London Cockney Slang
A vivacious Lingo
Cockney
Slang and Cockney Rhyming Slang alike obey to the guidelines of the unique wit and elegance of the
British language and communication mentality.
Linguistically
defined, when one refers to Cockney English, they allude to the accent and the
dialect of English. As it will become clarified further on, Cockney English is
not a sociolinguistic notion that could be concretely defined and described.
Rather, what is
going to be attempted is a delineation of its main characteristics and an able
introduction to this alluring lingo that was born within the sound of the bells
of the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow in the city of London, and exists (with variation)
to this day. Yet, researches point out that the Cockney rhyming slang might be
on its wane these days, as it no longer serves its original purpose, that of a
secret code lingo of a closed and marginalized community of London.
According to
popular wisdom, any citizen born within earshot of the Bow Bells is a “true”
Londoner, and can claim to be “Cockney”.
Let us dedicate
a few lines to the Bow Bells as this church, and, more specifically, the
percussion of its bells holds a vital role to the determination of our
discussion: Bow Bells are the Bells of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, in
Cheapside, London. To be born within the sound of Bow Bells is the traditional definition
of a Cockney. Yet, by extension, as things cannot be strictly divided, to some
ears this stretches to anyone who comes from the South East of England.
The Church was
founded in or around 1080 as the London headquarters of the archbishops of
Canterbury, the medieval church of St Mary-le Bow, and it survived three
devastating collapses before being completely destroyed in the Great Fire of
London of 1666. Later on, it was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, only to be
wrecked again in 1941, and the re-constructed and re-consecrated in 1964.
The medieval
church occupies a central position in the City of London and the district that
the bells are synonymous with “within the City boundary”. The church bells are
certainly ancient- there exist written records of them to ring each evening at
9 pm, which date back to 1469. In an awkward manner, based on the fact that one
is born a cockney when born within the hearing range of the Bow Bells steeple,
there were no Cockneys born between 11th May 1941 and 21st
December 1961, as the renown bells were destroyed during a World War II German
air raid, to be heard after twenty years of restoration work.
Street in
London East End, 1912
The East
End in the afternoon
London’s East
End historically has been one of the poorest areas in London, but it is also
the hub of the whole city’s profits and industrial activity.
Despite its hard
past, East Enders are proud of their heritage and history, much of which still
survives despite the major changes over the years. Traditionally, London’s East
End is a district of close communities, a theory that rationalizes the
development of the characteristic slanguage known as Cockney dialect. This
sense of community reflects the melting pot of nationalities and cultures that
constitute the capital city of England.
The East End sits outside the traditional Roman boundaries of the City
of London. The district was initially composed of small villages and hamlets
around a Roman road leading from London to Colchester; this was an area of
greenery and open space as opposed to the crammed streets of the city.
Originally, the
East End was rich in royal grounds, palaces and small port settlements, but as
London developed it became more industrialized and the East End transformed
into a hub of small manufacturers, the home of various trades and the docklands
centre of the region. Its early industries were a mixture of the unpleasant,
the malodorous and the dangerous. In simple terms, the area was used for
production of noxious products and, consequently, there was a need for much
manufacturing space. Hence, its position outside of the city entailed that the
fumes wouldn’t affect the wealthy that used to inhabit the city centre, and any
issues with dangerous trades wouldn’t impact the city.
Early industry
included tanning, rope manufacturing, lead making, slaughter houses, fish
farms, breweries, bone processing, tallow works and gunpowder production. All
the above were pivotal trades to the success of London but removing them to the
outskirts involved that the “great and good” didn’t have to be exposed to the
unpleasant substances and odors or to be exposed to any of the various hazards
of this primitive form of industry.
The East End has
always attracted refugees and immigrants, many of whom set foot in Britain for
the first time in the local docks. Later on, the Victorian industrialization
didn’t contribute significantly to the amelioration and the upgrade of the area
which developed a reputation for abject poverty, gang violence and delinquency.
By the end of the 19th century, the area accepted an influx of
Eastern European Jews and radicals.
It took until
the end of the Second World War to completely eradicate the slum housing and
improve living conditions in the East End area. A large part of the region was
destroyed by German bombing raids. The East End’s concentration of vital
manufacturing industries and its docks rendered it one of London’s biggest
targets during the War.
