In the E-mail style of UNIX hackers in particular there is a tendency for usernames and the names of commands and C routines to remain uncapitalized even when they occur at the beginning of sentences. For many hackers, the case of such identifiers becomes a part of their internal representation (the `spelling’).
Behind these nonstandard hackerisms there is a rule that precision of expression is more important than conformance to traditional rules; where the latter create ambiguity or lossage of information. It is notable in this respect that other hackish inventions in vocabulary tend to carry very precise shades of meaning even when constructed to appear slangy and loose.
Hackers have also developed a number of punctuation and emphasis conventions.
One of these is that TEXT IN ALL CAPS IS INTERPRETED AS `LOUD’, a person that writes in this way may be asked to «stop shouting, please, you’re hurting my ears!»
Also, it is common to use bracketing with unusual characters to signify emphasis. The asterisk is the most common, even though this interferes with the common use of the asterisk as a footnote mark.
E.g.: «What the hell?»
The underscore is also common, suggesting underlining. This is particularly common with book titles.
E.g.: «It is often alleged that Joe Haldeman wrote TheForeverWar as a rebuttal to Robert Heinlein’s earlier novel of the future military, StarshipTroopers.».
Other forms exemplified by «=hell=», «\hell/», or «/hell/» are occasionally seen. Some hackers claim that «in the last example the first slash pushes the letters over to the right to make them italic, and the second keeps them from falling over».
Finally, words may also be emphasized L I K E T H I S, or by a series of carets (^) under them on the next line of the text.
There is a semantic difference between emphasis LIKE THIS(which emphasizes the phrase as a whole), and emphasis L I K E T H I S (which suggests the writer speaking very slowly and distinctly, as if to a very young child or a mentally impaired person). Bracketing a word with the `’ character may also indicate that the writer wishes readers to consider that an action is taking place or that a sound is being made.
E.g.: `bang’, `ring’, `mumble’.
There is also an accepted convention for `writing under erasure’; the text «Be nice to this fool^H^H^H^Hgentleman, he’s visiting from corporate HQ.» may be interpreted as «Be nice to this fool, er, gentleman .»
Crackers, phone phreaks, and warez d00dz (mostly teenagers running PC-clones from their bedrooms) have developed their own characteristic jargon, heavily influenced by skateboard lingo and underground-rock slang.
Here is a brief guide to cracker and warez d00dz usage:
Misspell frequently. The substitutions
phone => fone
freak => phreak are obligatory.
Always substitute `z's for `s's. (i.e. "codes" -> "codez").
Type random emphasis characters after a post line (i.e. "Hey Dudes!#!$#$!#!$").
Use the emphatic `k' prefix ("k-kool", "k-rad", "k-awesome") frequently.
Abbreviate compulsively ("I got lotsa warez w/ docs").
Substitute `0' for `o' ("r0dent", "l0zer").
TYPE ALL IN CAPS LOCK, SO IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE YELLING ALL THE TIME.
`*’ signifies multiplication but two asterisks in a row are a shorthand for exponentiation (this derives from FORTRAN). Thus, one might write 2 ** 8 = 256.
Another notation for exponentiation one sees more frequently uses the caret (^, ASCII 1011110); one might write instead `2^8 = 256’.
In on-line exchanges, hackers tend to use decimal forms or improper fractions (`3.5’ or `7/2’) rather than `typewriter style’ mixed fractions (`3-1/2’). The major motive here is probably that the former are more readable, together with a desire to avoid the risk that the latter might be read as `three minus one-half’. The decimal form is definitely preferred for fractions with a terminating decimal representation; there may be some cultural influence here from the high status of scientific notation.
Another on-line convention, used especially for very large or very small numbers, is taken from C (which derived it from FORTRAN). This is a form of `scientific notation’ using `e’ to replace `*10^’; for example, one year is about 3e7 seconds long.
The tilde (~) is commonly used in a quantifying sense of `approximately’; that is, `~50’ means `about fifty’.
On USENET common logical and relational operators such as `|’, `&’, `||’, `&&’, `!’, `==’, `!=’, `>’, `<’, `>=’, and `=<’ are often combined with English. The use of prefix `!’ as a loose synonym for `not-‘ or `no-‘ is particularly common; thus, `!clue’ is read `no-clue’ or `clueless’. A related practice borrows syntax from preferr oday’s net volumes? #endif /* FLAME */ I guess they figured the price premium for true frame-based semantic analysis was too high. Unfortunately, it’s also the only workable approach. I wouldn’t recommend purchase of this product unless you’re on a very tight budget. #include -- == Frank Foonly (Fubarco Systems)
In the above, the `#ifdef’ / `#endif’ pair is a conditional compilation syntax from C; here, it implies that the text between (which is a Îøèáêà! Çàêëàäêà íå îïðåäåëåíà.) should be evaluated only if you have turned on (or defined on) the switch FLAME. The `#include’ at the end is C for «include standard disclaimer here»; the `standard disclaimer’ is understood to read, roughly, «These are my personal opinions and not to be construed as the official position of my employer.»
The top section in the example, with > at the left margin, is an example of an inclusion convention we’ll discuss below.
Hackers also mix letters and numbers more freely than in mainstream usage. In particular, it is good hackish style to write a digit sequence where you intend the reader to understand the text string that names that number in English. So, hackers prefer to write `1970s’ rather than `nineteen-seventies’ or `1970’s’ (the latter looks like a possessive).
It should also be noted that hackers exhibit much less reluctance to use multiply nested parentheses than is normal in English. Part of this is almost certainly due to influence from LISP (which uses deeply nested parentheses (like this (see?)) in its syntax a lot), but it has also been suggested that a more basic hacker trait of enjoying playing with complexity and pushing systems to their limits is in operation.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that many studies of on-line communication have shown that electronic links have a de-inhibiting effect on people. Deprived of the body-language cues through which emotional state is expressed, people tend to forget everything about other parties except what is presented over that ASCII link. This has both good and bad effects. A good one is that it encourages honesty and tends to break down hierarchical authority relationships; a bad one is that it may encourage depersonalization and gratuitous rudeness. Perhaps in response to this, experienced netters often display a sort of conscious formal politesse in their writing that has passed out of fashion in other spoken and written media (for example, the phrase «Well said, sir!» is not uncommon).
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