87 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
87 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
|
||
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Chapter 9. Crackers, Phreaks, and Lamers</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="pt01.html" title="Part I. Introduction"/><link rel="previous" href="international-style.html" title="Chapter 8. International Style"/><link rel="next" href="pronunciation.html" title="Chapter 10. Pronunciation Guide"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 9. Crackers, Phreaks, and Lamers</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="international-style.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Part I. Introduction</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pronunciation.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="chapter" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="crackers"/>Chapter 9. Crackers, Phreaks, and Lamers</h2></div></div><div/></div><p>From the early 1980s onward, a flourishing culture of local,
|
||
MS-DOS-based bulletin boards developed separately from Internet hackerdom.
|
||
The BBS culture has, as its seamy underside, a stratum of ‘pirate
|
||
boards’ inhabited by <a href="C/cracker.html"><i class="glossterm">cracker</i></a>s, phone phreaks, and
|
||
<a href="W/warez-d00dz.html"><i class="glossterm">warez d00dz</i></a>. These people (mostly teenagers running
|
||
IBM-PC clones from their bedrooms) have developed their own characteristic
|
||
jargon, heavily influenced by skateboard lingo and underground-rock slang.
|
||
While BBS technology essentially died out after the
|
||
<a href="G/Great-Internet-Explosion.html"><i class="glossterm">Great Internet Explosion</i></a>, the cracker culture
|
||
moved to IRC and other Internet-based network channels and maintained a
|
||
semi-underground existence.</p><p>Though crackers often call themselves ‘hackers’, they aren't
|
||
(they typically have neither significant programming ability, nor Internet
|
||
expertise, nor experience with UNIX or other true multi-user systems). Their
|
||
vocabulary has little overlap with hackerdom's, and hackers regard them with
|
||
varying degrees of contempt. But ten years on the brightest crackers tend to
|
||
become hackers, and sometimes to recall their origins by using cracker slang
|
||
in a marked and heavily ironic way.</p><p>This lexicon covers much of cracker slang (which is often called
|
||
“<span class="quote">leet-speak</span>”) so the reader will be able to understand both what
|
||
leaks out of the cracker underground and the occasional ironic use by
|
||
hackers.</p><p>Here is a brief guide to cracker and <a href="W/warez-d00dz.html"><i class="glossterm">warez d00dz</i></a>
|
||
usage:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc"><li><p>Misspell frequently. The substitutions phone → fone and
|
||
freak → phreak are obligatory.</p></li><li><p>Always substitute ‘z’s for ‘s’s.
|
||
(i.e. “<span class="quote">codes</span>” → “<span class="quote">codez</span>”). The substitution of
|
||
‘z’ for ‘s’ has evolved so that a ‘z’ is
|
||
now systematically put at the end of words to denote an illegal or cracking
|
||
connection. Examples : Appz, passwordz, passez, utilz, MP3z, distroz, pornz,
|
||
sitez, gamez, crackz, serialz, downloadz, FTPz, etc.</p></li><li><p> Type random emphasis characters after a post line
|
||
(i.e. “<span class="quote">Hey Dudes!#!$#$!#!$</span>”). </p></li><li><p> Use the emphatic ‘k’ prefix
|
||
(“<span class="quote">k-kool</span>”, “<span class="quote">k-rad</span>”, “<span class="quote">k-awesome</span>”)
|
||
frequently. </p></li><li><p> Abbreviate compulsively (“<span class="quote">I got lotsa warez w/
|
||
docs</span>”).</p></li><li><p>
|
||
TYPE ALL IN CAPS LOCK, SO IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE YELLING ALL THE TIME.
