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1337

1337

Date: May 09 2008

Themes: Hobbies, How To, Tech

Intro

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

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.

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

Mason

Mason

Jason

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.

 

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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

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195854255

195854255

United States

I may get confused sometimes

08:29 AM May 10 2008 |

passionatesailor

Christmas Island

I'am confused.

07:43 AM May 10 2008 |

hutbiti

hutbiti

Viet Nam

Surprisedwow, the first time I know "1337" is  pronounced"leet". So awesomeCool . Yeah, sometimes I use 1337 for  typng faster just like ttyl (talk to you later) or cu (see you ) Smile

06:18 AM May 10 2008 |

shohreh_prt

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

oh ,I’ve found it,I used some of them befor but did n’t know these are 1337.tnx

04:49 AM May 10 2008 |

shohreh_prt

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

can u explain me simpler?Cry

i didn't got it

04:41 AM May 10 2008 |

aliena

China

it's interesting,isn't it? I still remenber when i first begun chatting online in English, a guy always said this kind of language to me, and I totally had no idea about that. Thanks for his patience that he always explained to me what all that mean. And now I've begun using them when i chat to others. It's cool! Lol. Currently a colleague is saying that 1337 probablly means" should eat every meal".  cause it's pronounced similarly to a Chinese local accent. Hahahaha! LOL

01:31 AM May 10 2008 |

Jenny58

Jenny58

Ukraine

1337 is a new thing, and developing fast, if we chat online it is need for understand well and quickly.-—it is cool!

 

08:51 PM May 09 2008 |

longman

longman

China

mnay poepel sue temh wenh tlkaing to frnedis tiernnet in Egnlsih in Chian!

06:01 PM May 09 2008 |

gyltby

gyltby

China

I am more interested in using English, I will study hard to understand more and more. thanks a lot.

04:38 PM May 09 2008 |

dennis-free

Hong Kong

That's a interesting lesson.Although the 1337 is a little bit impractical,creativity has been developed gradually.

03:49 PM May 09 2008 |

vague

vague

Yemen

Even in Arabic chat rooms we use the same thing, some numbers in English refer to an Arabic letter..its useful for those whos keyboards dont support Arabic.

02:57 PM May 09 2008 |

nobrecici

nobrecici

Brazil

OMG

I USE 1337 ALL THE TIME, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS 1337!LOL.

02:39 PM May 09 2008 |

jaffer18

jaffer18

Pakistan

I think that the tipping point has passed.

12:47 PM May 09 2008 |

nad1a

nad1a

Greece

Well, it’s in my name. The time I was signing up here, the name ‘nadia’ was taken, so I had to look for a different spelling. In case that one (nad1a) was taken too,I might as well type it this way: n4d14; 1=i, 4=A
Isn’t that GR8? (great)
CU L8R (See You Later)

12:30 PM May 09 2008 |

hanwei3058

hanwei3058

China

oh i don’t know ,maybe i need to study some. it is cool.

10:51 AM May 09 2008 |

aqben

aqben

China

it is not a fortunate thing for the beginner

09:06 AM May 09 2008 |

aqben

aqben

China

it is not a fortunate thing for the beginner

09:06 AM May 09 2008 |

RaneeConstantine

Indonesia

In “Bahasa” I mean “Indonesia Language, we are familiar with the use of numbers such as R 4 N 1 = Rani… _

08:31 AM May 09 2008 |

RaneeConstantine

Indonesia

In "Bahasa" I mean "Indonesian Language", we are familiar with the use of numbers such as R 4 N 1 = Rani… _

08:30 AM May 09 2008 |

RaneeConstantine

Indonesia

In "Bahasa" I mean "Indonesian Language", we are familiar with the use of numbers such as

R 4 N 1 = R A N I

_

08:30 AM May 09 2008 |

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