French: Louchébem or French: loucherbem (pronounced as /fr/) is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' (French French: boucher) slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century and was in common use until the 1950s.
The French: louchébem word-creation process resembles that of French: largonji, French: [[verlan]], and French: [[javanais]], in that existing words are camouflaged according to a set of rules. Strictly speaking, French: louchébem is a more rigid variety of French: largonji in which the ending French: -èm is obligatory. French: Largonji substitutes for the consonant or consonant cluster at the beginning of the word, or, if the word begins with an 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: French: -ji pronounced as /fr/, French: -oc pronounced as /fr/, French: -ic pronounced as /fr/, French: -uche pronounced as /fr/, French: -ès pronounced as /fr/, or in the case of louchébem, French: -em/ème pronounced as /fr/.
Note that French: louchébem is first and foremost an oral language, and spelling is usually phoneticized.
Despite the name, French: louchébem seems to have been created not by butchers, but by inmates at Brest Prison, with records dating back to 1821.[1]
Edmund Clerihew Bentley used the language as a plot point in his 1937 short story "The Old-Fashioned Apache".
During the Nazi occupation French: louchébem was used by Parisian members of the Resistance.
Even today, French: louchébem 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, meaning "eccentric".
Here are a few example Louchébem words.
| English | French | Louchébem | |
|---|---|---|---|
| slang | French: l'argot | French: largomuche | |
| butcher | French: boucher | French: louchébem | |
| customer | French: client | French: lienclès | |
| coffeehouse | French: café | French: lafécaisse | |
| (don't) understand | French: comprendre (French: pas) | French: lomprenquès (French: dans le lap) | |
| woman (lady) | French: femme (French: dame) | French: lemmefé (French: lamdé) | |
| blunder | French: gaffe | French: lafgué | |
| boy/waiter | French: garçon | French: larçonguesse | |
| Roma (ethnicity) | French: gitan | French: litjoc | |
| leg (of mutton, etc.) | French: gigot | French: ligogem | |
| insane | French: fou | French: louf
| |
| pork | French: porc | French: lorpic | |
| mackerel | French: maquereau | French: lacromuche | |
| Sir; Mister; gentleman | French: monsieur | French: lesieurmique | |
| piece | French: morceau | French: lorsomique | |
| overcoat | French: pardessus | French: lardeuss (French: lardeussupem) | |
| excuse me?; sorry | French: pardon | French: lardonpem | |
| to talk | French: parler | French: larlépem | |
| manager | French: patron | French: latronpuche | |
| tip | French: pourboire | French: lourboirpem | |
| bag | French: sac | French: lacsé | |
| expensive | French: cher | French: lerche
| |
| sneakily | French: en douce | French: en loucedé
| |
| wallet | French: portefeuille | French: larfeuille
| |
| thief, crook | French: filou | French: loufiah | |
| knife | French: couteau | French: louteaucé |
There is another French argot called French: largonji, which differs from French: louchébem only in the suffix that is added (French: -i instead of French: -em); the term is derived from jargon.[2]