Rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. Many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys. Up until the late 20th century, rhyming slang was also common in Australian slang, probably due to the formative influence of cockney on Australian English.
It developed as a way of obscuring the meaning of sentences to those who did not understand the slang, though it remains a matter of speculation whether this was a linguistic accident, or whether it was developed intentionally to assist criminals or to maintain a particular community.
Rhyming slang works by replacing the word to be obscured with the first word of a phrase that rhymes with that word. For instance, "face" would be replaced by "boat", because face rhymes with "boat race". Similarly "feet" becomes "plates" ("plates of meat"), and "money" is "bread" (a very common usage, from "bread and honey"). Sometimes the full phrase is used, for example "Currant Bun" to mean "The Sun" (often referring to the British Tabloid Newspaper of that name). There is no hard and fast rule for this, and you just have to know whether a particular expression is always shortened, never shortened, or can be used either way.
Some substitutions have become relatively widespread in Britain, for example to "have a butcher's" means to have a look, from the rhyming slang "butcher's hook".
This style of rhyming has also spread through many English-speaking countries, where the original phrases are supplemented by rhymes created to fit local needs. For example it is very popular and widely used in Australia. Creation of rhyming slang has become a word game for people of many classes and regions. The term Cockney rhyming slang is generally applied to these expansions to indicate the rhyming style, though arguably the term only applies to phrases used in the East End of London.
It is often used in films (such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), which contains a glossary of Cockney rhyming slang on the DVD version to assist the viewer) and on television (e.g. Minder, EastEnders) to lend authenticity to an East End setting. The theme tune to The Italian Job, composed by Quincy Jones, contains many Cockney rhyming slang expressions. The lyrics by Don Black amused and fascinated the composer. The box office success Ocean's Eleven (2001) contains an incorrect example of Cockney rhyming slang, when the character Basher Tarr uses the slang "Barney" to mean "trouble," derived from "Barney Rubble." In fact (as most Londoners will tell you) "Barney" does not mean trouble but means an argument or a fight and is probably derived from "Barn Owl" which (in a cockney accent) rhymes with row (argument).
Some rhyming slang is rooted in the era of its origin and may be destined to be lost. In the 1980s, for example, "Kerry Packered" meant "knackered"; the current (2004) term "Britneys" to mean beers, via the music artist "Britney Spears", may not outlast Britney's own career.
In America some common slang seems to have had its origin in Cockney rhyming slang: "dukes" means fists; "duke it out" means settle an argument via fisticuffs; "bread" means money; "creamed" means beaten.
Examples
Examples of Cockney rhyming slang, or phrases inspired by it, are:
- Adam and Eve = believe = as in "would you Adam and Eve it?"
- Almond Rocks = socks
- Apples and pears = stairs
- Aris = Aristotle = bottle & glass = arse (a two-stage rhyme) [see Plaster below] (disputed)
- Artful Dodger = lodger
- Ascot Races = braces (called suspenders in the U.S.)
- Aunt Joanna = piano
- Bag of fruit = suit
- Baked Bean = queen
- Baker's Dozen = cousin
- Ball and Chalk = walk
- Barnaby Rudge = judge
- Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair
- Barney = Barn Owl (pronounced in a cockney accent) = Row (argument)
- Berk or Burk = Berkshire Hunt = cunt (used as an insult, never as an anatomical reference)
- Boat = Boat Race = face
- Bob Hope = soap
- Boracic (freq. contracted to brassic) = boracic lint = skint (i.e. penniless)
- Bottle = bottle and glass = arse (i. e. courage; Courage also happens to be the name of a brewery)
- Brahms = Brahms and Liszt (classical composers) = pissed (i.e. drunk)
- Brass Tacks = facts
- Bread and Honey = money
- Bricks and Mortar = daughter
- Bristol = Bristol City (UK football club) = titty (i.e. breast)
- Brown bread = dead
- Bubble = Bubble and squeak = Greek
- Butcher's = butcher's hook = look
- Cain and Abel = table
- Chalfonts = Chalfont St Giles = piles (i.e. haemorrhoids)
- Chalk Farm = arm
- China = china plate = mate
- Cobblers = cobblers' awls = balls or 'bollocks' (i.e. testicles, but usually meant in the sense of 'rubbish' as in "You're talking a load of cobblers")
- Cock and Hen = ten
- Creamed = cream crackered = knackered (i.e. exhausted or beaten)
- Currant bun = sun or The Sun newspaper
- Daisies = daisy roots = boots
