Convoluted slang

[rakkoon]

There was rhyming slang in English a while back, with 'trouble' as a synonym for 'wife' through the phrase 'trouble and strife'. Now in French there's a trend to swap parts of a word around. Easiest example is the artist Stromae, which is actually Maestro switched around (other examples are funnier but untranslatable). Are there any other examples of slang that is totally not spontaneous but fun nevertheless? Especially trends that are used as a system (such as rhyming or swapping)

[Serpentine]

A while back? Cockney slang's still live and well.

As for your question, ionno. Seems like Aussie slang mostly consists of shortening words and/or adding "o" on the end.
edit: Ah, may as well give an example or two. "Smoko" is a "smoking break" or other short break. A "milko" is a milk delivery person. Etc.

[rakkoon]

My apologies to all indigenous Cockney people then :smallsmile:

... Interesto

[Anuan]

Older Australian slang includes a lot of the rhyming-slang, and also odd phrases.
For instance, to 'pinch' or 'nick' something is to give the owner of it a 'five finger discount,' meaning you stole the item in question.
The first two parts of that are still used commonly, the last, not so much.

A person who's a bit thick might be referred to as a 'nong' or a 'dill,' and someone who's silly as well as stupid could be called a turkey.

A slang term for eggs is 'cackleberry.' Because of the sound made when laying one.

[Gitman00]

Older Australian slang includes a lot of the rhyming-slang, and also odd phrases.
For instance, to 'pinch' or 'nick' something is to give the owner of it a 'five finger discount,' meaning you stole the item in question.
The first two parts of that are still used commonly, the last, not so much.

A person who's a bit thick might be referred to as a 'nong' or a 'dill,' and someone who's silly as well as stupid could be called a turkey.

A slang term for eggs is 'cackleberry.' Because of the sound made when laying one.

Cackleberry? That sounds suspicious. Like, something you tell Americans so we'll say it when visiting and you can mock us. :smalltongue:

[Serpentine]

Don't forget drongo. Which is also a bird, as it turns out...

Gotta say the cackleberry's new to me.

[Anuan]

Nobody uses the term 'cackleberry' in actual conversation, if that's what you mean. But I know plenty of people that would know what you mean if you said it :smalltongue:

[Serpentine]

Oh, chook's a classic one. Referring to both chickens and older women.

[Archonic Energy]

My apologies to all indigenous Cockney people then :smallsmile:


don't be.
anyone caught using rhyming slang deserves to be made brown bread...
now excuse me while i go down the apples and get a ruby...

[rakkoon]

Dead, store and beer?

1 out of three?

[Archonic Energy]

Dead, store and beer?

1 out of three?

brown bread = Dead
Apples & pears = Stairs
Ruby Murray = Curry

1/3

[Ranna]

We use its a bit "George Michael" which goes on to mean warm..

I'll see if anyone can get themselves to it.. I HIGHLY doubt it.

[Castaras]

There's also the traditional Raspberry that's cockney rhyming slang.

[Adlan]

Now in French there's a trend to swap parts of a word around. Easiest example is the artist Stromae, which is actually Maestro switched around (other examples are funnier but untranslatable).

Oudslay ikelay igpay atinlay

Or, Sounds like pig latin, which involves taking away the first letter of a word, putting it at the end, and then adding a suffix, such as lay, pay, bay, ay or many others.

Or an Insertion Slang.

Uvagadaluvagan, have you got a Luvagiter?

Which inserts Uva or Luva into a word, the placement of which is based on the rhythm of the word.

The snippet above translates as Ad'lan, have you got a lighter?


I speak norfolk dialect, which is similar to a slang, but instead of new words, or repurposed words, instead it's more words that have survived from earlier forms of the language.

Like on the Sosh - not straight
Squit - Nonsense
Slantendicular - At an odd angle.

I'm not sure why they were all S words, but they was.

[Serpentine]

Pig Latin puts the first letter at the end and adds "ay" to it, unless the first letter is a vowel, in which case you add "yay".

Igpay Atinlay utspay hetay irstay etterlay tyay hetay ndeyay ndayay ddsayay "yayay" otay tiyay, nlessyay hetay irstfay etterlay siyay ayay owelvay, niyay hichway asecay ouyay ddayay "ayyay".

Leastwise, that's the one I know of.

[KuReshtin]

When I grew up in Sweden, there was something like pig latin used, but it was called 'rövarspråk' (highwayman/robber-language). if i'm not completely misremembering things, it first originated in a series of kids books about 'Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist' (master-detective Blomkvist), a kid who used to find and solve mysteries with his friends.

Edit: Yep, just checked it, and it was in deed included in the novels about 'Mästerdetektiven Kalle Blomkvist' by Astrid Lindgren.

The basic premise is that you add an o after every consonant of a word and then repeat the consonant after the o. Vowels are left as is.

For instance, if I wanted to say "hi, how are you" in Robber-language, I'd say "hohi, hohowow arore yoyou?".

It doesn't work as well in English, I just realised because of a lot of silent letters and 'th', 'ph' and the like.

They even made a song way back when, where they used 'robber-language' as part of the chorus, using the phrase "kokalolasos fofinontot", which makes "kalas-fint" (literally: party-nice or 'really swell').

it was a bit of a pain to try to keep a conversation going, though, cause you had to sit around and think about how the words were spelled and then figure out where to put the extra o's and stuff.