Šatrovački
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Šatrovački (Шатровачки) is a feature of permuting syllables of words used in Serbo-Croat (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian) and Macedonian. It is similar to verlan in French. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well.
Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in Yugoslavia, as it was incomprehensible to police. Today, it is spread among youth in informal speech and its variants are found in all languages that can be linguistically categorized as Serbo-Croatian. It is more widespread in some areas, such as Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb.
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[edit] Standard šatrovački
Words are formed by replacing the syllable order. For example: pivo (beer), becomes vopi. The new word has the same meaning as the stem. Since the spelling is nearly phonetic it does not change. However, sometimes one of the vowels is changed to make the new word easier to pronounce, avoid ambiguity, or if the stem word is not in nominative. For example, trava (weed, often used for marijuana) would become vutra instead of vatra(fire).
Some words are more commonly spoken in Šatrovački than others, but there is no specific rule. Examples of transformed sentences (although, most of the words in a single sentence are rarely transformed) are:
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- Brate, neću da igram fudbal. (Mate, I don't want to play soccer.)
- Tebra, ćune da grami dbalfu.
- Brate, neću da igram fudbal. (Mate, I don't want to play soccer.)
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- Pazi brate, murija! (Watch out mate - cops! murija is slang for police)
- Zipa tebra, rijamu!
- Pazi brate, murija! (Watch out mate - cops! murija is slang for police)
[edit] Common examples
- ciba - baci (throw, throw it)
- mojne - nemoj (don't, imperative)
- loma - malo (some)
- tebra - brate (brother, vocative)
- ganci - cigan (gypsy)
- derpe - peder (homosexual, offensive)
- ljakse - seljak (peasant, derogatory depending on usage)
- zipa - pazi (pay attention, imperative)
- tenkre - kreten (idiot)
- Tarmi Rićmi - Mitar Mirić (a folk singer)
- Riha Tama Riha - Hari Mata Hari (Bosnian pop group)
- katabr naže - brkata žena (woman with moustaches, for example Frida Kahlo)
- vugla - glava (head)
- ljadro - drolja (ho')
- vutra - trava (weed, slang for marijuana)
- vopi - pivo (beer)
- vozdra - zdravo (hello)
- čkapi - pička (cunt)
- konza - zakon (law, slang for excellent)
- dbalfu - fudbal (soccer)
- vuspra - sprava (tool or device, referring to spliff)
- sajsi - sisaj (to suck, imperative)
- Šone - Neša (male name or nickname)
- Šomi - Miša (male name or nickname)
- Kiza - Zoki (male nickname)
- Rijama - Marija (female name)
- Munze Konza - Zemun Zakon (Zemun rules
- tozla - Zlato (Gold)
[edit] Utrovački
Utrovački (Утровачки) is a more complex form of šatrovački. Words are formed using: U + last part + ZA + first part + NJE. E.g. vikipedija (wikipedia) becomes ukipedijazavinje. Today, utrovački is not widely used.
Alternative Utrovački is same as above, but without "ZA", e.g. pivo (beer) becomes uvopinje, or cigare (tobacco) becomes ugarecinje.
[edit] Leaving out syllables
A more simplified version of Šatrovački is using only parts of the word, while excluding the first syllable, and is most commonly used among young people in Serbia. For example, koncert (concert) would be shorthened to cert. The rules of creating a new word that can be used in nominative while the stem is not apply similarly to standard šatrovački. An example of a full sentence would be:
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- Drugar i ja idemo na koncert na Tvrđavi. (A friend and I are going to a concert on the Fortress)
- Gari i ja idemo na cert na Đavi.
This is particularly characteristic of Novi Sad youth subculture.
[edit] Common examples
- cert - koncert (concert)
- đava - tvrđava (fortress, in Novi Sad often refers to Petrovaradin fortress)
- gari - drugari (friends, while gari is usually used as singular)
- vu - trava (weed)
- fika - trafika (news stand)
- kić - sokić (demunitive of juice)
- nica - stanica (station)
- šulja - košulja (shirt)
- lone - pantalone (trousers)
- tike - patike (sneakers)
- zika - muzika (music)
- njačić - vinjačić (Diminutive for Vinjak, an alcoholic drink similar to Cognac (drink))
- rac - kurac (dick (penis) taboo.)
- rava - kurava, kurva (prostitute, tabboo)
- Bojša - Nebojša (male name)
[edit] Adding syllables
A rare but present form of expression found in the Belgrade projects (blokovi). Words are reconstructed by adding various suffixes so that the original word remains relatively intact. Usually, the basis is šatrovački. The resulting words have a generally diminutive meaning.
[edit] Examples
- kajbločić - kajblo - blok (apartment building)
- kajsočić - kajso - sok (juice)
These diminutives can later be combined using the Šatrovački method, resulting in words like kajčićblo, or čićblokaj. However, this is a rare usage, confined to the area of New Belgrade.
[edit] Old school slang
Some Belgrade slang usage dating back over 40 years is still in use today:
- lova - novac (money)
- pljuga - cigareta (cigarette)
- riba - zgodna devojka (chick)
- gabor - ružna devojka (ugly chick)
- cava - prostitutka (whore)
- frajer - zgodan mladić (dandy)
- ridža - kondukter (transportation conductor)
- murija - policija (police)
- buvara - zatvor (jail)
- kova - karta (ticket)
[edit] See also
- Serbian language
- Verlan - same principle as Šatrovački, in French
- Vesre - ditto, in Argentine Spanish.
