I am a Southern boy at heart, Southern US that is) is to chew the butt of a cigar after it has been smoked. Never done in the presence of a lady, of course.

As for the whiskey and water, another Southern term (and one that is dying out judging by how often I have to explain it at bars) is to call a bourbon whiskey and water a 'Bourbon and branch,' one of my personal favorite drinks, and I like my whiskey (particularly bourbon). The branch comes from the tradition of pulling the water from the first branch of a creek, supposedly the purest water available as in the South as a true creek originates from an underground spring.

As for slang, I've always liked the slang from the thirties and military acronyms like FUBAR, SNAFU, and SWAG, none of which can be elaborated on due to the grotuitous use of a particular four lettered word. On the top of the list for thirties slang are all the words for 'private detective' ('continental Op', 'Dic', 'Gumshoe', 'PI', 'Flatfoot', and 'Eye'), 'cigarettes' ('coffin nail' just sounds so dramatic and appropo, even to a dedicated smoker like myself), and the slang for a 'hand gun' ('heater' and 'iron' among others).

As for slang I use myself, I am constantly trying to resurrect the word 'bonus' in the sense of meaning 'excellent' from surfer slang to prominence, but I don't think I have been so succesful.

[TEND]

That's really interesting about the heater, frankly I had no idea. It's interesting though that the term made it from the Southern States up to the Canadian prairies. On the topic there are quite a few spitoon slangs, we use too spitter, the ol' spitoonsky and such along those lines, different people round here have their own special words.
Another one my buddy just said to me (not a country term but a general term, don't know where it originated) is peace or peace out in place of goodbye.

[cuppajoe_9]

Not sure how regional it is, but I've heard people say "to kill one's self" to mean "smoke a cigarette". As in, "I'm just gonna go outside and kill myself for a few minutes."

[cuppajoe_9]

Ocupational slang (I work in a grocery store):

"hand bomb" - throw ("Just hand-bomb that soup onto the display")
"skid" - a wodden thing that the merchandise comes in on
"face" - clean up the merchandise on the shelves ("When you're done that, go face aisle 5")
"end" - a display on the end of an aisle
"outdated" - past the expiration date
"wagons" "carts" "four-wheelers" - shopping carts
"truck day" - day upon which merchandise is delivered

From my old job delivering pizza:

"out-the-door" - the time between when the customer places an order and when the driver leaves with the pizza ("What's your out-the-door?").
"slap" - to form dough into a pizza crust
"fork" - to perforate ("Fork that crust a little more")
"machine" - debit machine ("I forgot my friggin machine")
"match" - when two orders are going to roughly the same geographical location ("Does anything match with this Southridge?")

and one Medicine Hat specific piece of slang:

"Cathy Smith" - prudish ("How Cathy Smith of you"). Cathy Smith is an unpopular conservative alderwoman.

[OZEED]

The most interesting part of slang in South Africa, is that it is influenced by so many different cultures and languages. We have eleven different official languages.

"Vaaing" - going, on your way (Afrikaans)
"Ekse" - man, guy (Afrikaans)
"Graft" - work, job (Afrikaans)
"connection" - cousin, family,
"porsie" - home, house
"lank" - very, extremely (surfer slang)
"Dialled" - called on the phone
"amped" - full of energy, ready to go
"bakkie" - pick up truck
"befok" - crazy, wild, out of control (afrikaans)
"biltong" - snack the same as beef jerky in the USA
"biscuit" - this word can mean either "cookie" or "dork, loser". "hey Mark, don't be a biscuit"
"mineral" - soda, pepsi, coca cola
"braai" - barberque
"stekkie" - women, girl
"pull in" - coming along
"jol" - party

lets just see, if you can understand the following using the slang above.

