h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Then what does the i18n denote? It's used really everywhere as a word meaning 'internationalisation'. But how does it fit into the scheme?

I wonder this for months, put the question, and then I see it: Of course 'nternationalisatio' has 18 characters.

Maybe mention that in the article? Or isn't that part of this language?

This I've never heard of before I don't think it's l33t, though. It's probably just something somebody came up with because they were tired of typing such a long word (l33t tends to make things harder to type rather than easier). But then that's just a guess, anybody else know anything more about it?

Altavista: l33t -- 61.000 hits. i18n -- 350.000 hits. So, it has some significance.

However, I admit that highly probably they have nothing to do with each other. I found no site where both show up. It may well be that the inventor of i18n was aware of l33t, but even then it's not the same philosophy.

But I thank you that you inspired me to find the deeper secret of this odd i18n thing.