Verlan

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

French back-slang - I think verlan's the right word (from "l'envers", maybe?). Anyone know anything about it? Any examples? I was in France about 9 years ago and my second cousin told me about it, and I saw it mentioned in some article the other day.

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 31 January 2003 13:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah I remember learning about this in school but never knowing what it was exactly, a friend and I used to take the piss.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 31 January 2003 15:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Verlan was invented as a secret language, a way for people (notably youths, drug users, and criminals) to communicate freely in front of authority figures (parents, police). Because much of verlan has become incorporated into French, verlan continues to evolve - sometimes words are "re-verlaned." Beur, commonly heard in the 1980's, has been reversed again to reub. Keuf [flic] has been re-verlaned to feuk, with a bonus - it now resembles a vulgar word in English.

http://french.about.com/library/vocab/bl-verlan.htm

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 31 January 2003 15:22 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.