Internet lexicon gains acceptance

"U ben pwn3d!!11~~~" What does that mean? It may be gibberish to some, but it carries heavy significance for others. It is 1337 speak.

Before we get to why this is important, a little background information is necessary about the intarwebz. The information superhighway allows tens of millions of people connecting to each other at any given moment. New sites pop up every day, sure to satisfy at least some users' desires.

People log on and instantly have access to sites like stuffonmycat.com, arcadefirestolemybasketball.blogspot.com (and the exciting arcadefireDIDNTstealdudesbasketball.blogspot.com) and dontdownloadthissong.com. I don't know about you, but I think all of those sites explain themselves quite nicely.

The internet has become a place of advancement, one where information is democratized (as evidenced by the insanely popular Wikipedia). People are free to post their opinions regardless of background, age or any other factor that could possibly make them seem less capable of stating such an opinion in the real world.

It seems as though the internet is truly revolutionary, a step forward and a necessary forum for people to feel significant in the world. Of course, not everything is going to be advanced by the internet, most obviously language.

Language on the internet, often referred to as 1337 speak, has devolved into something in the form of baby talk. It's not only accepted, but also encouraged in some groups for people to write in ways that would seem nonsensical to any person with even a slight grasp of the English language.

People add an article where no article should be, then misspell the article, then misspell the word after the article, all for comedic effect. If my 9th grade teacher knew about this, I am sure she would have rued the day the internet was born.

It would seem logical that the highly informed and ever increasing online population exposed to this kind of language would shun it and see it as highly impractical and even ludicrous. But the opposite has happened; knowledge of the language has become a membership card to become a part of an exclusive community of people who are truly in the know about the internet. People have adopted this language as though it was a language with history, just like English, Chinese or any other form of spoken word.

And in a way, it is. This language has become synonymous with the internet, the native tongue for any true elite, or as most users would say, "the 1337." How did the name come about? Well, you first just say the word elite which kind of sounds like leet and then 1 is put in for... never mind. It's not important.

People on the internet have slowly become more accustomed to the language and use it on a variety of sites. On the appropriately named icanhascheezburger.com, text is superimposed on an image of an animal, usually a cat, with a caption in the form of the language.

The idea seems a little out there, but the site has soared in popularity since its launch in January, even creeping into lecture slides of certain professors at Tech for no other reason than their humor value. Where else would so many people find it funny when a cat is stuck under three pillows supposedly screaming "HALP!!!"?

The language has even become a form of social criticism. Using the concept from the last site, a site called lolpresidents.com uses pictures of presidents instead of animals in the images and the pictures often carry a political message.

Images display topics as far ranging as the possible racism that exists in administrations to the absolute corruption displayed by former presidents. A powerful message can be conveyed with "nooo dey be stealin my prezidency."

In a way, 1337 speak has become so ingrained into the internet that it is impossible to ignore its effects on society itself. Commercials from corporations as large as Verizon base commercials on terms like "LOL" and "OMG" with the assumption that the majority of people know what it means. And in this day and age, most people do know the meaning.

While the language itself seems crude and sometimes just plain dumb, it has become linked with how many of us communicate with each other on the internet.

It is a fun diversion for most, so what's stopping it from gaining at least some semblance of credibility? It has people who speak it, a history and it is constantly evolving. Even if that evolution may sometimes appear to be a devolution.