Post-War
conditions may have been more humane, yet the area assumed new notoriety in
crime terms during the rule of the Kray twins. The “Krays” gangsters ruled the
East End in the 1960s.
Many of the
traditional industries of the East-End died out over time but the area
re-invented itself once again as a hub of London in the 1980s. Although the
area still retains its origins, it is now also the financial centre of London.
The emergence of the Cockney Rhyming Slang
The Cockney
dialect is held to be colorful and it retains a charm associated with it that
is perhaps absent in the more formal language or else termed, the Estuary
English.
Cockney is
musical and it creates a funny effect when employed. It has migrated across
London in other countries and is now encountered throughout the country and
around the world. Despite the afore mentioned, Cockney dialect was thought to
belong to the lower classes with many members of the society turning their
noses up when hearing it. In fact, in 1909, the London County Council
ostracized it on the premise that it was unpleasant and that it is a modern
corruption lacking any legitimate credentials, and, overall, unworthy of being
the speech of any denizen of the capital city of the Empire. Others at the time,
defended Cockney way of communication with its turn of phrases and rhyming
slang, and they even pursued to legitimize it. Over the years, though, the
dialect became more acceptable to the average British ear legitimizing itself
as it stood the test of the time.
Its origins and
its onset cannot be clearly specified but there exist various explanations on
its birth. As a general tenet, rhyming
slang is believed to have originated in the mid-19th century in the
East End, and it was witnessed among the predominantly Cockney population of
the East End, who are renowned for having a characteristic accent and speech
patterns. One speculation states that it
began in the 1840s and that it was employed by costermongers and salesmen as a
form of patter, a community code. It is possible that it was used in the
marketplace to allow vendors to communicate so as to facilitate collusion,
leaving customers ignorant. Others assume that it was a secret language used by
criminals and people on the margins of the Law (thieves’ cant), as a lingo to
confound the authorities and the outsiders. In either case, one who isn’t
taught the slang feels like being exposed to a completely foreign language, as
it’s impossible to decipher.
Whether the
rhyming slang was a linguistic accident, a game or a cryptolect is, and
probably will remain subject to conjure.
The premise of
Cockney rhyming slang is that it switches a word or a phrase with another that
rhymes with the original.
As such, stairs is encoded in the phrase apple and pairs, phone became dog and bone, wife is trouble and strife, hair is Barnet Fair.
Some chunks of
the slang date back for centuries but the language is still evolving.
So let us have a
butcher’s hook (i.e. a look) in how
the rhyming slang really works:
Top Cockney Rhyming Slang Words and Phrases
1. Adam
and Eve : believe
2. Alan
Whickers: knickers
3. Apples
and pears: stairs
4. Artful
Dodger :lodger
5. Ascot
Races: braces
6. Aunt
Joanna: piano
7. Baked
bean: queen
8. Baker’s
Dozen: cousin
9. Ball
and Chalk: walk
10.
Barnaby Rudge: judge
11.
Barnet fair: hair
12.
Barney Rubble: trouble
13.
Battle cruiser: boozer
14.
Bees and honey :money
15.
Bird lime: time (in prison)
16.
Boat race: face
17.
Bob hope: soap
18.
Bottle and glass: arse (apologies!)
19.
Brahms and Liszt: pissed (drunk)
20.
Brass tacks: facts
21.
Bread and cheese: sneeze
22.
Bread and honey: money
23.
Bricks and mortar: daughter
24.
Bristol city : breasts
25.
Brown bread: dead
26.
Bubble and squeak: Greek
27.
Bubble bath: laugh
28.
Butcher’s hook: a look
29.
Chalfont St Giles : piles
30.
Chalk farm: arm
31.
China plate: mate
32.
Cock and hen: pen
33.
Cows and kisses: missus (wife)
34.
Currant bun: sun
35.
Custard and jelly: telly (television)
36.
Daisy roots: boots
37.
Darby and Joan: moan
38.
Dicky bird: word
39.
Dicky dirt: shirt
40.
Dicky doos: shoes
41.
Dog and Bone: phone
42.
Dog’s meat: feet
43.
Duck and dive: skive
44.
