louchÃ©bem or loucherbem is parisian and lyonnaise butchers' (french boucher) slang, similar to pig latin and verlan. it originated in the mid-19th century and was in common use until the 1950s. each word is transformed by moving the first consonant to the end; and suffixes such as -Ã¨me, -ji, -oc, -muche are added at the end; the letter "l" is placed at the beginning of the new word. note that spelling often becomes phoneticised. ==louchÃ©bem today== even today, louchÃ©bem 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 loufoque, meaning unsound of mind. in 1937 e.c. bentley used the language as a plot point in his short story, 'the old-fashioned apache'. == examples == here are a few example louchÃ©bem words. {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! english !! french !! louchÃ©bem |- | slang || l'argot || largomuche |- | butcher || boucher || louchÃ©bem |- | customer || client || lienclÃ¨s |- | coffeehouse || cafÃ© || lafÃ©caisse |- | (don't) understand || comprendre (pas) || lomprenquÃ¨s (dans le lap) |- | woman (lady) || femme (dame) || lemmefÃ© (lamdÃ©) |- | blunder || gaffe || lafguÃ© |- | boy/waiter || garÃ§on || larÃ§onguesse |- | roma (ethnicity) || gitan || litjoc |- | leg (of mutton, etc.) || gigot || ligogem |- | insane || fou || louf; loufoque |- | pork || porc || lorpic |- | mackerel || maquereau || lacromuche |- | sir; mister; gentleman || monsieur || lesieurmique |- | piece || morceau || lorsomique |- | on top (of) || pardessus || lardeuss (lardeussupem) |- | excuse me?; sorry || pardon || lardonpem |- | to talk || parler || larlÃ©pem |- | manager || patron || latronpuche |- | tip || pourboire || lourboirpem |- | bag || sac || lacsÃ© |- | expensive || cher || lerche; lerchem (often in the negative, as pas lerchem) |- | sneakily || en douce || en loucedÃ©; en loucedoc |- | wallet || portefeuille || larfeuille; lortefeuillepem |- | thief, crook || filou || loufiah |- | knife || couteau || louteaucÃ© |} there is another french argot called largonji, which differs from louchÃ©bem only in the suffix that is added (-i instead of -em); the term is derived from jargon. ==notes==  ==bibliography== * marcel schwob, Ãtude sur lâargot franÃ§ais. paris: Ãmile bouillon, 1889. ==external links== * {{cite web| url=http://www.mhr-viandes.com/fr/docu/docu/d0000238.htm| title=le loucherbem| language=french|date=june 1997| archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20000610013
Cant_languages French_slang Language_games Occupational_cryptolects