Riocontra (pronounced as /it/) is a type of argot in the Italian language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word or metathesis, and is common in slang and youth language.
The language developed in the 1970s in the neighborhood of Lambrate in Milan,[1] It was made famous by Guido Nicheli and Diego Abatantuono, in the 1983 film Il ras del quartiere. We remember the intervention by some amateurs who appeared sometimes on television in the Portobello program, in which amateurs preferred to reverse the order of the individual sounds and not of the syllables (casa (house) > "asac").
In spite of insufficient education and non-standard use of the language, Riocontra speakers have produced a rich lexical repertoire. The passage from the official language to Riocontra occurs as mentioned mainly through the inversion of the syllables, but also with the change of the last vowel and truncation and elision in the last vowel of the neologism formed.
The table below summarizes and gives examples of this formation (the cell is left blank when the change does not apply to that term).
| scope=col | Initial term phrase in jargon | scope=col | Syllable Division | scope=col | Inversion | scope=col | truncation | scope=col | definite article | scope=col | Translation in Italian | scope=col | Translation in English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| babbo | bab-bo | boba/bobaz (slang suffix) | il/i | padre | father | ||||||||
| bambino | bambi-no | nobambi | kid | ||||||||||
| bella | bel-la | llabe | ciao | hi | |||||||||
| bestia | be-stia | stiabe | assai | beast (means a lot, very good, depending on the situation) | |||||||||
| capito | capi-to | tocapi | understood | ||||||||||
| casa | ca-sa | saca | home | ||||||||||
| cazzo | ca-zzo | zzoca | penis (Intensifier) | ||||||||||
| chesciato | chescia-to | tocchescia | ricco | rich (from chesciare (make cash), from cash + -are) | |||||||||
| cilotto | ci-lotto | lotto | cilum | chillum | |||||||||
| cinque | cin-que | quinci | five | ||||||||||
| culo | cu-lo | locu | ass | ||||||||||
| crasto | cra-sto | stocra | figo | cool | |||||||||
| droga | dro-ga | gadro | drug | ||||||||||
| fattone | fa-tto-ne | toffa / tofa | drogato | drug addict | |||||||||
| figa | fi-ga | gafi | vulva | ||||||||||
| figo | fi-go | gofi | cool guy | ||||||||||
| frate | fra-te | tefra | fratello | brother | |||||||||
| fumo | fu-mo | moffo | hashish | ||||||||||
| gabbio | ga-bbio | bioga | gabbia | prison (from gabbia (cage)) | |||||||||
| gergo | ger-go | gorge | slang | ||||||||||
| grammo | gra-mmo | mogra | gram | ||||||||||
| grano | gra-no | nogra | money | ||||||||||
| grasso | gra-sso | sogra | sostanzioso | substantial | |||||||||
| schiaffo | fo-schia | foschia/fischia | slap | ||||||||||
| aggiunta | iunta-agg' | iunta | adding a dose to the drugs sold by the dealer | ||||||||||
| peso | pe-so | sope | heavy (difficult situation) | ||||||||||
| piazza | pia-zza | zapia | square (neighborhood) | ||||||||||
| pizza | pi-zza | zapi | |||||||||||
| scudo | scu-do | doscu | 5 euros (etim. from Italian scudo) | ||||||||||
| tipa | ti-pa | pati | girl | ||||||||||
| troia | tro-ia | iatro | bitch | ||||||||||
| ladro | la-dro | drola | thief | ||||||||||
| merda | mer-da | damer | escrement | ||||||||||
| mezza | zza-me | zame | half (50 euro) | ||||||||||
| palo | lo-pa | lopa | pole (1000 euro) | ||||||||||
| madama | ma-da-ma | mamada | polizia | madame (police) | |||||||||
| madre | ma-dre | drema | mother | ||||||||||
| mezzo | me-zzo | zome | mezzo di traporto | means of transport / vehicle | |||||||||
