pig latin

[lezzbo]

what is the origin of pig latin?

[melkaylo]

"Ixnay on the ottenray!" Please help a confused Brit! This phrase is spoken by Marty Feldman in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein." I realise that it is a method of speaking in code, i.e. take the first letter of a word, carry it to the end and place an "ay" after the whole thing, but how and where did it originate? The line "ixnay on the ottenray" is an example of pig Latin, a common "private language" in America. There are various forms of pig Latin, but in the standard version, the initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word is moved to the end, and the sound "ay" is added. If the word begins with a vowel, the "ay" sound (or a "way" sound) is simply added to the end: "it's" becomes "itsay" or "itsway." The phrase "speak pig Latin" would thus be rendered "eakspay igpay atinlay." In the "Young Frankenstein" example, the words "on the" are left untouched, but "ixnay" is pig Latin for "nix," i.e. 'no', and "ottenray" is "rotten." I don't know the context of the quote, so I can't explain what "nix on the rotten!" means. Pig Latin has been used since the early part of this century. It resembles a number of other methods of altering the language. A common British form is "back slang," where words are spelled backwards and then pronounced; one well-known word is yob or yobbo, back-slang for "boy." Another type is "eggy-peggy," where a "g" sound is inserted in the middle of syllables, so "Put that book down" becomes "Pugut thagat begook dowgun." Forms of private languages are found in many different languages. Pig Latin never really caught on in Britain, but is fairly widespread in America. (Conversely, rhyming slang is widespread in Britain and Australia, but has never been popular in the U.S.) Pig Latin is primarily used by children, but it is occasionally used for jocular effect by adults, as in the example you cite. There are also a few words in pig Latin that have become established independently, including "ixnay" and amscray 'scram'.