Back slang
Template:Short description Template:DMCA Back slang is an English coded language in which the written word is spoken phonetically backwards.
Usage
Back slang is thought to have originated in Victorian England. It was used mainly by market sellers, such as butchers and greengrocers, for private conversations behind their customers' backs and to pass off lower-quality goods to less-observant customers.[1] The first published reference to it was in 1851, in Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor.[1] Some back slang has entered Standard English. For example, the term yob was originally back slang for "boy". Back slang is not restricted to words spoken phonemically backwards. English frequently makes use of diphthongs, which is an issue for back slang since diphthongs cannot be reversed. The resulting fix slightly alters the traditional back slang. An example is trousers and its diphthong, ou, which is replaced with wo in the back slang version reswort.[1]
In 2010, back slang was reported to have been adopted for the sake of privacy on foreign tennis courts by the young English players Laura Robson and Heather Watson.[2]
Other languages
Other languages have similar coded forms but reversing the order of syllables rather than phonemes. These include:
- French verlan, in which e.g. français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] becomes céfran [sefʁɑ̃];
- French louchébem, which relies on syllables inversion too, but also adds extra syllables;
- Greek podaná[3] (e.g. the word βυζί becomes ζυβί[4]);
- IsiXhosa & isiZulu Ilwimi/Ulwimi used mostly by teenagers, often called "high school language";
- Japanese tougo (倒語), where moras of a word are inverted and vowels sometimes become long vowels (hara, “stomach”, becomes raaha);
- Romanian Totoiana, in which syllables of Romanian words are inverted so that other Romanian speakers can not understand it;[5][6][7]
- Lunfardo, a Spanish argot spoken in Argentina, includes words in vesre (from revés, literally "backwards");
- Šatrovački, a Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian slang system;
- 19th century Swedish (e.g. the word fika, which means approximately "coffee break").
- Sheng (e.g. ngware becomes rengwa)
- "Coffee spelt backwards is eeffoc," an internet joke popular in Lobotomycore media.[8]
See also
- Costermonger (British street vendors from whom back slang originates)
- Pig Latin
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sullivan, Dick (January 23, 2007). "Earth Yenneps: Victorian Back Slang". The Victorian Web. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cambers, Simon (January 25, 2010). "Laura Robson reveals the benefits of talking in tongues on tour". The Guardian.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pan, Paul (January 29, 2016). "B – bye, Felicia". Slangopedia.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pan, Paul (January 29, 2016). "ζα – ζωντόβολο". Slangopedia.[user-generated source]
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Realitatea TV (January 19, 2009). "În localitatea Totoi, județul Alba, se vorbește o limbă specifică locului". Realitatea TV (in română).
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Arsenie, Dan (December 9, 2011). "Totoiana – messengerul de pe uliță. Povestea unei limbi inventate de români". Great News (in română).
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.AGERPRES (November 2, 2009). ""Limba intoarsă" vorbită în Totoi". Ziare (in română).
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coffee Spelled Backwards Is Eeffoc". Know Your Meme. August 14, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
External links
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