l33t speak

My son alerted me to the typed language “l33t” that his friends draw upon when playing Warcraft online. The BBC have An Explanation of l33t Speak.

My son and his friends don’t use l33t as a language, just certain words and the idea. Some of the words I have seen him use online are:
w00t, 0wn3d, k (which is not l33t, but just short for OK), and n00b. As the author of the BBC entry on l33t says, “Although you can use l33t speak exclusively, it is looked down upon in most forums and chat rooms. The best place to use l33t speak is in a brief expression of excitement, when you are just playing around or in a supreme example of your geeky prowess.”
Some non-l33t phrases that they use are: gg = “good game”, and “gosu” which is Korean for “high hand” or high ranked player. Gosu’s are the elite Warcraft players – the Koreans who occainsionally drop in on US servers to “own” the rest of us.