Verlan - French Slang àlenvers

Verlan - French Slang lenvers Verlan is a form of French slang that consists of playing around with syllables, kind of along the same lines as pig Latin. Unlike pig Latin, however, verlan is actively spoken in France. Many verlan words have become so commonplace that they are used in everyday French. To verlan a word, simply separate it into syllables, reverse them, and put the word back together. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the verlaned word often undergoes some spelling adjustments. Unnecessary letters are dropped, while other letters are added to make pronunciation logical. There are no real rules for this; its just something to be aware of. Note that not every word can or should be verlaned; verlan is used essentially to emphasize or hide the meaning of the main word(s) in a sentence. How It Works Lets start with the word lenvers, which means the reverse. Separate lenvers into its two syllables len and vers. Invert them, put them together into a single word, and then adjust the spelling: lenvers... len vers... vers len... verslen... verslen... verlen... verlan Thus, you can see that verlan is lenvers pronounced lenvers (reverse pronounced in reverse). Lets try another example: pourri... pou rri... rri pou... rripou... ripou Most single-syllable words are just pronounced backwards. fou oufcool (from English) looc Take It a Step Further The above examples are pretty simple, but verlan gets more complicated when it comes to the e muet, which is a very important sound in verlan. Words that end in e muet (like femme) and words which end in a pronounced consonant and which usually have an e muet sound tacked onto the end (like flic, which is usually pronounced flique) retain the sound of the e muet when they are verlaned. In addition, when the syllables are reversed, the resulting final vowel sound is sometimes dropped. flic... fli keu... keu fli... keufli... keuffemme... fa meu... meu fa... meufa... meufarabe... a ra beu... beu ra a... beura... beur 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 1980s, has been reversed again to reub. Keuf has been re-verlaned to feuk, with a bonus - it now resembles a vulgar word in English. Here are some common verlan terms that you should be able to recognize. Remember that verlan is a form of slang, so you probably shouldnt use it when talking to someone you  vouvoie. balpeau  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  peau de ballemeaning: nothing, zip barjot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  jobardmeaning: crazy, insane un  beur  (now  reub)  Ã‚  Ã‚  un  Arabemeaning: Arab blà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cablà ©meaning: trendy, in un  brelica  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  calibremeaning: revolver une  cecla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  classemeaning: class cà ©fran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  franà §aismeaning: French chanmà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  mà ©chantmeaning: mean, nasty chà ©bran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  branchà ©meaning: cool, plugged in chelou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  louchemeaning: shady, dubious une  cinepi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  piscinemeaning: pool une  deban  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bandemeaning: group, band un  skeud  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  disquemeaning: record, album fais  ià ¨che  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of fais  chiermeaning: its boring, annoying un  fà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  cafà ©meaning: cafà © à ªtre au  fumpar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre au  parfummeaning: to be in the know une  gnolba  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bagnolemeaning: car, junker geudin  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  dinguemeaning: crazy jourbon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bonjourmeaning: hello un  kebla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  Black  (from English)meaning: black person kà ©blo  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bloquà ©meaning: blocked, caught un  keuf  (now  feuk)  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  flicmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) un  keum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy, dude laisse  bà ©ton  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of laisse  tombermeaning: forget it, drop it un  là ©pou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pouletmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) looc  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cool  (from English)meaning: cool une  meuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  femmemeaning: woman, wife ouf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  foumeaning: crazy pà ©cho  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  chopermeaning: to steal, nick; to get caught une  pà ©clot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  clopemeaning: cigarette le  pera  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  rapmeaning: rap (music) un  quà ¨m  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy une  raquebar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  baraquemeaning: house relou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  lourdmeaning: heavy les  rempa  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of les  parentsmeaning: parents un  reuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  frà ¨remeaning: brother une  reum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  mà ¨remeaning: mother un  reup  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pà ¨remeaning: father une  reus  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  sÅ“urmeaning: sister ripou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  pourrimeaning: rotten, corrupt la  siquemu  / la  sicmu  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  musiquemeaning: music un  sub  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  busmeaning: bus à ªtre dans le  tarcol  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre dans le  coltarmeaning: to be exhausted une  teibou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bouteillemeaning: bottle une  teuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  fà ªtemeaning: party tirape  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  partirmeaning: to leave tisor  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  sortirmeaning: to go out une  tof  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  photomeaning: photograph la  tourv  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  voituremeaning: car le  tromà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  mà ©tromeaning: subway zarbi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bizarremeaning: strange un  zarfal  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  falzarmeaning: pants, trousers une  zesgon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  gonzessemeaning: girl, chick zyva  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  vas-ymeaning: go