Back slang

Back slang is an English coded language in which the written word is spoken phonemically backwards. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butchers and greengrocers, to have private conversations behind their customers' backs and pass off lower quality goods to less observant customers.An unusual kind of slang, known as back slang, evolved in England. One of the places it flourished was in butcher shops, where it allowed the butcher to order his assistant to bring out the old piece of meat for this customer. A word was coded by writing it backwards and trying to make a sensible pronounciation, although certain sounds like "th" didn't actually get reversed, and extra vowels were inserted as necessary. In some cases, syllables were added or dropped, vowel sounds modified, or a single letter, such as "h", became pronounced.

Some back slang has entered standard English. For example the term 'yob' was originally back slang for 'boy'.

The appellation back slang is specific to the English language. Other languages, however, have similar coded forms, such as the French verlan, in which it is syllables, rather than the entire word, that are reversed. Swedish has a similar phenomenon: the word fika (Swedish for 'to have a coffee break'), for example, is derived from a reversal of the syllables in "kaffi" (older Swedish for 'coffee'). Also in Argentina, in its dialect called "lunfardo" it is used to speak in "vesre" (literally, "backwards").

In some regions, the term back slang is used more generally for other codings such as the inclusion of extra syllables in the middle of words, such as heagy peagy and is a main part of the plot in the episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series After Henry (Series 3: Lines of Communication) occasionally repeated on BBC Radio 7.

Back slang has been reported^[1] to have been adopted for the sake of privacy on foreign tennis courts by the young English players Laura Robson and Heather Watson.

Backslang showed up several times, complete with subtitles, in the Australian movie "The Hard Word", starring Guy Pearce as one of a trio of bankrobbers. He is the son of a butcher, and one of his mates is a butcher. Several brief backslang interchanges occur during the movie, involving "yenom" and "dratsabs".

In France, there is a similar slang, called Verlan, commonly used by immigrants. In this language, the reversal often takes place at the level of syllables, rather than letters. The greeting Bonjour, ca va?" becomes Jourbon, ca av?, and a cafe becomes a feca.

word	meaning
beemal	lamb
cool	look
curp/kcirp	prick
dabtros	a bad sort (of person)
deeache	head
dee-aitch	head
deelo nam	old man
dello	old
delo diam	old maid
delo nammow	old woman
delo woc	old cow
delok	cold
doog	good
doog eno	good one
doog gels	good legs
doonups	pounds
dos a reno	a sod
dratsab	bastard
dunop	pound
earth	three
ecaf	face
ecnop	ponce
edgabac	cabbage
edgenaro	orange
eefink	knife
eelacs	scales
eemoking pew	coming up
eemosh	home
eenin	nine
eeson	nose
eevach a kool	have a look
eevig	give
elbat	table
elpa	apple
elrig	girl
elwoff	fowl
emag	game
emok nye	come in
enif	fine
eno	one
enob	bone
epip	pipe
erif	fire
erf yennep	threepennce
erth	three
esaff	face
esclop	police
eslop	police
esroch	horse
esuch	house
evatch	have
evif	five
evlenet	twelve
exis	six
exobs	boxes
exxes	six
flatch	half
flatch yenep	half penny
gib teenuck	big vagina
gib teesurbs	big breasts
helpa	an apple
jerknod	donkey
kab edis	backside
kacab genals	back slang
kanits	stink
kaycuff foe	fuck off
kaynab	bank
kayrop	pork
kayrop poches	pork chops
kennetseeno	stinking
kenurd	drunk
kew	week
kirp	prick
kool toul	look out
kool tour	look out
lahteeache	all right
larro	oral (sex)
leracham	mackerel
nam	man
namas	someone (...is coming)
namesclop	policeman
nammo	woman
namoh	woman
namow	woman
neergs	greens
neetrith	thirteen
nemmo	woman
neves	seven
nommus	someone
nosper	a person
nosrap	a parson
nottub	button
oat	two
occabot	tobacco
on doog	no good
owt	two
pew the elop	up the pole = pregnant
reeb	beer
repap	paper
reppock	copper
reswort	trousers
retchtub	butcher
retsio	oyster
revlis	silver
riach	hair
riah	hair
roaf	four
rouf	four
ruttat	tater (potato)
ryache	chair
say	yes
see	yes
sip	piss
slabs	balls
slabs pew	balls up = a mess
slaoc	coals
sneerg	greens
soush	house
spinsrap	parsnip
sresworts	trousers
sretsio	oysters
stoob	boots
stun	nuts
swags	sausages
taff	fat
taoc	coat
tee-aitch	eight
tekram	market
Texan rude nam	next door man = neighbor
Texan ruder	next door
tenip	a pint
tib o the delo	bit of the old
toac tisaw	waistcoat
toch eno	hot one = look out!
top o' reeb	pot o' beer
torrac	carrot
traf	fart
traff	fart
trat	tart
vatch	have
wen	new
worrab	barrow
yorrab	barrow
yadnab	brandy
yardnarb	brandy
yarpoo	pay up
yeknod	donkey
yellib	belly
yenep	penny
yennom	money
yenork	a crown
yob	boy
yobbo	boy
zeb	best