English, baby!

1337

Date: May 09 2008

Themes: Hobbies, How To, Tech

Go Super!

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

code
pwn

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Hai, how r u? Wat? U can7 read th1s? LOL!

If you can read the line above, you are 1337. “1337” is pronounced “leet” and it refers to the word “elite.” The unusual spelling comes from the fact that the digits in the number “1337” resemble the letters that spell “leet,” and those who can understand this sort of writing (which is common on the Internet) are supposedly “elite” computer users.

Or complete nerds.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Jason

Mason: I got an email from a friend of mine the other day.

Jason: Yeah.

Mason: And every time he signs it, he says “w00t” at the end.

Jason: With the zeros?

Mason: Yeah yeah.

Jason: It’s 1337!

Mason: Dude, it’s totally 1337. I…How did you…What got you into that?

Jason: I might have a hobby of pwning n00bs from time to time. I’ll log on to some games maybe and when you’re chatting it makes you seem tough in a video game if you just throw in some letters that are actually numbers.

Mason: And that’s so funny because I heard the myth is that the whole way of speech basically came about from doing typos because you’re playing a game and you can’t see what you’re doing.

Jason: Totally. “The” is “teh” just because of a typo and stuff like that.

Mason: Yeah. But it’s so weird and it’s so totally impractical.

Jason: It’s a code now. But it is totally impractical. It takes forever to type it out.

Mason: The first time I ever saw it, I was like, “What’s going on?”

Jason: I can’t decide if you’re cooler for knowing 1337 or if you’re less cool.

Mason: At this point, I think that the tipping point has passed and we’re cool.

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3

Go Super to Ask Ebaby! teachers your questions!

The iTEP^® test

Sponsored by

Schedule an iTEP^® test and take the official English Practice Test.
Take Now >

Discussion

Mason has a friend who signs his emails with “w00t”. “W00t” is a common 1337 word that expresses excitement. It was officially added to the dictionary of the English language last year!

Jason uses 1337 when he plays games online. 1337 started among online gamers who made typing mistakes because they were too busy playing the game to look at what they were typing. Then it evolved into a code.

In fact, 1337 has come so far that Mason thinks it’s not just for gamers anymore. It’s cool for everyone to know 1337 now.

1337 is any abbreviation or alternate spelling used on the Internet. 1337 shows up on Ebaby! all the time. Can you find an example?

Comments

< Previous
21 through 40 of 73
Next >
1 2 3 4

saudigirl

Saudi Arabia

cool

saudigirl

Saudi Arabia

Shall we learn the E internet langauge…sometimes i find it hard to understand the internet langauge..but there are some people know it even though they don't learn English langauge before..

bluesky6008

China

I understand firist.

Pei~

China

Pei~

China

I got it~

Pei~

China

爽

steppe

Viet Nam

Haha, it has been popular in my country since we read it in a volume of a famous Japanese manga [that "1412" stands for "KID"). When we send letter to each other and don't want other person to read, we usually use this style. Interesting!

11=N, 111=M, 4=A, 3=E, 76=H, etc.

PS: to cynthia86dxh: write it on paper and U'll understand!

ameur

Algeria

For me, I do not like this method to write.
Because words have special beauty .. in all languages.
I think the words: its beauty in speech and hearing and write.
Example: Thank you ….ty. When I write in full. I see the art of words. And I feel their value.
I think there is a difference thankyou