<jargon> /hak'speek/ A shorthand method of spelling found on
many British academic bulletin boards and chat systems.
Syllables and whole words in a sentence are replaced by single
ASCII characters the names of which are phonetically similar
or equivalent, while multiple letters are usually dropped.
Hence, "for" becomes "4"; "two", "too", and "to" become "2";
"ck" becomes "k". "Before I see you tomorrow" becomes "b4 i c
u 2moro". First appeared in London about 1986, and was
probably caused by the slowness of available talk systems,
which operated on archaic machines with outdated operating
systems and no standard methods of communication. Has become
rarer since.
