
Verlan: French slang that inverses words - janpot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan
======
sam_lowry_
Another pecularity of French is the tendency to supercomposition.

Like the expression _au jour d 'aujourd'hui_ which means "the day of today",
however, _aujourd 'hui_ itself mean "the day of today", because _hui_ is the
Old French word for "today" and _aujourd '_ is obviously the concatenated form
of "au jour de".

But it does not end there: the Old French word _hui_ evolved from "hoc diem",
which means "this day" in Latin.

At the end, the best explanation of _au jour d 'aujourd'hui_ is

    
    
        (the-day-of
           (the-day-of 
             (this (day)))
    

which is fascinating.

~~~
mysterypie
That seems similar to the way people say _PIN number_ even though PIN itself
means personal identification number. I don't know if _au jour d 'aujourd'hui_
sounds horribly redundant in French, but I find that _PIN number_ is perfectly
acceptable in English, along with _SSN number_ , _UPC code_ , and many others.
It takes mental energy to decompose PIN into its components and realize it
contains the word "number", so I welcome the redundancy.

When someone asks, "Do you remember your PIN?", I'm thinking about sewing
needles or medallions for a second -- if they didn't add the word "number". On
the other hand, the acronym ATM is so common that I don't feel the need to say
"ATM machine" anymore; I'll say "Where's the nearest ATM?" and expect that
most people will immediately understand it without having to think about what
it stands for.

~~~
croisillon
back to french you have the reflective verb "s'[en] foutre" (not to give a
shit about [it]), which you use "je m'en fous" = i don't care, "tu t'en fous"
= you don't care...

you can acronym "on s'en fout" as osef for a general "no one cares" and then
rebuild osef as a verb : "je m'osef", "tu t'osef" etc...

~~~
flaie
Never heard "je m'osef" in my whole life :)

~~~
131hn
"Je m'en zef" is a more popular way of saying so (even if 'zef' is mostly used
for slang on other contexts)

------
lapnitnelav
A bit tangential but closely related, I believe French HipHop / Rap makes such
a good use of our language and all the slangs which I find lacking a bit in
English HipHop.

I don't know if it's cultural or if I am really unaware of the equivalent in
English, but it is such a delight to see the creativity of those folks.

A few recent examples :

[https://genius.com/15760906](https://genius.com/15760906) < Cadillac | Game
over : A song about death.

"J'écoute des CDs, des sons de l'au-delà" > I listen to records (CD), sounds
from the other side. Des CDs also sound like being dead (décédé).

[https://genius.com/Odezenne-tu-pu-du-cu-lyrics](https://genius.com/Odezenne-
tu-pu-du-cu-lyrics) < Odezenne | Tu pu du cu

"T’es stupéfiant \ Je te roule, je te fume \ T’es stupéfait" > Word play on
stupéfiant which is both a word for drugs and being surprising / stunning.

[https://genius.com/Nekfeu-egerie-lyrics](https://genius.com/Nekfeu-egerie-
lyrics) < Nekfeu | Egérie

"Toujours en déplacement le soir \ Mais, c'qui compte, c'est le dépassement de
soi" > The play on déplacemment (being out of town) / dépassement (overcoming)
... le soir / de soi. Brilliant

~~~
sleazy_b
I'm not sure if this is what you meant but there's a ton of word play in
American Hip-Hop, it's pretty core to the genre. Literally any rapper you pick
will be doing some amount of word play.

~~~
lapnitnelav
Oh I am sure there are word plays in American / English speaking HipHop, I
just haven't found the same propensity than in the French scene.