Duke of Kent: rent
45.
Dustbin lid: kid
46.
Elephant’s trunk: drunk
47.
Fireman’s hose: nose
48.
Flowery dell: cell
49.
Frog and toad: road
50.
Gypsy’s kiss: piss
51.
Half-inch: pinch (to steal)
52.
Hampton wick: prick
53.
Hank Marvin: starving
54.
Irish pig: wig
55.
Isle of Wight : tights
56.
Jam-jar: car
57.
Jimmy Riddle: piddle
58.
Joanna: piano (pianna in Cockney)
59.
Khyber Pass: ass
60.
Kick and Prance: dance
61.
Lady Godiva: fiver
62.
Laugh in a joke: smoke
63.
Lionel blairs: flairs
64.
Loaf of bread: head
65.
Loop the loop: soup
66.
Mickey bliss: piss
67.
Mince pies: eyes
68.
Mork and Mindy : windy
69.
North and South : mouth
70.
Orchestra stalls : balls
71.
Pat and Mick:
sick
72.
Peckham Rye: tie
73.
Plates of meat : feet
74.
Pony and Trap: crap
75.
Raspberry ripple: nipple
76.
Raspberry tart: fart
77.
Roast pork: fork
78.
Rosy Lee: tea
79.
Round the houses :trousers
80.
Rub-a-Dub: pub
81.
Ruby Murray: curry
82.
Sausage roll: goal
83.
Septic tank: yank
84.
Sherbet dab: cab
85.
Skin and Blister : sister
86.
Sky rocket: pocket
87.
Sweeney Todd : flying squad
88.
Syrup of figs: wig
89.
Tables and chairs: stairs
90.
Tea leaf :thief
91.
Todd Sloane: alone
92.
Tom and Dick: sick
93.
Tom Tit: shit
94.
Tomfoolery: jewellery
95.
Tommy trinder: window
96.
Two and eight: state
97.
Vera Lynn: gin
98.
Whistle and flute : suit
99.
Bacon and eggs: legs
100.
Mother hubbard: cupboard
101.
Rabbit and Pork: Talk
Intriguingly,
the term “Cokenay” was used in Reeve’s
Tale, the third story in Geoffrey Chaucer’s the Canterbury Tales (c.1343-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer is a celebrated
figure of Medieval Literature and he is the Father of English Literature) as a term to describe a child who was
“tenderly brought up and effeminate”:
“And when this jape is told another day
I shall be held a daffe or a cockenay”.
By the end of
the 16th century, the reference was intended as a derogatory term to
describe town-dwellers.
The Rhyming Slang in peril of becoming Brown Bread
Heartbreakingly,
a twist in the usage, comprehension and popularity of the rhyming slang has
been recorded in recent years. According to a linguistic research that was
published in The Telegraph, Modern
Londoners are just as baffled by Cockney Rhyming Slang as the rest of the
country dwellers. The slang is dying out amid London’s diverse, multi-cultural
society, according to research that was commissioned by the Museum of London
that revealed almost 80% of Londoners do not understand phrases such as
“donkey’s ears” slang for years. In
recent years, Londoners are attested to have a grasp of merely a couple of
Cockney phrases such a tea leaf (thief) and
apples and pears (stairs). Significantly,
Londoners’ own knowledge of the jargon is now almost as dad as of those who
live outside the capital city. In an attempt
to understand this corruption , we could conclude that the origins of
Cockney slang reflects the diverse, immigrant community of London’s East End in
the 19th century so it might not be surprising that other forms of
slang are now taking over, as the cultural influences on the city undergo
changes. Moreover, David Crystal, honorary Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University
said that Cockney Slang was never widely known as it started as a secret way for
people to talk to each other. As soon as the slang became known, the Cockneys stopped
using it.
Still though, as
a spark of hope, it is noticed that there are still several people that are now
inventing new rhyming slang. Currently slang such as “he was wearing his Barack Obamas”, meaning “he was wearing his pyjamas”
or, “he’s on the Adam mole” standing for
“dole” is arising on the fashion of the
good old rhyming slang.
As a result, while
it might be true that Cockney slang may truly be dying out, it’s worth highlighting
the fact that whatever initiated people’s impulse to rhyme words is still with us
today.
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