# Pig Latin: Well, put me on a spit and roast me! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488 "2004-05-28T11:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![grantb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce7236/32.png) [@grantb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grantb)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/41 "2004-06-24T20:19:23Z")
Hi. On the point about “Ofay,” from reading Mezz Mezzrow’s _Really the Blues_, I was under the impression that this piece of jazz-era slang actually _was_ from pig Latin, for “foe.” As in the enemies of the hipsters. Am I remembering wrong? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/42 "2004-06-24T22:47:48Z")
\*\*banger]/b]: \<\< It would have been even better if anyone bothered to notice that I made the same comment on the same subject matter in the same thread two days ago \>\> Your post and about three emails caused me to start the ball rolling behind the scenes for correction. I was about to post thanks and acknowledgement that the correction was being made, when this second post appeared. It seemed kinda silly to quote from a post half a mile upstream, so I just responded to the second one. Sorry if you found that annoying. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/43 "2004-06-24T23:07:05Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > \*\*E.g. the language known as “hulfunting” = split the first syllable and insert the letters “lf” into it. “Goose” =\> “Goolfoose” (avoid saying the word “duck” in polite company). Also “bubble” where only the first part of the first syllable is used, and the entire rest of the word is replaced with “bble”. Thus “Hello there” =\> “Hebble thebble”. This is very tough to comprehend, and requires a knowledge of context, clearly! Although most Aussies are familiar with Pig Latin, I am the only person other than my dad (who taught me it) to ever use the Hulfunting language. According to him, it was popular when he was at school (war years), and was properly known as “Skid” (for some reason). BTW, it’s not uncommon for the Vietnamese to “Pig Latinify” their own language. Being mostly monosyllabic, it’s ideally suited to the Pig Latin treatment, ie. harder for non-speakers to decipher. They use the “…ah” ending (common in Vietnamese) rather than “…ay”, but it’s otherwise the same. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/44 "2004-06-24T23:09:41Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog I am the only person other than my dad (who taught me it) to ever use the Hulfunting language. [/QUOTE] Sorry, that came off sounding rather arrogant. I meant that I’m the only other person _that I know of_ to use it. I’ve tried it on people I’ve thought would be likely candidates to know it, and have just received blank stares. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/45 "2004-06-25T07:02:12Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Although most Aussies are familiar with Pig Latin I did six years of real Latin at school, but I never came across \*pig Latin \* as a child. I heard of it only last year when one of my work colleagues mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/46 "2004-06-25T21:18:26Z")
For what it’s worth…these kinds of language games are referred to in Linguistics as “Ludlings” and are well-documented in languages from all over the world (in a brief search I found mention of ludlings in _Tigrinya_, _Amharic_, _Tagalog_, _Cuna_, _Javanese_, _Hanunoo_, _Thai_, _Mandarin_, _French_, _Fula_, _Chasu_, _Bakwiri_, and _Sanga_). Although originally researched by sociolinguists, they have more recently (in the last 15 years or so) been studied by generative linguists (especially phonologists). Bruce Bagemihl did a dissertation on them in 1988 (I think) at the University of British Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488/47 "2004-06-25T21:19:46Z")
I mean that “I think” it was in 1988, not that “I think” it was Bruce Bagemihl. As a former linguist I should have a much better handle on scope. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pig-latin-well-put-me-on-a-spit-and-roast-me/247488.md?page=2)