Re: TI-H: OT: some etymology...

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Re: TI-H: OT: some etymology...



In the hacker culture, the word "elite" has many mutations.

Elite ==: eleet, ereet, 3l33t, 31337, and various shortenings and mutations of
those main ones.

>From ESR's Hacker's Jargon File (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/)

<PASTE MODE="ON">
elite adj. 

Clueful. Plugged-in. One of the cognoscenti. Also used as a general positive
adjective. This term is not actually hacker slang in the strict sense; it is used
primarily by crackers and warez d00dz, for which reason hackers use it only
with heavy irony. The term used to refer to the folks allowed in to the "hidden"
or "privileged" sections of BBSes in the early 1980s (which, typically,
contained pirated software). Frequently, early boards would only let you post,
or even see, a certain subset of the sections (or `boards') on a BBS. Those
who got to the frequently legendary `triple super secret' boards were elite.
Misspellings of this term in warez d00dz style abound; the forms `eleet', and
`31337' (among others) have been sighted. 

A true hacker would be more likely to use `wizardly'. Oppose lamer. 
</PASTE>

Of course, the only problem I have with this definition is part of ESR's (and
others) legendary refusal to admit that the demographic they call "crackers" is
just a small yet significant *subset* of what they define as "hackers".
Somewhat like saying a murderer isn't human, although they technically are.
But that's getting a little off-topic now, isn't it? :P

On Tue, 08 Aug 2000, you wrote:
> Um, just curious on this.  Where did "reet" come from?  Some variation of
> "elite", right?  Could someone provide me with an etymology of it?
> 
> - Shayne
> =======================================
> "Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals, because nobody wants to
> read the fine print in dreams."
> 
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-- 

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
http://eil.bsdonline.org
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