blame Counter Strike for being one of the perpetrators of 1337 5p34|<. I find it one of the most awful, annoying things there are on the internet. I guess it originates from the whole hackers language for a small group of morons who want to appear cool. But now its used all over the internet (particularly online games) by annoying 13 year olds who can't type in English. If the kids want to be cool and be hackers then they can bring me Angelina Jolie.
1337 = leet = elite = cool people.....aprarntly
5p34|< = Speak