| padre | pa-dre | drepa | father | ||||||||||
| pere | pe-re | repe | seno | breasts | |||||||||
| pippare | pippa-re | repippa | sniffare cocaina | snorting cocaine (from pipa (pipe)) | |||||||||
| pula | pu-la | lapu | polizia | police (from the Milanese pulé or from pulotto) | |||||||||
| pulito | puli-to | topuli | clean | ||||||||||
| birra | bi-rra | rabi | beer | ||||||||||
| sbatta | sba-tta | tasba | impegnativo (from sbattimento) | challenging | |||||||||
| storia | sto-ria | riasto | qualcosa | history (something) | |||||||||
| selvaggia | sel-vaggia | gioselva | la/le | ragazza prosperosa | busty girl | ||||||||
| sborra | sbo-rra | rasbo | sperma | sperm | |||||||||
| schifosi | schi-fo-se | fosischi | filthy | ||||||||||
| lurido | luri-do | doluri | Paninaro (sandwich maker) | filthy (Food truck) | |||||||||
| sgamo | sga-mo | mosga | suss out To find out something secret | ||||||||||
| strada | stra-da | dastra | road (neighborhood) | ||||||||||
| sbirro | sbi-rro | rosbi | policeman/cop | ||||||||||
| spaccino | spa-cci-no | cispa | drug dealer | ||||||||||
| soldi | sol-di | disol | money | ||||||||||
| suono | suo-no | nosuo | money | ||||||||||
| lavoro | lavo-ro | rolavo | work/job | ||||||||||
| treno | tre-no | notre | train | ||||||||||
| cesso | ce-sso | soce | toilet (ugly boy/girl) | ||||||||||
| scopare | sco-pa-re | rescopa | to sweep (to fuck) | ||||||||||
| pezzo | pe-zzo | zope | pezzo di hashish | piece of hashish | |||||||||
| prete | pre-te | tepre | priest (guy with a clean record) | ||||||||||
| vecchio | ve-cchio | chiove | il/la | elder | |||||||||
| vibrazione | vibra-zio-ne | vibranezio | vibration | ||||||||||
| vino | vi-no | novi | wine | ||||||||||
| a caso | a ca-so | a soca | casualmente | casually | |||||||||
| alla grande | alla-gran-de | alla degra | great | ||||||||||
| di brutto | di-bru-tto | di tobru | tantissimo | a lot | |||||||||
| figa di legno | fi-ga-di-le-gno | gafi di gnole | wooden pussy (chaste, restrained girl) | ||||||||||
| bella di brutto | be-lla-di-bru-tto | labe di tobru | very beautiful | ||||||||||
| chili di grano | chi-li-di-gra-no | lochi di nogra | kilos of money (a lot of money) | ||||||||||
| Dio cane | dio-ca-ne | dio neca | dog god (blasphemous profanity) | ||||||||||
| schifo al cazzo | schi-fo-al-ca-zzo | foschi allo zoca | it sucks | ||||||||||
| tocco di fumo | to-cco-di-fu-mo | cotto di moffo | piece of hashish |
The pronunciation of the letter "r" at the end of an inverted word risks merging with the next word or even not being pronounced, so it is placed between the two syllables once inverted to make the pronunciation more fluid.
The exception is the word merda, which although it can become darme, becomes damer or rdame
Some syntactic gemination also happens:
It should also be noted that, with the inversion, the plural is lost.
The riocontra then gradually spread throughout Italy with the advent of trap music,[2] as the language of the youth groups. Taking up mechanisms similar to those of French verlan, similar jargons have also been established in other Western countries. On the other hand, the trancorio[3] [4] developed in the Mompiano district of Brescia. The Milanese rapper Nerone[5] is until now the only one to have written a song almost entirely in Riocontra. The song is ironically titled La Miaccade Llade Scacru, or "La Accademia della Crusca" (Album:, 2017) or Foschi al zzoca (schifo al cazzo) (Album:, 2020). The Milanese rapper Lazza usually uses Riocontra in his productions as with the album . Quentin40 and Puritano's Thoiry piece is also of relevance for its jargon based on apocope or shortenings.