Šatrovački (Serbian Cyrillic: Шатровачки) or šatra is a feature of permuting syllables of words used in Serbo-Croatian. It is similar to verlan and louchébem in French and vesre in Rioplatense Spanish. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well. Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in Yugoslavia, as it was incomprehensible to police. Today, it is spread among youth in informal speech. It is more widespread in urban areas, such as capitals Belgrade (Serbia), Zagreb (Croatia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Standard šatrovački
Words are formed by replacing the syllable order. For example: pivo (beer), becomes vopi. The new word has the same meaning as the stem. Since the spelling is nearly phonetic it does not change. However, sometimes one of the vowels is changed to make the new word easier to pronounce, avoid ambiguity, or if the stem word is not in nominative. For example, trava ("grass", marijuana) would become vutra instead of vatra ("fire").
Some words are more commonly spoken in Šatrovački than others, but there is no specific rule. Examples of transformed sentences (although, most of the words in a single sentence are rarely transformed) are:
Brate, neću da igram fudbal. — Tebra, ćune da grami dbalfu. ("Bro, I don't want to play football.")
Zemun zakon brate. — Munze konza tebra. (literally: "Zemun is the law, bro" - meaning: "Zemun rules dude")
Pazi brate, murija! — Zipa tebra, rijamu! ("Watch out mate - cops!", murija slang for police)
zeldi - dizel (Dizelaši, chavs)
ciba - baci (throw, throw it)
mojne - nemoj (don't, imperative)
loma - malo (a little, few)
tebra - brate (brother, vocative)
Ganci - Cigan (Gypsy)
ljakse - seljak (peasant, derogatory depending on usage)
zipa - pazi (pay attention, imperative)
tenkre - kreten (idiot)
zabr nahra - brza hrana (fast food)
hopsi - psiho (Psycho)
vugla - glava (head)
ljadro - drolja (hoe)
vutra - trava (weed, marijuana)
fuka - kafa (coffee)
gudra - droga (drugs)
vopi - pivo (beer)
suljpa - pasulj (beans)
vozdra - zdravo (hello)
dismr - smrdi (it stinks!)
žika - kaži (say, speak)
konza - zakon (law, slang for excellent)
dbalfu - fudbal (soccer)
vuspra - sprava (tool or device, referring to spliff)
cupi - pica (lit. pussy, referring to a pretty girl)
rijamu - murija, (cops)
sajsi - sisaj (to suck, imperative)
Šone - Nešo (male nickname)
Šomi - Mišo (male nickname)
Kizo - Zoki (male nickname)
Rijama - Marija (female name)
Kblo Konza - Blok Zakon (Blok rules) Blok of New Belgrade (Belgrade suburb)
Munze Konza - Zemun Zakon (Zemun) rules (Belgrade suburb)
tozla - Zlato (gold)
pakšu - Šupak (vulg. asshole, insult)
racku - Kurac (vulg. dick, penis)
žmu - Muž (husband)
rise - Ne seri (no shit (not as an insult) or don't talk shit (insult), depends on pronunciation)
sepra - Prase (pig)
Šipu - Pušiti (Smoke)
Utrovački (Утровачки) is a more complex form of šatrovački. Words are formed using: U + last part + ZA + first part + NJE. E.g. vikipedija (Wikipedia) becomes ukipedijazavinje. Today, utrovački is not widely used.
Alternative Utrovački is same as above, but without "ZA", e.g. pivo (beer) becomes uvopinje, or cigare (tobacco) becomes ugarecinje.
udragunje - droga (drug)
utravunje - trava (weed)
A more simplified version of Šatrovački is using only parts of the word, while excluding the first syllable, and is most commonly used among young people in Serbia. For example, koncert (concert) would be shorthened to cert. The rules of creating a new word that can be used in nominative while the stem is not apply similarly to standard šatrovački. An example of a full sentence would be:
This is particularly characteristic of Novi Sad youth subculture, and is very rarely spoken outside of Vojvodina.
zika - muzika (music)
cert - koncert (concert)
Đava - tvrđava (fortress, almost exclusively refers to Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad)
gari - drugar (friend, buddy, mate, comrade, fellow, bloke - derived from drugari meaning friends; is usually used as singular; plural garesi)
fika - trafika (news stand)
kić - sokić (demunitive of juice)
nica - stanica (station)
šulja - košulja (shirt)
lone - pantalone (trousers)
tike - patike (sneakers)
njačić - vinjačić (Diminutive for Vinjak, an alcoholic drink similar to Cognac)
tija - kutija (box, cd case)
ljara - pepeljara (ashtray)
ljada - hiljada (thousand)
bica - torbica (bag, handbag)
čka - pička (vulg. girl, lady, bitch)
pač - štampač (printer)
činka - palačinka (crêpe, pancake)
ler - drug dealer (usually of marijuana)
ket - paket (package or anything packed or wrapped)
ćoza - kaprićoza (usually refers to Pizza capricciosa, but can be used for any kind of pizza)
A very rare but present form of expression found in the Belgrade projects (blokovi). Words are reconstructed by adding various suffixes so that the original word remains relatively intact. Usually, the basis is šatrovački. The resulting words have a generally diminutive meaning.
kajblo or kićblo - blok (Blok of suburb Blokovi or New Belgrade)
kićso or kajso - sok (juice)
pajdo - dop (heroin)
These diminutives can later be combined using the Šatrovački method, resulting in words like kajblo, or kićblo. However, this is a rare usage, confined to the area of Zemun and New Belgrade.
Also there is another type of šatrovački, where the words are reconstructed by addition of letter P after each syllable:
dipizepel - dizel (chav)
bapacipi - baci (throw)
nepemopoj - nemoj (don't)
mapalopo - malo (some)
brapatepe - brate (brother)
cipigapan - cigan (gypsy)
pepedeper - peder (homosexual)
sepeljapak - seljak (peasant)
papazipi - pazi (pay attention)
krepetepen - kreten (idiot)
