April 2005 Archives

Please put the card upside this face

I went with a friend to one of Tokyo's many beautiful parks at the weekend. We bought our tickets, which carry a magnetic date and can be endlessly recycled. To help me insert the card in the reader, they had helpfully translated the instructions for me:

Please put in the card upside this face as a pointing sign.

Leetspeak- 4 wr1tt3n 4nt1-l4ngu4g3

Leet (also called 1337, leetspeak, leetspeek, l33t5p34k, 133t, or l33t) is derived from the word 'elite' and is defined by Wikipedia as a 'form of written slang or street talk for the information highway', which had a twofold purpose: 'to create group identity and to obscure meaning from outsiders'. Used as a way of getting past word filters on BBSs and forums, so that they could discuss topics that were banned or censored, like software piracy, hacks and cracks, it is a written anti-language, a way of communicating within a language that excludes outsiders.