Any argot (private slang) invokes two related concepts: specialisation, and thinking yourself special. The word itself suggests this, coming from the French argoter, "to quarrel": argots are for those at odds with the world, and have immemorially been used by secretive, selective groups such as criminals and craftsmen. "Barallete," for instance, arose in the 12th century among Galician knife-sharpeners, mixing nonsense and dialect to keep local practice secret. "Parlyaree" (from the Italian parlare, "to talk," and loosely based on Italian) was a 17th-century cant used by peddlers, actors and other itinerants. In the 19th century—via music halls—it became "polari," a slang used, especially, in British gay subculture.
Two related fates await all argots: disuse and diffusion. Barallete passed away with the profession that created it, leaving behind a few words in Galician. Polari lasted less than a century—partly because the 1960s radio series Round the Horne exploded its privacy—but was reborn as "colourful" speech, giving us terms like "bevvy" (drink), "bod" (body) and "camp" (effeminate).
Things are still more rapid today. At the dawn of the internet, advanced computer users developed an argot known as l33t ("elite") speak, which mixed alphanumeric characters with ordinary letters, allowing discussion of obscene or illegal topics despite filters blocking certain words. Within a decade it went mainstream. Non-specialists enjoy the distinction a specialised diction confers, and terms like "n00b" (a "newbie," who doesn't know much about a topic) and "pr0n" (pornography) are now ubiquitous online, along with baroque acronyms in the l33t spirit (roflmao—"rolling on floor laughing my arse off"). Truly private code is as good as dead, but chat has never been so colourful.
