Buzz
Jonathon Green, the editor-in-chief of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, the most extensive historical slang dictionary globally, has described slang as a linguistic reflection of our “unrestrained Freudian id.” However, this doesn’t quite fit back slang, which resembles more of a verbal conundrum.
This encoded language (similar to slang overall) was frequently linked to illicit activities, though it’s thought to have started with London’s costermongers—street vendors selling apples and other produce—during the Victorian era. It may have later spread to criminals, but the essence of back slang is as harmless as a game of Wordle, albeit less consistent: Some terms are fully reversed, like neves (seven), while others are flipped and then slightly altered (like kayfabe). Although any word can be back-slangified, certain terms have gained more popularity, such as the following.
1. Slop
Slop, the back slang term for “police,” has been in use since the mid-19th century, though it underwent some linguistic transformation to reach its current form. The reverse of police is ecilop, which isn’t particularly easy to pronounce, unlike a Robert Creeley poem. Over time, ecilops morphed into slops, showcasing how words often adapt to become more user-friendly. A passage from Frederick W. Robinson’s 1879 work Coward Conscience provides sage advice to a fugitive: “You'd better run—the slops are on your tail.” Slop can also be linked to rhyming slang through cop/slop.
2. Yob
A group of yobs engaged in a game of football. | Print Collector/GettyImagesThis term is prevalent in Australia, New Zealand, and England, dating back to the mid-1800s. A yob refers to a boy, though it can also describe a grown man, bloke, or fella (with okeblo being the back slang equivalent). An 1894 example from The Sporting Times offers a rich mix of slang, highlighting its gendered usage: “And you can be sure every girl, not to mention every yob, didn’t mind how much ooftish [money] it cost per nob [head].”
3. Kayfabe
Kayfabe is to professional wrestlers what omertà is to mobsters. In the past, when wrestlers and promoters would never admit that their matches were scripted, they were maintaining kayfabe: the facade that wrestling is a genuine sport. The term likely originated from the carnivals that gave rise to professional wrestling in the U.S., but the Oxford English Dictionary’s (OED) earliest recorded instance comes from Dave Melter’s Wrestling Observer newsletter in 1988: “The heels [villains] were instructed to avoid [certain public events involving heroes] due to kayfabe breaches, though many ignored the directive.” Kayfabe is thought to be a playful inversion of “be fake,” blending back slang with a Pig Latin-like twist.
4. Neves
Many lawbreakers were sentenced to neves at London’s Newgate Prison. | Culture Club/GettyImagesThis flipped version of seven (occasionally spelled sivens) has existed since the mid-19th century, and its usage has seeped into a common setting for inmates: prison. The earliest documented instance appears in Henry Mathew’s 1851 work London Labour and the London Poor, which notes Neves-yenep as the reverse of sevenpence. A 1984 example from the publication Police Review illustrates the term’s adaptation in penal contexts: “A five-year sentence is called a ‘handful’; a seven-year term, in a rare nod to back slang, is referred to as a ‘neves’.” (The ingenuity of equating a handful to five is worth noting. Slang truly is the ultimate poet.)
5. Oozeboo
Paul Dickson authored Drunk: The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary, which asserts and showcases that drunkenness has more slang terms than any other state. It’s no surprise, then, that drinking has its own back slang term, specifically this variation of booze, which Green’s Dictionary traces back to an 1886 reference to an oozeboo merchant—likely a bartender or liquor seller. Oozeboo is a clever reworking of booze that also mimics the slurred speech of someone who’s had one too many.
6. Dab
Why settle for calling it a bed when you can refer to it as a dab? | Culture Club/GettyImagesThis word for a bed is among countless terms in English (and other global languages) with an ambiguous origin—though the leading theory points to back slang. The earliest documented use of dab appears in an 1812 edition of The Sporting Mag: “Those accustomed to a soft dab.” The combination of alliteration and back slang is bound to delight any language enthusiast.
7. Kabgnals
Finally, let’s dive into the meta, and no, we’re not referring to Koobecaf. In James Ware’s 1909 work Passing English of the Victorian Era, the author explains how kabgnals can serve as an invitation to engage in back slang: “The letters of back slang (minus the unnecessary ‘c’), spoken quickly to signal a preference for this mode of dialogue. Another variant is Kabac genals.” (The note about the “needless c” is intriguing, as it reflects a broader linguistic trend: extraneous elements often disappear.) So, yes, Virginia, back slang even has its own back slang. It’s a marvelous linguistic universe.
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