> h4x0r sp34k originally dates back to the ANCIENT art of hacking... back in the DOS days when a 14.4 was considered a futuristic connection and a 28.8 was unheard of it was used to make communications between hackers tough to read...

A real hacker, malicious or no, would use plain text or an actual encryption algorithm. If anything, h4x0r sp33k was used by hacker's kids as a way to play, now that Secret Decoder Rings don't appear in cereal boxes anymore.