Re: They Have a Word for It!

>And still muchly used. It has an interesting etymology. Or odd.
>It's just the word _kaffe_ 'coffee' with the syllables reverted:
>kaffe -> fika. I'm pretty sure this is from some wordgame
>but I can't remember which.

Ha! Spanish does this; it's called "vesre" < revés 'reverse'.  Apparently
popular with "alumnos del cuarto grado" as Borges put it; it seems to be
common in the slang of Buenos Aires and often in tango lyrics.  "Feca con
chele" café con leche;  llotivenco [ZotiBeNco] 'tenement house' <
conventillo.

In a Pilipino dictionary, I've spotted at least two possible forms (<
Spanish): kosing 'a 5-centavo piece' (cinco)  and komang 'crippled' (manco).
Seems to work best in languages with relatively simple syl. structure-- but
I don't think I've tried it in Kash yet........

From my childhood, I recall "alfalfa talk", where you insert the syllable
_alf_ after every consonant or cluster:  c-alf-ome-alf h-alf-ere-alf.  At
least IIRC-- I never quite mastered it.

Igpay atinlay, of oursecay.
Ralfogalferalf Malfillsalf

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