k4|\|  '/0u  5p34|<  1337?
Can You Speak Leet? (English Translation)

Probably the first question that comes to mind is “what is leet?" The second question is  "and why would I want to speak it?"

Leet is the term for computer slang.  Why would you want to learn leet? If you have children, it might be helpful to understand what they are typing on the computer.  If you have no idea of what the leet language is they can be talking about something inappropriate or illegal right in front of your eyes! 

Teenagers are very good with Leetspeak. An article on MSNBC told about a 14 year old girl who was having a steamy Internet affair with a 35 year old man. Right in front of her mom’s eyes.  The computer was in the living room in plain view of her parents, her mom even watched her daughter type and chat many times. The girl and 35 year old man were very good at leetspeak, the mom wasn’t.

Here are some helpful hints in learning Leet. 

• When typing in Leet, numbers replace letters, the numbers need to look similar to the letter. Examples, 3 for an E, the word "letter" would appear as "l3tt3r" the letter I or L would be a 1, the letter O would be a 0 (zero), letter S a 5, letter A a 4. I think you get the idea. 
  
• Symbols or characters can represent letters. A $ for the letter S as in $a$$y for sassy, a + for the letter T, the @ sign for the letter A.
  
• Replace letters for other letters.  An X can replace a CK or KS or K like in thanx, a Z can replace an S, the letter K for a C like katz for cats
  
• Characters can be combined together to create letters like /\/ for the letter N and /\/\ for M or '/ for the letter Y, |2 for a P or R.
  
• Use PH instead of F or F instead of PH. Like in phrog for frog, farmacy for pharmacy.
  
• TYPe aLL CoNSoNaNTS iN CaPiTaLS aND oNLY VoWeLS aRe LoWeR CaSe. (that wasn’t easy)
  
• If you feel like it drop the vowels all together (example: tht for that)
  
• Forget about correcting your typing errors and grammar.
  
• The more creative you are the better.

Seems pretty simple and you might be thinking that you could easily figure out what your son or daughter was typing and if it was inappropriate. 

Give it a try.  What do these words mean?
53><  
d |2u95 
/\/\337 /\/\3  
p4|23|\|7 1|\| |200/\/\  
|<111
ju1'/ 47|-| 
57341   
/\/\1d|\|19|-|7

Answers:
d|2u95    drugs
/\/\337 /\/\3     meet me
p4|23|\|7 1|\| |200/\/\     parent in room
|<111    kill
ju1'/ 47|-|    July 4th
57341    steal
/\/\1d|\|19|-|7    midnight