Louchébem

Template:Short description Template:Expand French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' (French {{#invoke:Lang|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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} word-creation process resembles that of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, in that existing words are camouflaged according to a set of rules. Strictly speaking, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a more rigid variety of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in which the ending {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is obligatory. {{#invoke:Lang|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: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, or in the case of louchébem, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

Note that {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is first and foremost an oral language, and spelling is usually phoneticized.

History

Despite the name, {{#invoke:Lang|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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was used by Parisian members of the Resistance.

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

There is another French argot called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which differs from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} only in the suffix that is added ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} instead of {{#invoke:Lang|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

• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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