What A Lovely Loin Chop

Last night Nicole and Anthony took pity on me and dragged me out of the hermit shack for an evening with their respective other halves. Being presently halfless it was a relief to get out of the house. It was also good to have conversation that consisted of more than me asking: "Jasper -- wanna go for a walk?"

Anthony happened to mention the code-words used in kitchens to refer to *ahem* good looking females (though he wouldn't say what the code words actually are... apparently those cheffy types can do things with knives we mere mortals only dream about, so it's best not to go spilling their secrets in public).

I mentioned that I'd heard the same thing about butchers -- in fact, today I remember it was in a movie called The Hard Word. It stared Guy Pearce's cheekbones if I remember correctly.

Anyway, according to wikipedia, the secret language of butchers is called 'Rechtub klat' and it's a backslang -- that is, English words said backwards.

Rechtub klat is often used for discussing customers who are in earshot; common uses involve commenting on the physical attributes of female customers or complaining about difficult customers. It has fallen into something of a decline in recent decades. Where once butchers could hold entire conversations in rechtub klat, these days a smaller vocabulary is used.

Ees? I dlot uoy I dluow elgoog ti.

Comments

[Nicole]

Ha. No pitty! It was good to drag my homebody ass out on a week night. Well done on the butcher slang! I forgot all about it, wonder if it'll come in useful at work? :)

[Cristy]

Now that you have mastered the backwards typing you can used google's mirror site - http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/index.cgi. I have never been tricky enough to get my head around the whole concept.

[anthony]

Thanks for solving the movie puzzle.

You have to wonder why they need it with such a rich vein of related double entendres in the meat trade. I wonder what the secret language of auditors.

Out there somewhere, according to my memory, is a nicely written piece on the sexual banter at the butchers as a negotiation for getting the better cuts for the family.

[Ampersandduck]

I tried that google link but it didn't work! I'd like to see that.

I spend a lot of my time reading and thinking in reverse as a printmaker and letterpress printer. Everything in letterpress is upside-down and back-to-front.

When I was at primary school I spent a lot of (what everyone thought was wasted) time writing backwards. Hah! I showed 'em.

Don't think I could actually speak it though. Awesome thought.

[Kate]

Nic - thanks. Maybe our next gathering shall involve actual knitting? (Or, would you like to help me decide on my next project maybe???)

Cristy - that link didn't work for me either. Sounds cool though.

Anthony - corr, check out the small business deductibles form 11a subsection 28 on her!

Ducky - when I was in high school I read a book about speed reading and I taught myself to read rather fluently back-to-front and upside down because the book said this would help you read more quickly. I don't know if it helped but I do read very quickly.

[Robert]

Try this:
http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/index.cgi

[anthony]

Kate

I hope you're not implying that Robert would be involved in lewd banter with CPAs.

I'm dobbing.