Page "Verlan" Paragraph 11

Verlan is used by people to mark their membership in, or exclusion from, a particular group ( generally young people in the cities and banlieues ); it is a tool for marking and delineating group identity.

Speakers rarely create a verlan word on the fly ; rather, their ability to use and understand words from an accepted set of known verlan terms allows them to be identified as part of a verlan-speaking group.