If you have notable examples in mind, please do share with me because I have
been trying to find that for a while to prove my own point wrong.

~~~
sleazy_b
Sure I think MF DOOM is a good place to start especially his Madvillainy album
with the producer Madlib which is really well regarded. More recent stuff I
enjoy is Mick Jenkins from Chicago, his 2014 The Waters mixtape was also
really well reviewed. Aesop Rock is also generally thought of as a really good
technical rapper. His album None Shall Pass from the Def Jux days is really
good though I prefer Skelethon which has less word play but is also brilliant.

------
jackhalford
Sometimes "verlan" words come into general use, and then get reversed again.
e.g the original french word "femme" (woman) is "meuf" in verlan, but as
"meuf" has mecome mainstream some people has started to say "feumeu" which is
close to "femme" but pronounced differently.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> e.g the original french word "femme" (woman) is "meuf" in verlan, but as
> "meuf" has mecome mainstream some people has started to say "feumeu" which
> is close to "femme" but pronounced differently.

This makes me very curious -- why does the original vowel of "femme" get
changed in the first inversion to "meuf"? Why does the inversion of "meuf"
have an extra syllable? Is "feumme" not a possible word?

~~~
bestouff
There's often a final "e" in French, which is then changed to "eu" after the
word gets reversed (and then often truncated). Another example is "herbe"
(literally "grass" but now more often used for cannabis) which becomes
"beuher" then "beuh"). As the final "e" is often mute, this process is then
generalized even to words where it's not there. As a widely used example, a
"flic" (slang for a "cop") becomes a "keufli" then a "keuf".

~~~
jeanmichelx
Oh gosh I've been using some of these words without even realising they were
shortened verlan.

~~~
tripa
I'll add the two I had to have explained to me:

chèm <\- moche (ugly), not to be confused with chanmé <\- méchant (bad) (think
bad motherfucker), whose ending can't affort to drop.

reuch <\- cher (expensive), not to be understood as an anglicism for "rush".

~~~
jvelo
> chèm <\- moche (ugly)

You'd write it cheum (moche => cheu-mo => cheum')

~~~
tripa
I've only ever heard is as chèm, so that's how I'd write it.

~~~
jvelo
Sorry, I meant "it's written cheum"

See [https://genius.com/Nekfeu-cheum-lyrics](https://genius.com/Nekfeu-cheum-
lyrics)

------
ericol
We argentinians do this a lot. Guess we inherited it from the French (There
were big waves of immigration in the 2nd half of the 19th century and at the
beginning of the 20th from all over Europe).

There are a lot of examples of this in tango lyrics, that are also rather
complex to decipher because they are "lunfardo" (local slang) words.

A few examples:

Lleca: calle (street) Jermu: Mujer (woman) Goman: Mango ("No tengo un goman",
"I have no money left". "mango" is slang for money. No idea of it's origins.

then there's "ortiba" that is a prime example of the transformation of
meaning. It originates in the word "batidor" (whisk) that is a slang word for
snitch. But then it transformed to indicate anybody that is not cool, or
behaving in an uncool way:

"Che, ¿salimos esta noche?" (Dude, will we go out tonight?) "No puedo, tengo
que estudiar" (I can't, I have to study) "Dale, ¡No seas ortiba!" (C'mon,
don't be so uncool!)

~~~
emiliovesprini
Extra interesting is how sillable-reversed versions words with normal and
'slang' meanings retain the slang meaning but lose the original.

For example, _gato_ means cat. It's also an insult (the particulars of which
escape me), but _toga_ is just the insult.

~~~
ericol
This particular one is very interesting. "gato" does not originate from the
word refering the animal, but from gatillar (triggering) that was slang for
who used to pay for company (To put it in simple words). From there it evolved
to several meanings, the most important one being the person that acts as
gatekeeper for somebody more important (In jails and mobs).

that is what is was very, very often used to refer to the ex president Macri.

------
nekobrain
We have something like that in Italian too, in the area where I come from we
call it "riocontra" (which is "contrario", ie. "opposite", with the syllables
inverted) . It's probably not as widespread as verlan, but it's still pretty
common among the youth of my city.

~~~
santiagobasulto
The same in argentinean Spanish. “Pelado” (bald) becomes “dolape”. What region
are you from? I think I’ve heard something similar from Milanesi, but I’m not
sure.

~~~
ajot
This, at least in rioplatense spanish is called "vesre", which is itself the
vesre of "(al) revés", which in turn means " backwards".

------
kodisha
Same thing, in Serbian:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki)

~~~
minkeymaniac
Same exists in Croatian... vozdra was very common....

