“Ho, ho, ho! Well, if it isn’t fat stinking billy goat Billy Boy in poison! How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou!”
— Alexander DeLarge, A Clockwork Orange
If you’ve ever read the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, or have seen the same-titled 1971 film starring Malcolm McDowell in the lead role, then you are familiar with the above quote. You might not understand everything it says, but you recognize its origin. For those of you not familiar with A Clockwork Orange, it is a novel about a dystopian future, where youth gangs run wild. The story is told by Alex, a gang leader who (although clearly psychopathic) has plenty of charisma. The complexities of the main character, along with a clever plot, are a couple of the reasons why A Clockwork Orange is considered a classic work of literature.
One of the other primary reasons for A Clockwork Orange’s success is its unique style and very unusual dialogue, which is known as Nadsat.
Like any good writer, Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange based on some of his own experiences and observations, and he developed Nadsat through his extensive knowledge of several languages. He later said in interviews that since the book was sometime in the future in a world that was decaying from the inside, he wanted to invent an entirely new slang or vernacular that the youth gangs would use. Instead of using street vernacular from the early 1960s, he dove into his extensive knowledge of languages. He believed that by doing so, his book would never have a “dated” feel.
Most of the foreign words in Nadsat are Russian. In fact, the word Nadsat is Russian word for “teen.” Along with the Russian words, there are also Romani and Cockney English words and phrases—Burgess was English and the book and film was set in England. Even the title of the book contained a Nadsat reference. “Clockwork” referred to the behavioral conditioning the government forced on the main character, while “Orange” was derived from the Malay word for “man.”
The novel comes with a glossary, but you can pretty much figure out many of the words through context if you read the book or watch the film.
“Droog” is the Russian word for friend, which is one of the most common Nadsat words in the book and film. Following closely behind are the Russian words “melchick” (boy/young man) and “devotchka” (girl/young woman).
Some of the funniest-sounding words in Nadsat, though, are the Cockney terms. There is “baddiwad” (bad), “chumble” (mumble), “eggiwegs” (eggs), “pretty polly” (money), and one of the best ones, “pan handle” (erection).
In case you’re still wondering about the opening quote, it’s mainly just a bunch of non-Nadsat insults and gibberish with the exception of the word “yarbles,” which is derived from the Russian word for “apples.” You can probably guess what it means in Nadsat.