Thread by @Totololito

Wait until you find out that "lascar" is a 🇫🇷 slang word which roughly translates as a low-life, rascal, cunning but unprincipled man, derived from the term used for Indian mercenaries enrolled in European navies (hence the connection with Persian, possibly via 🇵🇹 'lascarim') 1/

https://twitter.com/DimitarBechev/status/1247322138505289729

It does not stop here though. In recent years, 'lascar' has been adopted and popularized in the slang of 🇫🇷 banlieues and Hip-Hop culture and has taken the broader meaning of 'hoodlum'. As such it is frequently used in Rap songs. ⤵️
youtube.com/watch?v=MXF41S…
2/

It was therefore also aptly choosen as a title for a somewhat cult animated TV series dealing with the mishaps of disenfrenchised youths from the projects. An English version was apparently aired as "Homiez" in Canada. 3/

As many popular French slang terms, lascar has its own 'verlan' (inversion of syllables) form: 'scarla' (and its feminine variant 'scarlette')
youtube.com/watch?v=q9WNwM… 4/

Side note: even though 'lascar' may now sound like a backward mutation of 'rascal' to you, the latter comes from French, in which 'racaille' is still frequently used as hoodlum nowadays, which in turn has a Latin origin ('rasicare', to scrape) etymonline.com/word/rascal 5/