The more interesting one is when you add the letter P and the syllable after
the syllable For example.... Ja sam lud (I am nuts) becomes Japa sapam lupud
or Ti si štupido (you are dumb/stupid ... more used in Istria instead of
glup/budala) becomes tipi sipi štupuipidopo

Growing up in Holland there is no such thing really in Dutch... there is plat
Amsterdams or Bargoens ... so whenever I spent time in Croatia with family I
practiced my Šatrovački :-)

------
emiliovesprini
Similar things in other languages!:

Greek's _Podaná_ :
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podan%C3%A1](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podan%C3%A1)

Rioplatense Spanish's _Vesre_ :
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre)

Serbo-Croatian's _Šatrovački_ :
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki)

(Please let me know if I missed any.)

Here for completion but not really the same if you ask me:

English's _Back Slang_
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_slang](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_slang)
and Australian " _Butchers ' Talk_"
[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/behind-that-
tray...](https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/behind-that-tray-of-
snags-theres-a-rehctub-talking-backwards-20020527-gdfbal.html)

 _Edits: formatting._

~~~
_nalply
Bernese German has a similar thing, however they don't swap syllables, they
move the initial consonant cluster to the end of the word, and add vowels,
like this:

Schnure -> Ire-schnee

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattenenglisch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattenenglisch)

~~~
emiliovesprini
Yeah, lots of languages have things like this like Pig Latin and Jeringozo.

------
H8crilA
Rioplatense Spanish (Buenos Aires and surrounding areas) also has this
feature:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesre)

------
Nodraak
Other French slang: Javanais
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanais](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanais)

~~~
po1nter
I've been living in France for more than 5 years and I have never heard of
this.

Is it specific to a region in particular?

~~~
jek0
I'm French. My grand father used this form of slang with friends when he was
young so they didn't get understood by others.

I've leaved in many parts of France and never heard anyone use it, probably
long dead?

------
janci
They also have special hyperabbreviated slang they use in short text messages,
online chats and advertisements. Very hard to read for non-native speakers.

~~~
NilsIRL
Isn't this similar to what is done in English?

------
Narann
Another one that can seems weird to english speaker:

"Comasse", which is a verlan of the last word of "Comme ça".

"Ça" is pronounced "ssa" which sounds "ass" once reverted. English peoples
would understand it as "Come ass".

~~~
alexis_fr
I’ve always imagined the inverted words written with the original spelling: «
Comme aç » for « Comme ça », which adds more poetry to the word to my opinion.

They don’t talk about words inherited from SMS mistakes, but I would add « aps
» (for « pas », as in « je sais aps » = « I don’t kown »).

~~~
juliendorra
I’m not sure ‘aps’ is coming from SMS/texting as it was used (if memory
serves) in the early 90s when cellphones were very rarely used.

It’s most probably the same phenomenon as other verlan words: a mix of
phonetic inversion and some influence from the writing form.

------
sugarpile
Ah yes, tromé (verlan for métro), ouais, and putain: the three French words I
sprinkle in with my broken French the most to make it seem like I speak the
language better than I actually do

~~~
johnchristopher
> ouais, and putain: the three French words I sprinkle in with my broken
> French the most to make it seem like I speak the language better than I
> actually do

Mandatory:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KunHko803g4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KunHko803g4)

~~~
arkh
Voilà donc de quoi s'inspirait The Wire:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lElf7D-An8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lElf7D-An8)

~~~
johnchristopher
Oh, I think it's more than inspiration. The Wire producers are obviously
guilty of plagiarism
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4pldh_pOA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4pldh_pOA)
(nsfw).

------
lsh
Similar thing with Australian butchers:
[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/behind-that-
tray...](https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/behind-that-tray-of-
snags-theres-a-rehctub-talking-backwards-20020527-gdfbal.html)

~~~
speedgoose
The French butchers also have something a bit different :
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louch%C3%A9bem](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louch%C3%A9bem)

------
mohamedattahri
Funny that "Verlan" is itself the verlan slang for "à l'envers", which means
reversed.

------
is0tope
Interesting that this is an actual phenomenon. I recall my French friend
explaining to me that "McDonald's" was shortened to "MacDo" which then (if you
were in the know) was reversed to "DoMac".

