November 12, 2020 - Šatro: bačkizagre skisvinj tinskila! itsyay ikelay igpay atinlay!
Picture the scene. You are in Zagreb and you meet a group of locals. You befriend them and start to hang out with them for the next week or two during your stay. You are as fluent as a dried-up lake in Croatian, but naturally, you start to grab a word or two by hanging out with these local purgers (nickname for people from Zagreb). 'Dajte nam molim pivo' (please give us beer), 'Kužim te' (I understand you) and other necessary phrases are captured in your mind as you realize they are essential. 'Hoćeš pivo?', asked you your Croatian friend that offered to buy your second round and you replied with 'Da!' (Yes) because as you learned by now, it's hard to decline such an offer. You finish the beer and another friend, seeing your mug/bottle empty comes to you and asks 'Ćešho vopi?' And you are confused. You only had two beers, is he already drunk? But he seems sober, are you maybe already drunk? He asked you again and you still heard the same massacred question and you probably start worrying you should be taken to a hospital. Fear not, as your friend is just messing with you and introducing you to Šatrovica.
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Šatrovica or Šatrovački, Šatra and Šatro is argon, a south-Slavic form of pig Latin represented in the Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian languages. It is mainly represented in Ex-Yu capitals (Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo) and in Croatia, it's associated with Zagreb subcultures. It may seem odd at first, but it is fairly simple once you are fluent in Croatian, as the secret of this secret language is simply in replacing the syllable order. Dr. Ivo Žanić, professor of Croatian language and sociolinguistics for journalists at the Faculty of Political Science on Zagreb University pointed out, when I asked him about Šatrovica, that I perceive it in my question as slang. However, he says, there are two ways to look at Šatrovica.
‘It's useful to distinguish Šatrovica as a lingual practice of marginal groups (such as drug addicts, drug dealers, prisoners, pimps and prostitutes) and as slang for certain age and subculture (students, ravers, bikers, football fans, etc)’, said Žanić. He also stated that the two differences overlap at times. When asked why Šatrovica didn't catch on in other cities, Žanić said that there are many forms of slangs in other cities and while Zagreb, being the biggest and most influential city, Šatrovica is more known than other slangs (as a practice of replacing the syllable order), but not the only one. ‘Do you truly think that Daruvar's adolescents or bikers in Rovinj don't have their own slang?’, Žanić asked me. Given that Šatrovica became a matter of local patriotic pride amongst many in Zagreb, it seems Žanić made a valid point that other cities have their own slang valued to the same extent.
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Argots such as Šatrovica, where speakers play with letters in a word are no strangers to many languages. While for modern pig Latin in English the origin can be traced as early as 1919 thanks to the singer Arthur Fields and his song ‘Pig Latin Love’ Žanić says for Šatrovica that it's impossible to trace its origin and development since it started as a vocal language. Even though you can find it in some of the Croatian novels today and much more in Croatian rap, it didn't have written track in its beginning. 'It is strictly a vocal idiom', he pointed out.
However, the scientific interest for the subject, seldom as it is, dates as early as 1979. when Željka Fink published an article in a scientific journal Wiener Slawistischer Almanach. In her scientific research, Fink tracked the words used among high schoolers in Zagreb, which were noticed and recorded in 1930's by a linguist Josef Hamm and then compared them to what was Šatrovica in 1970's. Looking at Hamm's text titled ‘Two or three words about Zagreb high-schoolers speech’ and the list of words he gave, it becomes obvious that the majority of those words are neither used nor understood by Zagreb's youth today. Other words from that period which young purgers use today, had a bit different context in 1930's slang and there wasn't any use of Šatrovica, as we know it today, given that back then (at least to Hamm's knowledge) high-schoolers didn't replace syllable order.
What's even more interesting, the title of Finks scientific research is translated to English (officially translated by Croatian scientific bibliography Crosbi) as ‘Slang in Croatia: Yesterday and Today’, while in the original Croatian title, slang is replaced with Šatrovački govor (Šatrovački speech). Such distinction in the title on the two languages underlines the uncertainty of classifying Šatrovica as a word game, a secret language (that is no longer so secretive) or as slang for youth? (or all at once, overlapping, as Žanić said). But, do people truly perceive Šatrovica as slang or do they differ the two?
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I asked several locals from Zagreb their opinion on the differences between Zagreb's slang and Šatrovica.
Matija Šalat Zagreb born, Stenjevec raised says he doesn't use Šatro that much but has several friends who actively use it. ‘I'm not sure what would be the difference between Šatro and slang, I actually think Šatrovica can be classified as a broader part of Zagreb slang. I think it is certainly very spread amongst young people who feel very connected to Zagreb and who are proud to live here’, he concludes.
A local musician from Sopot neighborhood, Dino Saurić remembers using Šatrovica the most in high-school and at university. He pointed out, however, that it was mostly used while joking with friends, while slang is something he uses regularly and mostly in a friendly atmosphere. ‘Šatrovica is twisting out words, while slang is not twisting words but using non-formal language’, said Saurić putting an example of the word buraz (bro) instead of brat (brother). ‘Its nice to hear someone use that street talk in a normal way’, concluded Dino.
Raised in Trnsko neighborhood, Marko Medaković is an upcoming rapper who soon plans to release his hip hop material. He rarely uses Šatro and it's usually in his writing to open more space for rhyming. ‘It seems to me we use Šatro to look cool, it is more reserved for younger generations while slang words are used for easier communication’, says Marko. He adds that Šatro is mostly connected to the old school hip hop and it was especially popularised by a cult-status rap duo from Zagreb Tram 11 and newer local rap names such as Tibor.
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To conclude, Šatrovački today is a distinctive part of Zagreb's pop-culture in Croatia and it's an argot where you replace the syllable order. It is usually done by using a consonant in the middle of a word as a breaking point and then putting it at the start followed by all other letters behind it and leave the first part of the word as it was. You can, in theory, talk full sentences in Šatrovica, but locals will usually only use one word, the one they want to underline in a sentence. Also, some words are more converted to Šatrovica than others. Sometimes a vowel is replaced with a different one, so it doesn't resemble another word of a formal language (or for other unexplained reasons). Even though it was used by criminals, today its not that big of a secret and everyone (including the police) easily catches what the secret meaning is. If you are lucky enough, you could perhaps find an entire dictionary of Šatrovica, written by Tomislav Sabljak in 1981 as a nice souvenir for any of you bookworm tourists out there. In the meantime, here are some of the words, along with their meaning and sentence use examples to impress the locals you befriend while in Zagreb.
Ćešho = hoćeš (want) – Ćešho ići na koncert? (Do you want to go to the concert?)
Čašpri = pričaš (you talk) – Čašpri dobru Šatru (you talk good Šatro)
Lahva= hvala (thank you) – Lahva kaj si me pričekao (thanks for waiting for me)
Vopi = pivo (beer) – Daj mi vopi (give me beer)
Vugla= glava (head) – Ne idem van, boli me vugla (I'm not going out, my head hurts)
Mado = doma (home) – Umoran sam, idem mado (I'm tired, I'm going home)
Vutra = trava (weed) – Je li u Hrvatskoj legalna vutra? (Is weed legal in Croatia?)
Đido = dođi (come) – Đido na kavu (Come for coffee)
Trasu = sutra (tommorow) – Vidimo se trasu (see you tommorow)
Brodo = dobro (well) – Nije mi brodo (I'm not well)
Žišku = kužiš (understand) – ti žišku kaj ovaj priča? (Do you understand what this guy is saying?)