I dialled my connection the other day.I said, "ekse why don't you pull in to my porsie dis evening, coz we are havin a befok jol and a braai." "I'm really amped for a jol coz I don't have graft tomorrow and it's been lank long since we last had a braai."
"Oh, and please can bring along some biltong and mineral."
"dont be a biscuit, of course you can bring along your stekkie."
"check you later bra, and don't forget to get my bakkie washed you biscuit."


Now, you're a regular South African :thumbs_up

[Nightshade]

"Emo" is getting really popular around the States, I think. I hear it a lot. There are differing opinions on what it means, though. ;) I think it means "over-dramatic and full of angst."

No emo is the kind of people who say things like 'life is a depressing song'.
Anyway
wicked---cool
gorg_---gorgeous
and well since I have some firends over from the carribean words that have shocked them

legless, ratfaced,-----very drunk
Snog---- kiss
Bless your cotton socks---- like bless your heart, or Bless--- can be anything from aww your adorbale, to thanks.
ta---- thankyou
cheers--- thankyou AND your welcome also goodbye
Scallies---- they dress a bit like chavs butt they tend to leave there hoods down and arent as violent
chavs---- trackie bottoms and hoodies and lots of gold but they also have that chavvy attitude and often tooled up and violent
brew--- tea
biccy-- biscuit

[Dry_Snail]

Great Info :)

[dramasnot6]

No emo is the kind of people who say things like 'life is a depressing song'.
Anyway
wicked---cool
gorg_---gorgeous
and well since I have some firends over from the carribean words that have shocked them

legless, ratfaced,-----very drunk
Snog---- kiss
Bless your cotton socks---- like bless your hear, or Bless--- can be anything from aww your adorbale, to thanks.
ta---- thankyou
cheers--- thankyou AND your welcome also goodbye
Scallies---- they dress a bit like chavs butt they tend to leave there hoods down and arent as violent
chavs---- trackie bottoms and hoodies and lots of gold but they also have that chavvy attitude and often tooled up and violent
brew--- tea
biccy-- biscuit


i love the legless, like youre too drunk to walk. I saw my parents open a bottle of wine at dinner and said "be careful, you might end up legless" and they gave me a fantastically disturbed look. I'm enjoying this broadening of vocab:D I can use it for evil:brow:

[SleepyWitch]

cool article Shanna, creoles are cute :)
cool idea for a thread Ozeed
can you give an example of how "arb" is used?

[OZEED]

cool article Shanna, creoles are cute :)
cool idea for a thread Ozeed
can you give an example of how "arb" is used?

Most of the time it's used totally out of context, I reckon it's quite a "trendy" word at the moment.

"Dude, those baggies(skater boy shorts) are so arb"

[Taliesin]

In Estonia, freshmen are called foxes.

[SleepyWitch]

that's interesting, Tal. In Germany, new members of a fraternity (or should I call it booze society?) are called foxes, I think.

[OZEED]

that's interesting, Tal. In Germany, new members of a fraternity (or should I call it booze society?) are called foxes, I think.

Well here, a beautiful women is refered to as a Fox. I must admit though that slang is a bit out dated.

[Niamh]

We've got loads of slang words for everyday things in ireland. heres a few.

The gaff- house/home

going on the batter/ going on the piss- going out to get drunk.

rat-arsed/ pissed/ sloshed/ stoned (said in co. louth) stocious/ pillatic/ gee-eyed/ merry/ flutered- drunk

Bucketing down/ lashing/ pissing out- raining

joe maxi- Taxi

empty pockets- eddie rockets fast food diner

meet (dublin slang)/ shift (said outside Dublin)/ snog/ wear the face off- kiss someone

Whats the craic?/ whats the story?/ hows it going?- how are you?

The time in the slime- this was the millenium clock that was put in the river Liffey for a short few months.

