You're bound to have heard of verlan, a typically French linguistic phenomenon. You know, this way of speaking that consists of inverting the syllables of words. But don't be fooled, verlan didn't originate in the suburbs, contrary to what you may have heard, even though that's where it became popular and really exploded.
The origins of French slang "verlan"
There's one thing you need to know: we've found traces of verlan throughout the centuries.
In the 16th century, the poor were nicknamed "sans-soucis", not because they had no problems, quite the contrary, but because they were sans six sous, meaning without money / without six sous / without worries.
And it's the same with the Bourbons, that dynasty of kings renamed Bonbours by those critical of power, with the gold medal going to Séquinzouil aka Louis XV. There's also Sispi for Pope Pius VI, Lontou for the city of Toulon and Tantris for Tristan, Iseult's Tristan. By the way, did you think Voltaire was called Voltaire? Well no, his name was François-Marie Arquet. Voltaire was his pseudonym. It is said to be the verlan of his birthplace, Airvault, in the Deux-Sèvres. You see, that's where the slang comes from!
Uses of verlan
Although it's been around for a long time, verlan reached its peak in the 20th century. First used as a secret code in prisons, then during the German occupation to disorientate the Nazis, it was the singer Renaud who made it popular with his famous song "laisse béton". Mind you, we're not talking about the concrete of roads, but the verb tomber, laisse tomber, i.e. give up. At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, the cultural movement of the blousons noirs, those slightly rebellious young people with their leather jackets and their slicked-back hair, was dethroned by hip-hop and rap. Groups such as NTM, Assassin, Sages Poètes de la Rue and Ministère AMER adopted the verlan as a means of breaking away from established rules. More recently, we can mention the Belgian artist Stromae who, like Voltaire, has "verlanised" his artist's name, maestro / Stromae, don't laugh, I just discovered it while making this video. I hadn't realised at all.
Verlan is now known and even used by the vast majority of native speakers, and is often found in films and TV series. However, beware, verlan still conveys a bad image, an image of a rebel or a hoodlum from the housing estates.
Most common words and expressions
Here's an anthology of the most commonly used words. You probably know vénère, the verlan of the past participle énervé. The syllables have been reversed and énervé has become vénère. Relou which sounds like heavy but has nothing to do with weight. It's used to refer to an annoying person. Ouf for fou or incroyable. Chelou stands for louche and means weird or strange.
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