I so don't get why people are not encouraged to use pass phrases rather than single words as they are both easy to remember and long.

Take the example weak password "iloveu" if you changed that to "i love beer" or "i love big cocks" you rocket from weak to strong. You can even work the name of the site in there "i love facebook" or "i love hacker news".

/me shakes head

btw. what's a "strenght meter"?