Obfuscated Language 1

Three ways to have fun obfuscating language! I did say obfuscating English, but there's no reason this can't be used with any language.

[ obfuscate : to make obscure, to darken, to confuse, to hide the meaning of ]

Pig Latin

[ul]Most people have heard of Pig Latin. If you haven't, here's how it works:

Take the initial consonant or consonant blend at the beginning of each word, and tack it on the end. Add ay as in the sound in way. If there is no initial consonant, just add the ay or if you like, use a W instead.

For example, "Welcome to the Wordplay Forum" is in Pig Latin, "Elcomeway Ooh-tay Uh-thay Urdplay-way Orum-fay." Notice that I am modifying the spelling to keep the pronunciation the same, because Pig Latin is about sound, not spelling.

You can try it out with this English to Pig Latin Translator.

I never really was all that interested in Pig Latin because it's so easy to use and quite easy to translate back to English when heard.[/ul]

Ong

[ul]Then I learned another way to obfuscate English. I enjoyed it simply because it was novel, although it was a little awkward. Here's how it works.

Spell each word out as follows. For vowels, just say the name of the letter. For consonants, add the suffix ong and pronounce the result. Run all the letters for one word together, no matter how long it is.

For example, "My name is Erik" is in Ong, "Mong-yong nong-A-mong-E I-song E-rong-I-kong."

To someone who doesn't know the trick, it can be quite hard to decipher. Unfortunately, it takes forever to say anything. It helps to sort of follow the inflection of the original words, so for my name, Erik, I put the greatest stress on rong.[/ul]

Kontoosh

[ul]Eventually, I learned a third—and very fun—way to obscure English speech. The name I'm giving it is totally unofficial—I heard it from someone who knew of it, I don't know if that was the person I originally learned about it from. I am not even sure how to spell it. The accent is on the second syllable, kun-TOOSH. In doing a little web searching I found that there is a Polish word, Kontusz, which is pronounced the same way, or at least similarly, but I could not find reference to this kind of speech anywhere. Here's how it works.

For every syllable in a word, place a pronounceable syllable (in the form vowel-consonant) in between each consonant + vowel break. Accenting is generally placed on the original vowel, but a more difficult form can be used where the accent is placed on the added syllable.

For example, using "erg" for the pronounceable syllable (which is the one used by the person who named this Kontoosh), then "My name is Erik" becomes (accents on upper-case letters, relative accents as found in the original word) "merGUY nerGAME erGIZ erGAIRerGIK." Again I have changed spelling to preserve pronunciation.

Now, you can choose any add-in syllable you like. Erg, ick, ub, odd, all, whatever. And furthermore, you can mix and match!

kerGAN yiKOO uBUNDoDERstaLAND thiQUIS?

With practice, I find it quite easy to use a single add-in syllable, although one of the more challenging ones is "iqu." Try to say expulsion with it.

One interesting thing about this is that people who have never heard it can pretty much understand you, although they have about zero chance of being able to pick it up and start saying it very quickly. If you do what I said earlier though, and switch the accents, it becomes much harder to understand. It's harder to generate it in the head, too:

MERGai NERGame ERGiz ERGehRERGik

Just in writing this now, I realized there is another alteration that can be done. The add-in syllable can be in the form consonant-vowel. Let me take a stab at it with "go."

maiGO naGOME ihGOZE ehGORiGOKE
MAIgo NAYgome IHgoes EHgorIHgoke

Insanely difficult. I'm not even going to try mix-and-match.

The same phrase with "oag" to demonstrate the difference:

moaGUY noGAME oGIZ oGAIRoGIK
MOguy NOgame OAGiz OAGairOAGik

If my descriptions in text are hard to follow, let me know, and I will find some web space to put some sample sound files on so you can hear it![/ul]

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

Here's one:

"My Name is Erik" would be:

MYLfy NALfame ILfis ELfelRILfik

Take the first letter (or letter sound)and vowel from the first sylabble, and add an l to the sound, then attach the rest of the sylabble (including the vowel) sound with an f in front. (Easier to do than explain!)

Here's a few more examples:

kite would be KILfite
Mike would be MILfike
bus would be BULfus
desk would be DELfesk

Some words are a little more confusing like "frog": FROLfog since it starts with an f.

And multi sylabble words get more complicated: "center" would be CELfentTELfer
printing would be PRILfinTILfing
scanner would be SCALfanTELfer

Be careful of words like "truck" - TRULf***

Once you learn it, it sounds pretty neat when you do it fast.

Great thread!

Thanks for chipping in, kmcginn. I hadn't heard of that variation. It's basically the same as the alternate-accented Kontoosh, but the add-in syllable borrows its vowel from the word.

Did you know about this before? Where did you learn about it? Was there a name for it?

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

I don't know if it has a name or ot. Years ago, my sister and her husband taught it to me - I always assumed they made it up, but probably not. I just always remembered it and thought it was fun.

By the way, wouldn't scanner be SCALfan[red]N[/red]ELfer and not SCALfanTELfer?

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

Yep, you're right! Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa. That's what I get for typing faster than I think!