- Darby and Joan = moan
- Dicky = dicky dirt = shirt
- Dicky or Dickie = Dickie Bird = word = as in "not a dickie", or even "not a dickie bird"
- Dog = dog and bone = phone
- Duck and Dive = skive
- Ducks and Geese = police
- Duke of Kent = rent
- Dukes = Duke[s] of York = fork, i.e. hand, now chiefly when balled into a fist
- Dustbin Lid = kid
- Emmas = Emma Freud (English author and columnist) = haemorrhoids
- Elephant's Trunk = Drunk
- Farmers = Farmer Giles = piles (slang for haemorrhoids)
- Flowery Dell = (prison) cell
- Fourby = Four by Two (A common size of timber) = Jew
- Frog = frog & toad = road
- Gareth = Gareth Hunt (English actor) = cunt
- Gary = Gary Glitter = shitter, anus
- George Raft = draught
- German bands = hands
- Ginger = ginger beer = queer
- Gregory = Gregory Peck = neck, or cheque
- Gypsy's = Gypsy's kiss = piss
- Hampsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth
- Hampton Wick = prick (i.e. penis)
- Half-inch = pinch (i.e. steal)
- Half ounce of baccy (i.e. tobacco) = paki (Pakistani)
- I suppose = nose
- Jack = Jack Jones = alone ("On my Jack" = "On my own")
- Jam jar = car
- Jam tart = heart
- J. Arthur = J. Arthur Rank (1930s UK flour magnate and film producer) = wank (i.e. masturbate)
- Jimmy = Jimmy Riddle (unknown person, not the character killed during the Waco siege)= piddle or widdle (urinate)
- Jugs = jugs of beer = ears
- Khyber = Khyber Pass = arse
- Kick and Prance = dance
- Lady Godiva = fiver (i.e. five-pound note)
- Lionels = Lionel Blairs (English variety performer) = flares (as in flared trousers)
- Loaf = loaf of bread = head ("use your loaf")
- Lucy Lockett = pocket
- Mickey Bliss = piss (as in "take the Mickey" = "take the piss" = satirise)
- Minces (or mincers) = mince pies = eyes
- Mutton = Mutt and Jeff = deaf = named after Mutt and Jeff, two early 20th century comic strip characters
- Nelson = Nelson Mandela = Stella (Stella Artois), a Belgian brand of lager
- Nobbies = Nobby Stiles (English footballer) = piles (haemorrhoids)
- North and South = mouth
- Oily rag = fag (i.e. cigarette)
- Ones and twos = shoes
- Orchestras = orchestra stalls = balls (Orchestra stalls = part of a concert or other hall. Example = "A kick in the orchestras.") [Coincidentally, "orchi-" is also the Greek root meaning "testicle."]
- Peckham Rye = tie (i.e. necktie)
- Pen and Ink = stink
- Pigs ears = big beers (large glasses of Ale)
- Plaster = Plaster of Paris = Aris = Aristotle = bottle = bottle and glass = arse (a three-stage rhyme)
- Plates = plates of meat = feet
- Porky = pork pie = lie, e.g. "He's telling porkies!"
- Pony = pony and trap = crap (note: Cockneys also use "pony" to mean £25 - hopefully the meaning is clear from the context)
- Rabbit = rabbit and pork = talk
- Raspberry = raspberry tart = fart (as in "blowing raspberry/ies" = making rasping noises with your mouth)
- Richard = Richard the Third = turd (lump of faeces)
- Richard = Dickie Bird = bird (slang for girl) but also word
- Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie"
- Round the houses = trousers
- Rub-a-dub-dub = pub = public house
- Ruby = Ruby Murray (popular singer in the 1950s born in Belfast) = curry
- Salmon and Trout = snout
- Scarper = Scapa Flow = go (run away) (but scarper existed long before the World War I rhyming slang version, having been used since 1846, from Italian scappare, from Vulgar Latin excappare)
- Scotch eggs = legs
- Septic (often "Seppo" in Australia) = septic tank = Yank (slang for an American)
- Sexton Blake = fake, or cake
- Sherbet Dab = (taxi) cab
- Skin = skin and blister = sister
- Sky = sky rocket = pocket
- sweaty = sweaty sock = jock = Scottish person
- Syrup / sirrup = syrup of figs = wig(s)
- Tea leaf = thief
- The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad, a special division of the Metropolitan Police; used as the title of TV series The Sweeney
- Taters = Potatoes in the mould = cold
- Threepenny (pron. approx. "thrup'ny") = threepenny bit (an obsolete pre-decimal coin) = tit (breast)
- Titfer = tit for tat = hat
- Thomas = Thomas the Tank = wank.
- Tod = Tod Sloane = own (as in "on your tod", meaning "alone")
- Tom and Dick = sick
- Tomfoolery = jewellery
- Treacle = treacle tart = sweetheart
- Trouble = trouble and strife = wife
- Tumble Down The Sink = drink (as in, "Going down the rub-a-dub-dub for a tumble down the sink")
- Two-and-eight = state (as in "He was in a right two-and-eight.")
- Uncle = Uncle Dick = sick (a reference to Richard III of England, who had his nephews murdered)
- Vera = Vera Lynn (famous British wartime singer)= 'skin' or cigarette paper, eg, "got any Veras?", or chin, or gin
- Whistle = whistle and flute = suit = as in "a nice whistle"
It should be noted that not all these slang phrase examples, nor their definitions, are generally accepted as equally valid.