Back slang
Encyclopedia
Back slang is an English
coded language
in which the written word is spoken phonemically
backwards. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butcher
s and greengrocer
s, to have private conversations behind their customers' backs and pass off lower quality goods to less observant customers.
Some back slang has entered standard English. For example the term 'yob
' was originally back slang for 'boy'.
The appellation back slang is specific to the English language
. Other languages, however, have similar coded forms, such as the French
verlan
, in which it is syllable
s, rather than the entire word, that are reversed. Swedish
has a similar phenomenon: the word fika (Swedish for 'to have a coffee break'), for example, is derived from a reversal of the syllables in "kaffi" (older Swedish for 'coffee'). Lunfardo
, a Spanish
argot
spoken in Argentina
, occurs words spoken in vesre (from revés, literally "backwards").
In some regions, the term back slang is used more generally for other codings such as the inclusion of extra syllables in the middle of words, such as heagy peagy and is a main part of the plot in the episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series After Henry (Series 3: Lines of Communication) occasionally repeated on BBC Radio 7.
Back slang has been reported to have been adopted for the sake of privacy on foreign tennis courts by the young English players Laura Robson
and Heather Watson
.
by inmates
to make it harder for prison wardens to listen into prisoners' conversations and find out what they were talking about. This use of back slang was highlighted in the 9th of June 2010 episode of Crimewatch Roadshow.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
coded language
Cant (language)
A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
in which the written word is spoken phonemically
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
backwards. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
s and greengrocer
Greengrocer
A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages...
s, to have private conversations behind their customers' backs and pass off lower quality goods to less observant customers.
Some back slang has entered standard English. For example the term 'yob
Yobbo
Yobbo or yob is a slang term for an uncouth or thuggish working-class person. The word derives from a back slang reading of the word "boy" .-Britain:Dr. C. T...
' was originally back slang for 'boy'.
The appellation back slang is specific to the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Other languages, however, have similar coded forms, such as the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
verlan
Verlan
Verlan is an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words...
, in which it is syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s, rather than the entire word, that are reversed. Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
has a similar phenomenon: the word fika (Swedish for 'to have a coffee break'), for example, is derived from a reversal of the syllables in "kaffi" (older Swedish for 'coffee'). Lunfardo
Lunfardo
Lunfardo is a dialect originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and the surrounding Gran Buenos Aires, and from there spread to other cities nearby, such as Rosario and Montevideo, cities with similar socio-cultural situations...
, a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
spoken in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, occurs words spoken in vesre (from revés, literally "backwards").
In some regions, the term back slang is used more generally for other codings such as the inclusion of extra syllables in the middle of words, such as heagy peagy and is a main part of the plot in the episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series After Henry (Series 3: Lines of Communication) occasionally repeated on BBC Radio 7.
Back slang has been reported to have been adopted for the sake of privacy on foreign tennis courts by the young English players Laura Robson
Laura Robson
Laura Robson is a British tennis player. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her...
and Heather Watson
Heather Watson
Heather Miriam Watson is a British female tennis player. Born in Guernsey, she trains and resides at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, USA. Watson has won one major title at the 2009 US Open Juniors, two senior ITF titles and won gold at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. She has...
.
Prison
Back slang is also said to be used in prisonsPrison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
by inmates
Prisoner
A prisoner is someone incarcerated in a prison, jail or similar facility.Prisoner or The Prisoner may also refer to:* Prisoner of war, a soldier in wartime, held as by an enemy* Political prisoner, someone held in prison for their ideology...
to make it harder for prison wardens to listen into prisoners' conversations and find out what they were talking about. This use of back slang was highlighted in the 9th of June 2010 episode of Crimewatch Roadshow.