@ Fortune: D'oh!

@ Mr Campbell: You can't. I don't know why, you just can't. You wanted independence, you got it, so make up your own damn language... It was ours first, and... and... I was wearing a bullet-proof vest... and so ya-boo to you. And raspberries too...

Campbell's using American. Brain Drain's using English.

We are all using Netspeak!

Aye, well, thee an' thine mebbe usin' netgab, but me an' mine's usin' bloody Tyke, so get used territ. Reet?

The only thing I've never understood about American English and the home grown variant is why the spelling changed on seemingly innocuous words. Colour/Color, for example. Oh well. No matter what you're speaking, it doesn't change the fact that the term 'turrent' is very silly indeed...

I @GRE3. 5p3llIN9 1T +UrREN+ I$ +Ot4LLY 5TR4N93. oNLy @ coMPL3+e weiRDo wOULD 5P3LL Th1N9s +h4T W@Y.

I four oune encourage the additioun of silent Us back tou American English. I may be in the minourity, houwever.

*runs screaming into the night*

Yes, that's correct. In case you're wondering about the meaning, there are two different dialects in use on this thread.

~J

Compare:

The Basher of Bits: 5p3||1nG 7h47 w@Y h3r3 1s B4d. |<n0c|< i+ 0ff!

Me: 5|*311¡|\|6 7|-|47 \/\/4'/ |-|3|23 ¡5 84|). |<|\|0(|< ¡7 0|=|=!

Dialects, my friend. Dialects.

~J

I haven't encountered any formal studies, though my girlfriend did write a paper dealing with them in her linguistics class. This gets into the question of the definition of a dialect. How much does it take? Is pure 1337 in which spelling is the same (before letter-to-symbol conversion)? What about replacing words like you and yo with j00 and j0? Plural of box becoming boxen instead of boxes? What about when you get really casual and "I am going to go to the store for some soda" becomes "ima go 2 teh store 4 a coke" (irrespective of what beverage is eventually purchased and consumed)? When does it become a dialect, and is spelling alone enough to make a dialect?

~J

Whilst I would not under any circumstances wish to cast dispersions on how anybody conducts themselves or lives their lives, I must say I find the whole concept of netspeak... heretical I guess would be a good word. This from a man who gets extremely annoyed when people send me text messages with "2" instead of "to" or "too" and the like.

Thing is, if (as I assume) "netspeak" originated on the net (cunning nomenclature, huh?) then it follows that the originators were using computers. If you use a computer enough you will become a reasonably efficient typist. By that point, what use is there to not use proper English (or French, Duth, Finnish, Russian - whatever)?

because proper english isn't |<3\\'1.

oddly, netspeak usage which is purely functional--that is, it shortens the number of keys a typist needs to strike, like substituting '2' for 'to/too'--annoy me a lot more than usage which is purely |)3(0|247!0|\|41.

interesting generator. Notice that it uses several different sets letters for translation. That further leads me to believe that there must be a doctural thesis in there somewhere.

The results are based on random number generation. Check the source of the page, it's all there in clear javascript (the comments aren't even in l337).

Personally, Lawyers have always annoyed me because they keep their language intentionally - and vastly unneccesarily - complex just to keep it out of the reach of normal folks. Leet speak is no different, though I'll admit it has its uses amongst truely underground hacker-types. Which lets face it, most of the kids using it just aren't.

Its just children trying to be cool. That used to irritate me when I was at school with losers like this, and it irritates me now. (no, I was never cool. But then, I had real friends instead of sycophantic hangers on, so didn't see the need!)

I especially hate the use of 'teh' for 'the'. Since I miskey that all the time when I type, there's always a danger that people will think I'm deliberately using the corrupted version. Generally speaking, I don't give a stuff what people think about me, but in this case it gives me the screaming heebie jeebies - i mean GOD, can you think of anything more awful than being associated with these no doubt very bright, but basically socially retarded kiddies?

Ralph Wiggum.