~~~
alexis_fr
It is pretty old, it was already popular in the 90ies when Les Inconnus used
it. Everyone who wants to appear « in » (in touch with the young) uses it, I’m
not even sure it looks that cool to actual teenagers ;)

~~~
jobigoud
Teenagers may learn some of these words without realizing it's verlan. For
example a strange/weird object can be "chelou", it means bizarre or surprising
now, it has lost the semantics of the original "louche", meaning suspicious.

------
FearNotDaniel
This has been around at least as long as the 1980s: back then I was a teenager
and had an exchange visit with this kid from Paris, I remember him describing
how they flipped words around to make their own slang. One that stuck in my
head was "chébran", a reversal of "branché", which literally means "plugged
in" or "connected" but in the era of Minitel and other early networks was used
to indicate someone who was hip to current trends.

------
BerislavLopac
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0atrova%C4%8Dki)

------
theboywho
Verlan is usually used by french people with North African origins (where
Arabic is the official language)

I have always thought that these people were just reading French from right to
left like you would read Arabic, giving birth to Verlan.

There are no vowels in arabic, so "bi" "ba" "bo" are just instances of the
letter "b", which I thought explained why verlan reversed the words but kept
the order for each "consonant+vowel" unit

~~~
throwaway41968
Verlan has gone into common use by all strata of the general population, not
just immigrants. It's been the case for 50+ years. It's much decried by the
usual suspects like the Académie and whatnot but the truth is that everyone
uses it.

The phenomenon is also accelerating, even the most trivial and shortest words
are getting commonly reversed: là (there) -> al, pas (not) -> ap, moi/toi
(me/you) -> ouam/ouat, ça (that) -> ass, bien (well) -> ienb, pied (foot) ->
iep, etc. Lots of fun to be had when explaining all this stuff to other non-
French speakers.

~~~
jobigoud
Another short one "ouf", as in "C'est ouf !" Used by everyone.

------
Jagat
Nepali people use a similar method for gossiping. The syllables are reversed,
making it hard for people around to understand what they're saying. Only the
two conversing know what they're talking about and they've done it for long
enough that they can easily parse through it.

It's a hard skill to master, which is why it's easy to assume those around
don't understand what's being talked about.

------
anonu
The people on the board of the Académie française must be upset. They're the
purists, making sure there's no perversions entering the French language. But
language is fluid. You can't stop the tide of change

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise)

~~~
claudeganon
I kind of like it when absurd things like prescriptivism are as formal and
organized as this. It makes them much easier to mock, deride, and rebel
against.

The US by contrast has a similar level of prescriptivism around the English
language, largely comprised of biases against regionalisms, speech patterns of
the working class, and dialects like AAVE. But it’s enforced informally
through snobbery and various other forms of social and institutional
exclusion, which can be much harder to schematize and challenge.

~~~
baot
>and rebel against

i.e. intentionally use definitions you know are confusing and then - as
language is famously a single person endeavour - blaming the listener when
they misunderstand. This arrangement works particularly well as a shibboleth
to prevent people knowing what you're saying if they have the poor foresight
to choose another language as their native tongue.

------
gullywhumper
Maybe a naive question from someone with only passing familiarity, but does
gender stay the same? Maybe not the best example, but does le metro stay le
trome?

------
loosetypes
Verlan lervan

------
bradknowles
So, like pig Latin, but for French?

This is a new thing?

------
isoprophlex
Itd be fun if they'd apply this principle of reversal to their
abbreviations/acronyms as well, then the French ones will mirror the rest of
Europe again. Right now:

MRI is IRM (imagerie par résonance magnétique)

LPG is GPL (Gaz liquide propane)

Etcetera...

~~~
klez
Uhm, Italian uses mostly the same order as French (GPL Gas di Petrolio
Liquefatto, for example), unless by "the rest of Europe" you mean to exclude
the ones that speak romance languages.

