xigung translated:
>>1 4m l33t h4x0r 4nd g0t m4d sk1llz ph33r m3!
as:
> I Am Lex Luthor, and got mAd skills -- Fear me!
Close! However, logic cannot explain the cultural elements, and a
translation based only on one inscription is a tricky thing.
Using the method you developed with the rest of the piece, "l33t h4x0r"
would be "leet haxor". Clearly nonsense in standard English and all
'known' dialects, but examination of further examples would show that
the phrase is a common self identification in these inscriptions. The
writers refer to themselves as "l33t h4x0r5" or even more indecipherably
"1337 #4X0!2$" and the text itself is "l33t5p33k". Further study of
texts would yield phonetic rules showing that "x" is substituted for "k"
sounds, '0' is used for a range of vowels, and "h" is occasionally added
to words starting with a vowel. In this case, however, the "h" is
clearly of an older derivation, not an addition, and the word is
properly translated as "hacker".
The meaning of 'l33t' is obviously an adjective, something like "great"
or "superior", but the exact derivation could remain a mystery unless
one found a document where an contemporary outsider explained that
'leet' is a short form of "elite", and is among this population the most
common way to extol one's virtues or status in any field.
The careful cultural observer would note that although some words and
features found their way into more common usage, this dialect was used
only by a subset of the "Hacker" population, an apparently persecuted or
at least disliked minority, involved heavily in the illegal trade of
pornography and proprietary information, theft of communication services
and electronic funds, and the manufacture of illegal drugs and weapons.
Even the careful researcher would likely be unable to determine what
percentage of the highly fantastic claims of this minority culture were
entirely fictional, created to add to the status to those written about
rather than to provide accurate documentation for future generations.
-- Joshua