Open Louchébem: Secrecy in the Argot of Paris Butchers

Abstract

Louchébem, the ancient trade argot of the Paris butchers, is based on a word formation (or rather deformation) process used to disguise French words according to a rule. The butchers did not invent the process but borrowed it from Largonji (a deformation of jargon). Words from this source are attested in the argot of the so-called ‘dangerous classes’, who used it to produce language opaque to the authorities. Louchébem combines a means of secrecy, an opportunity for language play and a tool for constructing craft identity. In this article, I present the linguistic and sociolinguistic details of Louchébem based on primary data collected from 233 traditional butchers. I further investigate secrecy in the modern context, when the key to Louchébem is available on the internet over 150 years after the emergence of the butchers’ argot. My research shows that both internal and external factors influence how secret Louchébem really is.