*holds up hands* okay, okay, there are worse things. But it still irritates me, so nyer.

| 4+3|) +|-|3 P|_|RP|_3 83RR|3$

Nikoli try as I might, I have a real hard time reading that type of speak.

Guess I don't have enough ranks in Decker lingo

I ated the purple berries. Playing a few years of Cstrike does miracles. It also causes severe anger issues with regards to teen-speak.

The scary thing is, I can read most of it at normal speed. Damn you Counterstrike! DAMN YOU!

That isn't decker lingo. That's functionally illiterate preteen moron wannabee lingo. Decker lingo looks more like:

What servers do you play on I have plenty of Deckerese


1 \/\/0|2|< @ @|\| 1$|*, \/\/3 @|| @|23 |23qu1r3.| +0 $|*3@|< |7 @ |17+|3.

and what is the deal with all the peeps on Counterstrike that sound like 6yo and cuss worse than I do?


I honestly try to speak proper english, but every so often, I get into a groove with one of the many dialects of american english. It's also amazing how you can go to different portions of america, and they have different common words for things, like in the SW it's Soda, in the NE it's Pop, in Oklahoma it's all Coke! (what kind of Coke do you want? a pepsi. Coming right up) in most parts of America a spinout in a car on ice is a donut, in Nebraska it's a Cookie.... makes me pull my hair out sometimes American English is crazy, and I won't even touch the Ebonics or other "official dialects" of american English.

Speaking as a Northeasterner, it's soda and has been for all of my cognizant life.

~J

well I guess it's different everywhere, it's been soda for me too, but Ohio demands it be Pop, it's wierdness. I don't think it's even possible to truly define American English to 1 standard rule, because we have 15 words for 1 thing, and it's a regional as well as personal preference on what you use where.

Well, I'm an ex-Californian, ex-Minnesotan, currently Washingtonian. In california it was soda. In both other states it's pop. I still say soda, of course, which confuses everyone to no end.

If it spots a user of "1337", it will blackhammer said user until there is no sign of the user.

But it'll be worthless against all the scriptkiddies who will be speaking 1337 from their tortoises!

~J

BlackHammer...because Friends Don't Let Friends Speek 1337.

Tell application BlackHammer
if OS is Windows
run
end tell

~J, fighting .exe since 2029

In this space I was tempted to write a smart-allec response using that convertor that Herald (I think) linked to before. I decided not to.

Black hammer = bad for my mojo... I'll stick to lame old meat-bod speak, ta...

But as a Brit pidgin aller, herebe quota:

Nil Leeter Mortis Carborundum, ye ken? Baggies all comin' ta take away the nasty 'trix heads... Mil stick spitside, flippin an' boxin the Rollers, live the swiss life with the scoobs an' rags 'til some snakeboy tries ta steam or stiff me back. Then it's time to go to the whiteline on their asses... Safe?

Up for a bit of Oedipus, Drain Brain? Britishisms always get me peasy.

~J

Dude, you haven't met my mother! I mean euuuuuurgh!

I take it you're not up on your rhyming slang

~J

Isn't that quote from the London Sourcebook? I understood what its getting at, and i even understood SOME of the words, so I can only assume that's where I've picked it up from...

Personal favorite 2050s SR slang came from that book - the verbs 'wraithed' and 'Elvised' for basically 'killed in an unknown manner' and 'disappeared'.

Those aren't the translations in the book verbatim, but that's basically what they meant. 'Wraithed' is derived from the nightwraith attack that ended the eurowars. That is SO cool...

I might start a move to create a new term actually - 'Sassed', from 'S.A.S'd', meaning 'to be killed with vast quantities of bullets by attackers unknown, all within a four inch grouping'...

Muahahaha! Love it...

And no, I never was one for the ol' Apples and Pears... though I am quite fond of the term "Seps" for you American types

My old man'll kill me. I ended a family tradition by speaking proper english instead of cockney claptrap...