------------ Anarchy inc. .. presents .. ------------ [A CLOCKWORK ORANGE] Glossary of NADSAT Language Compiled and typed in by: The Stranger (...Harrison) Reprinted without permission from the novel "A Clockwork Orange", by Anthony Burgess (c) 1962 - All rights reserved. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the book (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) is it's language. Alex thinks and talks in the "nadsat" (teenage) vocabulary of the future. A doctor in the book explains it. "Odd bits of old rhyming sland," he says. "A bit of gypsy talk, too. But most of the roots are Slav. Propaganda. Subliminal penetration." Nadsat is not quite so hard to decipher as Cretan Linear B, and Alex translates it. I found that I could not read the book without compiling a glossary; I reprint it here, although it is entirely unauthorized, and some of it is guesswork. At first the vocabulary seems incomprehensible: "you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches." Then the reader, even if he knows no Russian, discovers that some of the meaning is clear from context: "to tolchock some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood." Other words are intelligible after a second context: when Alex kicks a fallen enemy on the "gulliver" it might be any part of the body, but when a glass of beer is served with a gulliver, "gulliver" is head. (Life is easier, of course, for those who know the Russian word golova.) Anthony Burgess has not used Russian words mechanically, but with great ingenuity, as the transformation into "gulliver," with its Swiftian associates, suggests. Others are brilliantly anglicized: khorosho (good or well) as "horrowshow"; iudi (people) as "lewdies"; militsia (militia or police) as millicents. Burgess has not used Russian words in an American slang extension, such as nadsat itself, in the termination of the Russian numbers eleven to nineteen, which he breaks off independently on the analogy of our "teen". Thus kopat (to dig with a shovel) is used as "dig" in the sense of enjoy or under- stand; koshka (cat) and ptitsa (bird) become the hip "cat" and "chick"; neezhny (lower) turns into "neezhnies" (underpants); pooshka (cannon) becomes the term for a pistol; rozha (grimace) turns into "rozz", one of the words for policeman; samyi (the most) becomes "sammy" (generous); soomka (bag) is the slang "ugly woman"; vareet (to cook up) is also used in the slang sense, for something preparing or transpiring. The "gypsy talk", I would guess, includes Alex's phrase "O my brothers", and "crark" (to yowl?), "cutter" (money), "filly" (to fool with), and such. The rhyming slang includes "luscious glory" or "hair" (rhyming with "upper story"?) and "pretty polly" for "money" (rhyming with "lolly" or current slang) Others are inevitable associations, such as "cancer" for "cigarette" and "charlie" for "chaplain". Others are produced simply by schoolboy transforma- tions: "appy polly loggy" (apology), "baddiwad" (bad), "eggiweg" (egg), "skolliwoll" (school), and so forth. Others are amputations: "guff" (guffaw), "pee and em" (pop and mom), "sarky" (sarcastic), "sinny" (cinema). Some appear to be portmanteau words: "chumble" (chatter-mumble), "mounch" (mouth- munch), "shive" (shiv-shave), "skirking" (striking-scratching). There are slight inconsistencies in the story when Alex forgets his word and invents another or uses our word, but on the whole he handles his Russianate vocabulary in a masterly fashion. It has a wonderful sound, particularly in abuse, when "grahzny bratchny" sounds infinitely better than "dirty bastard". [The above material was re-printed without permission from the AFTERWORD from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. It is condensed as to save wear-and-tear on my fingers.] Stanley Edgar Hyman July, 1963 GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE Words that don't seem to be of Russian origin are distinguished by asterisks. * appy polly loggy - apology baboochka - old woman baddiwad - bad banda - band bezoomny - mad biblio - library bitva - battle Bog - God bolnoy - sick bolshy - big, great brat, bratty - brother bratchny - bastard britva - razor brooko - belly brosay - to throw bugatty - rich cal - feces * cancer - cigarette cantora - office carman - pocket chai - tea * charles, charlie - chaplain chasha - cup chasso - guard cheena - woman cheest - to wash chelloveck - person, man, follow chepooka - nonsense choodessny - wonderful * chumble - to mumble clop - beak collocoll - bell * crack - to break up or "bust" * crark - to yowl? crast - to rob or steal; robbery creech - to shout or scream * cutter - money dama - lady ded - old man deng - money devotchka - girl dobby - good * dook - trace, ghost domy - house dorogoy - dear, valuable dratsing - fighting * drencrom - drug droog - friend (ie: my droogies) * dung - to defecate dva - two eegra - game eemya - name * eggiweg - egg * filly - to play or fool with * firegold - drink * fist - to punch * flip - wild? forella - "trout" gazetta - newspaper glazz - eye gloopy - stupid * golly - unit of money goloss - voice goober - lip gooly - to walk gorlo - throat govorett - to speak or talk grahzny - dirty grazzy - soiled gromky - loud groody - breast gruppa - group * guff - guffaw gulliver - head * gulliwuts - guts * hen-korm - chickenfeed * horn - to cry out horrorshow - good, well * in-out in-out - copulation interessovat - to interest itty - to go * jammiwam - jam jeezny - life kartoffel - potato keeshkas - guts kleb - bread kootch - key knopka - button kopat - to "dig" koshka - cat kot - tomcat krovvy - blood kupet - to buy lapa - paw lewdies - people * lighter - crone? litso - face tomtick - piece, bit loveted - caught lubbilubbing - making love * luscious glory - hair malchick - boy malenky - little, tiny malso - butter merzky - filthy messel - thought, fancy mesto - place millicent - policeman minoota - minute molodoy - young moloko - milk moodge - man morder - snout * mounch - snack mozg - brain nachinat - to begin nadmenny - arrogant nadsat - teenage nagoy - naked * nazz - fool neezhnies - underpants nochy - night noga - foot, leg nozh - knife nuking - smelling oddy knocky - lonesome odin - one okno - window oobivat - to kill ookadeet - to leave ooko - ear oomny - brainy oozhassny - terrible oozy - chain osoosh - to wipe otchkies - eyeglasses * pan-handle - erection * pee and em - parents peet - to drink pischcha - food platch - to cry platties - clothes pletcho - shoulder plenny - prisoner plesk - splash * plosh - to splash plott - body podooshka - pillow pol - sex polezny - useful * polyclef - skeleton key pony - to understand poogly - frightened pooshka - "cannon" prestoopnik - criminal privodeet - to lead somewhere * pretty polly - money prod - to produce ptitsa - "chick" pyahnitsa - drunk rabbit - work, job radosty - joy raskazz - story rassoodock - mind raz - time razdraz - upset razrez - to rip, ripping rock, rooker - hand, arm rot - mouth rozz - policeman sabog - shoe sakar - sugar sammy - generous * sarky - sarcastic scotenna - "cow" shaika - gang * sharp - female sharries - buttocks shest - barrier * shilarny - concern * shive - slice shiyah - neck shlem - helmet * shlaga - club shlapa - hat shoom - noise shoot - fool * sinny - cinema shazat - to say * skolliwoll - school skorry - quick, quickly * shriking - scratching shvat - to grab sladky - sweet sloochat - to happen sloosh, slosshy - to hear, to listen slovo - word smech - laugh smot - to look sneety - dream * snoutie - tobacco? * snuff it - to die sobirat - to pick up * sod - to fornicate, fornicator soomaka - "bag" soviet - advice, order spat - to sleep spatchka - sleep * splodge, splosh - splash * spoogy - terrified * Staja - State Jail starry - ancient strack - horror * synthemesc - drug tally - waist * tashtook - handkerchief * tass - cup tolchock - to hit or push;blow, beating toofles - slippers tree - three vareet - to "cook up" * vaysay - washroom veck - (see chelloveck) * vellocet - drug veshch - thing viddy - to see or look voloss - hair von - smell vred - to harm or damage yahma - hole * yahoodies - Jews yabzick - tongue * yarbles - testicles yeckate - to drive * warble - song zammechat - remarkable zasnoot - sleep zhenna - wife zoobies - teeth zvonock - bellpull zvook - sound Editor's note: The idea of this text-file is so people can print this ------------- glossary out, without having to tear apart the book. 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