The floozy in the Jacuzzi- the anna livia mermaid statue that used to be on O'connell st which has been replaced by the following;
the stiletto in the ghetto/ the stick in the sick/ the st***y by the liffey- the spire of dublin which is also known as the spike. Its a large metal spire in the middle of Dublins main st o'connell st.

the tart with the cart- the molly molone statue on grafton st.

stab city- limerick city

langer- someone from cork.

culchie/ bogger- someone from outside Dublin

A jackeen- someone from Dublin

the bog/ the jacks/ the loo- the toilet.

Bird/ chick/ moth- girlfriend

fella/ bloke- boyfriend

:D :blush: :)

[SheykAbdullah]

joe maxi- Taxi

I wonder if this is another example of slang that travels. It almost sounds like an example of cockney rhyming slang, like scooby doe for shoes or persian rugs for drugs.

[kilted exile]

Where I come from scooby doo refers to a clue. e.g someone if they dont understand something says "I dont have a scoob/y"

[OZEED]

Thanks stacks for all your contributions.
Keep 'em coming!

[thevintagepiper]

Snog---- kiss


This is something I was going to add....having lived in several countries and knowing people from more, there seem to be quite a few terms for this...;)

snogging-British-kissing
smooching-American-kissing
making out/sucking face-American-French kissing
getting off-the British equivalent of the above
:sick: :blush: :rolleyes:

That's just what I've heard around me both in the states and here (where I'm mostly around English kids)....it's not like I know firsthand or am some sort of researcher--being a teenager, I hear that a lot!...I just found it interesting that when you say something in one place they'll have no idea what you're talking about or will take it in the wrong way, and vice versa!

[Niamh]

In new Zealand they say 'hooked into' in referance to kissing.

[Niamh]

Okay i have a question for anyone out there who is english, Who was gordan bennett and what does it mean when someone cries out "Gordan Bennett!"?
I've heard it a few times in the last couple of days and its just perplexed me completely.:crash:

[kilted exile]

Okay i have a question for anyone out there who is english, Who was gordan bennett and what does it mean when someone cries out "Gordan Bennett!"?
I've heard it a few times in the last couple of days and its just perplexed me completely.:crash:

Believe correct in saying it is an expression of disbelief/annoyment at what has happenned. As far as I am aware Gordon is as fictional as this "Larry" character who is supposedely happy

[Niamh]

Cheers! i'd never heard it until a few days ago and it just made me go...what the..?
A scots man once said the words 'wee beson' to me last year. i discovered what that ment when reading a novelty coster in the baxters shop in aberdeen airport a few days later... well...

[Whifflingpin]

Gordon Bennet was a famous 19th Century editor of the New York Times newspaper.

the expression is a euphemistic version of any exclamation/oath beginning "God," e.g. "God blind me" softens to "Gorblimey" softens further to "Gordon Bennett"

[Shalot]

I'm from the Southern US and my husband's family is country (when you open the front door you're looking at a pasture full of cows and hay and a range of mountains. To the side of the home he grew up in is a barn and they did have two horses the last time we were there).

His aunt says some interesting things. Once, she was asking me if a Pepsi can left on the table was mine and she said, "Is that your'n?" And I found out that it means "Is that yours?" Only when she pronounced your'n, it kind of sounded like she said "urine" and she was referring to the Pepsi can and the first thing I thought was "Did someone pee in the can? What is she talking about?" :lol: But I caught on and realized she was asking if that was my Pepsi.

Another time she asked me if I was feeling "peert" (I am trying to spell it the way it sounded). However you spell it, it means "Are you feeling well?"

And finally y'uns. (Or you all). Maybe a shortened "you ones."

[SheykAbdullah]

I'm from the Southern US and my husband's family is country (when you open the front door you're looking at a pasture full of cows and hay and a range of mountains. To the side of the home he grew up in is a barn and they did have two horses the last time we were there).

His aunt says some interesting things. Once, she was asking me if a Pepsi can left on the table was mine and she said, "Is that your'n?" And I found out that it means "Is that yours?" Only when she pronounced your'n, it kind of sounded like she said "urine" and she was referring to the Pepsi can and the first thing I thought was "Did someone pee in the can? What is she talking about?" :lol: But I caught on and realized she was asking if that was my Pepsi.

