1337_it_B

Pix Source: SplitReason.com

You ever heard of the W3C? It’s the ‘code’ name for the “World Wide Web (there you get the 3 W’s) Consortium”. And it is some sort of academy where people reaches agreements regarding to the code and which are the right words to define certain scripts in programming. The Spanish language has some ‘similar’ institution, called “Real Academia Española”, which is also considered the ultimate authority to validate or deny the official accuracy of a term. I don’t have idea if there is something like that for the English Language, but if it does, maybe it might have some advantages.

The ‘slang’ from English has evolved and adapted many paths, depending on the field you work at. In my case, I’ve been exposed to music (which is contains urban driven words), and some technology (maybe there is a bit of geek in me). The concept of the D|V|C Network and my titles are maybe my most exemplary cases.

Since then, you will find the substitution of “to” by the “2”, be would be referred as “B”, the ‘for’ syllable is then a ‘4” (then you will find words as in4mation), and “U” is a shorter way of ‘you’. Merriam-Webster President John Morse, remarked part of he path: “People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," he said. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character.”

This is not a new practice. The entertainment field has had an active role on this. Probably the mentor in all this is Prince, that since 1981 has songs with names like ‘Jack U off”. The web, the cell phones and our modern short timed life have ended up the process… “c u 2nite @ d rest” is a much shorter to spell message than “See you tonight at the restaurant”. The emoticons added even up more things to include as gestures (y), or :S, and even when they break the ‘standards’, they are much more effective and practical in what has to do with communication.

The Reuters report today that they included a word that is used among the online gamers: “w00t”. They define it like saying: ‘yay!’ or ‘whoot’, which is a way of saying ‘hot’ (meaning something that worths celebration). Some find the root of the term, related to the game ‘Quake III’ gamers.

So, the inclusion of numbers, the use of letters to replace a syllable, emoticons, the pop culture and the web slang, have substantially modified our language and seem to be in growth. What else is coming?

Eye dunno wha’s left 2 come. May B all o’ the n3wn3ss l3ad us 2 C that B-Sides learning mo’ stuff ‘bout 73ch and g33x 'n slang, we might have 2 get d33p3r in2 this trend. Y? Cuz sooner o’ later, dis chatty chatty game 7was in4mal, but i7 will 3nd up se77in’ up whaz lef 2 come @ future. 7hey call this ‘elite’(or 'Leet' or '133t'). 1337 it B d3n.

W0rd!