|
||
</p></li></ul></div><p>The following letter substitutions are common:</p><div class="literallayout"><p><br/>
|
||
a → 4<br/>
|
||
e → 3<br/>
|
||
f → ph<br/>
|
||
i → 1 or |<br/>
|
||
l → | or 1<br/>
|
||
m → |\/|<br/>
|
||
n → |\|<br/>
|
||
o → 0<br/>
|
||
s → 5<br/>
|
||
t → 7 or +<br/>
|
||
</p></div><p>Thus, “<span class="quote">elite</span>” comes out “<span class="quote">31337</span>” and “<span class="quote">all
|
||
your base are belong to us</span>” becomes “<span class="quote">4ll y0ur b4s3 4r3 b3l0ng t0
|
||
us</span>”, Other less common substitutions include:</p><div class="literallayout"><p><br/>
|
||
b → 8<br/>
|
||
c → ( or k or |< or /<<br/>
|
||
d → <|<br/>
|
||
g → 6 or 9<br/>
|
||
h → |-|<br/>
|
||
k → |< or /<<br/>
|
||
p → |2<br/>
|
||
u → |_|<br/>
|
||
v → / or \/<br/>
|
||
w → // or \/\/<br/>
|
||
x → ><<br/>
|
||
y → '/<br/>
|
||
</p></div><p>The word “<span class="quote">cool</span>” is spelled “<span class="quote">kewl</span>” and normally
|
||
used ironically; when crackers really want to praise something they use the
|
||
prefix “<span class="quote">uber</span>” (from German) which comes out “<span class="quote">ub3r</span>”
|
||
or even “<span class="quote">|_|83r</span>”</p><p>These traits are similar to those of <a href="B/B1FF.html"><i class="glossterm">B1FF</i></a>, who
|
||
originated as a parody of naive <a href="B/BBS.html"><i class="glossterm">BBS</i></a> users; also of his
|
||
latter-day equivalent <a href="J/Jeff-K-.html"><i class="glossterm">Jeff K.</i></a>. Occasionally, this sort
|
||
of distortion may be used as heavy sarcasm or ironically by a real hacker, as
|
||
in:</p><table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0"><tr><td><pre class="screen">
|
||
> I got X Windows running under Linux!
|
||
|
||
d00d! u R an 31337 hax0r
|
||
</pre></td></tr></table><p>The words “<span class="quote">hax0r</span>” for “<span class="quote">hacker</span>” and
|
||
“<span class="quote">sux0r</span>” for “<span class="quote">sucks</span>” are the most common references;
|
||
more generally, to mark a term as cracker-speak one may add “<span class="quote">0r</span>”
|
||
or “<span class="quote">xor</span>”. Examples:</p><div class="literallayout"><p><br/>
|
||
“<span class="quote">The nightly build is sux0r today.</span>”<br/>
|
||
“<span class="quote">Gotta go reboot those b0x0rz.</span>”<br/>
|
||
“<span class="quote">Man, I really ought to fix0r my .fetchmailrc.</span>”<br/>
|
||
“<span class="quote">Yeah, well he's a 'leet VMS operat0r now, so he's too good for us.</span>”<br/>
|
||
</p></div><p>The only practice resembling this in native hacker usage is the
|
||
substitution of a dollar sign of ‘s’ in names of products or
|
||
service felt to be excessively expensive, e.g. Compu$erve, Micro$oft.</p><p>For further discussion of the pirate-board subculture, see
|
||
<a href="L/lamer.html"><i class="glossterm">lamer</i></a>, <a href="E/elite.html"><i class="glossterm">elite</i></a>,
|
||
<a href="L/leech.html"><i class="glossterm">leech</i></a>, <a href="P/poser.html"><i class="glossterm">poser</i></a>,
|
||
<a href="C/cracker.html"><i class="glossterm">cracker</i></a>, and especially
|
||
<a href="W/warez-d00dz.html"><i class="glossterm">warez d00dz</i></a>, <a href="B/banner-site.html"><i class="glossterm">banner site</i></a>,
|
||
<a href="R/ratio-site.html"><i class="glossterm">ratio site</i></a>, <a href="L/leech-mode.html"><i class="glossterm">leech mode</i></a>.</p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="international-style.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="pt01.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pronunciation.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 8. International Style </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 10. Pronunciation Guide</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
|