Another time she asked me if I was feeling "peert" (I am trying to spell it the way it sounded). However you spell it, it means "Are you feeling well?"

And finally y'uns. (Or you all). Maybe a shortened "you ones."

Where do they live, out of curiosity? 'Your'n' was a feature of both southern and western dialects in the United States that is becoming fastly obsolete.

Speaking of Southern expressions another one I have always liked, but is nearly archaic is 'Well, dog my cats' as an expression of disbelief.

[Shalot]

East Tennessee.

[Niamh]

Gordon Bennet was a famous 19th Century editor of the New York Times newspaper.

the expression is a euphemistic version of any exclamation/oath beginning "God," e.g. "God blind me" softens to "Gorblimey" softens further to "Gordon Bennett"

Cheers Whifflingpin! :) It's nice to learn the backround of some slang words and expressions.

while mulling over the Gordon Bennett thing it made me think of another one. I know in england they sometimes refere to the police as Bobbys. In Ireland they used to be called the Peelers. both of these slang words are linked to the same man Robert Peel. He helped create the modern concept of the police force while Home Secretary of the british government in the 19th cent.

[Shannanigan]

Hehe...

my mother's parents speak French, because my grandfather was born in St. Barths and my grandmother's family was also from there. My mother says that while they were growing up her parents (and most of her friends' parents of French heritage) had an expression of exasperation that she and her friends and sisters could never understand. It sounded something like "Cheese and bread!"

Now, neither I nor my mother have yet figured out what the French expression really was, but my mother's generation was quick to pick up "cheese and bread!" as an exclamation of awe or extreme annoyance (as in if your little brother won't stop bothering you, you'd say "Cheese and bread you just won't leave me alone, will you!?" Or if someone is doing water ski stunts you could say "Cheese and bread that guy is good!")

Now, of course, our generation had to do one better. The phrase is now shortened to "Cheezum!" It's used again during conversation when somebody tells an unbelievable story...and sometimes if something is really annoying or amazing, we will use the longer phrase "Cheese and bread, man!"

"Cheezum" is a common phrase today among the youth; I found it's history to be quite funny...

[kilted exile]

A scots man once said the words 'wee beson' to me last year. i discovered what that ment when reading a novelty coster in the baxters shop in aberdeen airport a few days later... well...

Anything said by an Aberdonian should be taken with a large amount of salt - very weird people all together, and I'm not just referring to their fondness for sheep ;)

[Niamh]

Anything said by an Aberdonian should be taken with a large amount of salt - very weird people all together, and I'm not just referring to their fondness for sheep ;)

lol. Well my experience of people from Aberdeen is pretty small, but enough. Am back off there tomorrow but the people i'm visiting arent originally from Aberdeen. Ones from Ireland the others for north england. But then again they're strange enough, to end up there!

[Shadowsarin]

Hmm... some slang phrases from the sub-culture of co-ed inner-city college students:

*Warning - the english language is shown no reguard by these people, and if you get upset by apparling slang, skip this post*

Init/Innit - Roughly used in place of 'Isn't it', though it isn't unusual to find this word placed at the end of every sentence.

Ain't - Used in place of, but not limited to, 'Am not', 'Are not' and 'Aren't'.

Safe - A kind of combination of the words 'good', 'great' and 'cool'

Own - Used in the context of: "I own your butt at so-so". It means that person is better at something than the other person.

Pwn - A varient of the above, born out of a spelling mistake.

[SummerSolstice]

Haha! Pwn... you mean not just geeks say that? That's fantastic!

