Louchébem

Template:Short description Template:Expand French Template:Lang or Template:Lang (Template:IPA) is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' (French Template:Lang) slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century and was in common use until the 1950s.

Process

The Template:Lang word-creation process resembles that of Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang, in that existing words are camouflaged according to a set of rules. Strictly speaking, Template:Lang is a more rigid variety of Template:Lang in which the ending Template:Lang is obligatory. Template:Lang substitutes Template:Angle bracket for the consonant or consonant cluster at the beginning of the word, or, if the word begins with an Template:Angle bracket or a vowel, the second syllable; the initial consonant is then reattached to the end of the word along with a suffix particular to the argot: Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, or in the case of louchébem, Template:Lang Template:IPA.

Note that Template:Lang is first and foremost an oral language, and spelling is usually phoneticized.

History

Despite the name, Template:Lang seems to have been created not by butchers, but by inmates at Brest Prison, with records dating back to 1821.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Edmund Clerihew Bentley used the language as a plot point in his 1937 short story "The Old-Fashioned Apache".

During the Nazi occupation Template:Lang was used by Parisian members of the Resistance.

Even today, Template:Lang is still well-known and used among those working at point-of-sale in the meat retail industry. Some words have even leaked into common, everyday use by the masses; an example is the word Template:Wikt-lang, meaning "eccentric".

Examples

Here are a few example Louchébem words.

English	French	Louchébem
slang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
butcher	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
customer	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
coffeehouse	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
(don't) understand	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)
woman (lady)	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)
blunder	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
boy/waiter	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
Roma (ethnicity)	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
leg (of mutton, etc.)	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
insane	Template:Lang	Template:Lang; Template:Lang; Template:Lang
pork	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
mackerel	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
Sir; Mister; gentleman	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
piece	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
overcoat	Template:Lang	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)
excuse me?; sorry	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
to talk	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
manager	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
tip	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
bag	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
expensive	Template:Lang	Template:Lang; Template:Lang (often in the negative, as Template:Lang)
sneakily	Template:Lang	Template:Lang; Template:Lang
wallet	Template:Lang	Template:Lang; Template:Lang
thief, crook	Template:Lang	Template:Lang
knife	Template:Lang	Template:Lang

There is another French argot called Template:Lang, which differs from Template:Lang only in the suffix that is added (Template:Lang instead of Template:Lang); the term is derived from jargon.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Bibliography

• Marcel Schwob, Étude sur l’argot français. Paris: Émile Bouillon, 1889.

External links

• Template:Cite web