Nadsat

What is the bond between a subculture of extreme youth violence, an orange, milk and Russian language?

Nadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenagers in Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange". In addition to being a novelist, Burgess was a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influenced English. The name itself comes from the Russian suffix equivalent of "-teen" as in "thirteen" (-надцать). Nadsat was also used in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the book.

Nadsat is basically English with some borrowed words from Russian. Burgess, a polyglot who loved language in all its forms, was aware that linguistic slang was of a constantly changing nature. Burgess knew that if he used modes of speech that were contemporarily in use, the novel would very quickly become dated. His use of Nadsat was essentially pragmatic; he needed his narrator to have a unique voice that would remain ageless while reinforcing Alex's indifference to his society's norms, and to suggest that youth subculture existed independently of the rest of society.

And here are some interesting words in Nadsat:

baboochka - old woman - бабушка banda - band - банда bezoomny - mad, crazy - безумный Bog - God - бог chepooka - nonsense - чепуха choodessny - wonderful - чудесный collocoll - bell - колокол devotchka - young woman - девочка horrorshow - good, well, wonderful, excellent - хорошо interessovat - to interest - интересовать itty - to go - идти molodoy - young - молодой moloko - milk - молоко