Vesre (reversing the order of syllables within a word) is one of the features of the Rioplatense Spanish. Natives of Buenos Aires and Uruguay use vesre sparingly in colloquial speaking, and never in formal occasions. Tango lyrics make widespread use of lunfardo and vesre to highlight the intended underworld atmosphere, or for comical relief.

Other cities in Argentina have their own customs. Rosario has its "gasó" method for obfuscating words, and Córdoba has an entirely different set of colloquial conventions. Yet, most Argentines have been exposed to vesre through tango lyrics or the media.

Even though vesre has spread to other countries, and can be heard in Chile and Ecuador, Spanish speakers outside the River Plate area are usually less inclined to use it. Popular speech has created some instances; for example, natives of Barranquilla, Colombia often call their city Curramba, in a stylized form of vesre.

Examples

• revés -> vesre (reverse)
• café -> feca (coffee)
• caballo -> llobaca (horse)
• libro -> broli (book)
• flaco -> cofla (thin man; since the 1970s, usually a colloquialism for young man)
• amigo -> gomía (friend)
• doctor -> tordo (doctor, usually meaning physician but also used for lawyers. "Tordo" is standard Spanish for blackbird).
• carne -> nerca (meat)
• pizza -> zapi
• baño -> ñoba (bathroom)

Occasionally, vesre is a stepping-stone towards further obfuscation, achieved by evolving into a longer word. For example:

• coche (car) -> checo -> checonato (after a once-famous sportsman named Cecconatto)
• cinco (the number five) -> cocín -> cocinero (literally cook; used mostly on the racetrack)

In other languages

Colloquial French has a form of intentional metathesis known as verlan.

Tagálog, the language of the Philippines, also has a similar construct known as binaliktad.

Serbian has a form of slang called Šatrovački followed in the 1990s with a more ambiguous slang called utrovački.

Buenos Aires | Tango | Language games

Vesre | Vesre