The geek talk thing is a good point, though. I'd forgotten 13375P34K. For those of your who are more comfortable with the 'literature' part of 'literature forum' than the 'forum' part, and are not as deeply embroiled in the internet-geek culture as myself, 13375P34K, or just 1337, was apparently originally a language used by hackers and other such hardcore geeks back when the internet was young. (I don't have this on file or anything, I'm just repeating the lore I've heard.) It replaces letters with numbers that resemble them and has a few words of its own, too. Supposedly these veterans used it to talk privately around the annoying new people that showed up when the internet got big. The "n00bs" eventually figured it out, and the vets gave up their language in disgust. Since then it's been a hallmark of jerky little posers, and more experienced geeks will use it in goofing around.

Most of the words of 1337-lite are just 'hip' spellings of normal words with numbers added, like dude=d00d. "Own" and "pwn" are some of the more unique specimens attatched to it. j00=you is also a popular one, although when I've heard it it's been used almost exclusively in the phrase:

"OMGZORZ i pwns j00 n00b!!1!!1 LOL!!1!"

The '-zorz' doesn't stand for anything--it's just another method of 1337ifying(also spelled -z0rz, -z00rz, etc.; the equivalent for verbs or verbish acronyms is -oxxors, -0xx0rs, -0xx0rz, etc., esp: r0xx0rz).

True 1337 (Which, by the way, is pronounced "leet" and is derived from "elite"), I've been told, involves no such abominations but only normal words spelled entirely from numbers and punctuation marks. Most n00bs don't bother, so this is the only form of 1337 still semi-acceptable as a status symbol.

*bows* Thank you. Class dismissed. :D

edit: w00t OMGZORZ i G0TZ 100 PO575!1!!!one!1 i pwnz 411!!!

[dramasnot6]

Haha! Pwn... you mean not just geeks say that? That's fantastic!

The geek talk thing is a good point, though. I'd forgotten 13375P34K. For those of your who are more comfortable with the 'literature' part of 'literature forum' than the 'forum' part, and are not as deeply embroiled in the internet-geek culture as myself, 13375P34K, or just 1337, was apparently originally a language used by hackers and other such hardcore geeks back when the internet was young. (I don't have this on file or anything, I'm just repeating the lore I've heard.) It replaces letters with numbers that resemble them and has a few words of its own, too. Supposedly these veterans used it to talk privately around the annoying new people that showed up when the internet got big. The "n00bs" eventually figured it out, and the vets gave up their language in disgust. Since then it's been a hallmark of jerky little posers, and more experienced geeks will use it in goofing around.

Most of the words of 1337-lite are just 'hip' spellings of normal words with numbers added, like dude=d00d. "Own" and "pwn" are some of the more unique specimens attatched to it. j00=you is also a popular one, although when I've heard it it's been used almost exclusively in the phrase:

"OMGZORZ i pwns j00 n00b!!1!!1 LOL!!1!"

The '-zorz' doesn't stand for anything--it's just another method of 1337ifying(also spelled -z0rz, -z00rz, etc.; the equivalent for verbs or verbish acronyms is -oxxors, -0xx0rs, -0xx0rz, etc., esp: r0xx0rz).

True 1337 (Which, by the way, is pronounced "leet" and is derived from "elite"), I've been told, involves no such abominations but only normal words spelled entirely from numbers and punctuation marks. Most n00bs don't bother, so this is the only form of 1337 still semi-acceptable as a status symbol.

*bows* Thank you. Class dismissed. :D

edit: w00t OMGZORZ i G0TZ 100 PO575!1!!!one!1 i pwnz 411!!!

Thanks SummerSolstice! I always knew of 1337, and the basics of its construction, but never its origin and history. That was very interesting.

[Shadowsarin]

Haha! Pwn... you mean not just geeks say that? That's fantastic!

Well, actually, the only people I have heard say it are people who spend too much time on Counter Strike and World of Warcraft, and I think they come under the geek catagory...

And the history lesson you gave off the top of your head fits in with whats written on the wikipedia entry for 'L337' as far as I can remember, so it should be right...unless we both forgot...