Try swapping syllables in french words to sound like a native

“The Lord is a shoving leopard.” You may have heard of this expression, originating from Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who was Warden of New College in Oxford in the beginning of the

20th century. In honour of him, such an expression is called a ‘spoonerism’ and refers to a phrase with sounds in the wrong place - he was of course referring to the Lord being a loving

shepherd. Other examples include ‘A blushing crow’ (crushing blow) and a ‘well-boiled icicle’ (well-oiled bicycle). Spoonerisms are called _contrepèterie_ and are almost considered a form of

art, dating back to at least the 16th century and author François Rabelais, and popular among politicians and journalists. The weekly newspaper Le Canard enchaîné even has a section

dedicated to them called _Sur l'Album de la Comtesse_, with _contrepèteries_ published every week. Modern French slang also makes heavy use of this concept of swapping sounds. Verlan is

a type of _argot_ (slang) that involves inverting syllables to make an entirely new word, while keeping the meaning of the original word. Verlan itself means _l’envers _or reverse in

English. READ MORE: ‘JOURBON!’: WHAT IS FRANCE’S BACKWARDS SLANG VERLAN? CONTREPÈTERIES IN LITERATURE _Contrepèteries_ almost always hide a burlesque or vulgar meaning. One of the first

recorded uses was by Rabelais in 1532 in _Pantagruel_, the chronicles of the eponymous giant. In it, he describes some women as _folle à la messe_, which, translated to English, means crazy

about mass, in the sense of enjoying it. However, if you swap the ‘f’ and ‘m’ sound, then you are left with the phrase _molle à la fesse_ (with soft bottoms), insinuating that these

church-going women were also sexually active. Victor Hugo, a man with an enormous sexual appetite, also sometimes added _contrepèteries_ to his writing. The most famous was _le vaincu de son

cœur_ (the loser of his heart), which appeared in _Les Quatre Vents de l'esprit_, published in 1881. Swap _cœur _and _cu_ and you have _le vainqueur de son cul_, which means the winner

of her bottom. READ MORE: 12 PHRASES TO SHOW WHY ‘CUL’ IS A PILLAR OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE PARIS MAIRIE’S UNINTENTIONAL CONTREPÈTERIE Some spoonerisms are unintentional, as was the case with

the Paris mairie in 2013. The mairie had come up with a new slogan to celebrate new paths that were opening on the Seine’s banks: _les berges sont à vous_ (the banks are yours). A

journalist from the Monde quickly noticed that the slogan was in fact a _contrepèterie_, if you replace the ‘b’ from _berges_ with the ‘v’ from _vous_. _Les verges sont à bout_ hides another

sexual meaning, as _verge_ is a word meaning penis and _à bout _is an expression meaning exhausted. CHILD-FRIENDLY CONTREPÈTERIES Not all _contrepèteries_ are rude. Some are child-friendly,

such as _un lien vaut mieux que deux tutorats _(a link is worth more than two guidances). Swap the ‘l’ from _lien_ and the second ‘t’ from _tutorats_ and you are left with _Un tiens vaut

mieux que deux tu l'auras _('a here you go is worth more than two you will haves'). That phrase is the equivalent of ‘a bird in hand is worth two in the bush’, meaning that

having something concrete and guaranteed is worth more than promises that might not transpire. You might hear this spoonerism by someone to describe the weather: _un champ de coton _(a

cotton field). It can be transformed into _un temps de cochon_ (pig weather). The expression comes from the fact that pigs used to be butchered around November when the weather was often

bad. See if you can work out the spoonerism of this phrase: _Gary part de Lyon_. Remember, it is the sounds that are swapped, not the spelling, so try saying it out loud. Hint: It is a

famous train station. VERLAN Verlan is nowadays an integral part of slang. Almost any word is subject to it, and it usually involves swapping the first and last syllables. A common example

is _cimer_ which is the Verlan form of merci. Another example is _ouf_, meaning _fou_ or crazy. It can be used as an adjective to describe something (_quel émission de ouf_, meaning what an

incredible TV show) or as a noun (_c’est un ouf_, meaning he is a crazy person). A word that is already slang can also have Verlan applied to it, such as _mec_ which is a word to mean man or

_flic_ which means ‘police officer’. In Verlan, they become _keum_ and _keuf_. You may notice that _keuf_ is not an equivalent of _flic_. That is because the original Verlan was _keufli_,

which is _flic_ backwards, but the ‘li’ part was dropped to simply become _keuf_. There are seemingly no rules associated with Verlan, so you can try and make your own versions. For example,

you might say a _liseva_ instead of a _valise_ (suitcase), although you will get some funny looks. READ MORE INFORMAL SYNONYMS FOR EVERYDAY FRENCH WORDS 10 FRENCH WORDS AND PHRASES THAT ARE

UNTRANSLATABLE IN ENGLISH