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. In the early 20th century rhyming slang was purportedly common in Australian slang, probably due to the formative influence of cockney on Australian English, however very few rhyming slang terms remain in use in Australia today.
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", and these are often now used without awareness of the original rhyming slang (so for example "berk" and "cobblers" — see list below — are both less taboo than their etymology would suggest). However, most actual and purported substitutions are still not in common usage.
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. 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. Also, The Audiobullys or The Streets use the slang in almost all of their songs. 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 United States 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?"
- Adrian's = Adrian Quist = pissed = drunk
- 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)
- Beezun = Bees and honey = money
- Berk or Burk = Berkshire Hunt = cunt (used as a surprisingly mild insult = a fool or jerk, never as an anatomical reference)
- Billy = Billy Bunter = punter (i.e. customer or mark)
- Billy Hunt = cunt
- Billy Lid = kid
- Blood blister = sister
- Bluebottle = Bottle and stopper = Copper = Policeman.
- 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)
- Britney Spears = beers
- Brown bread = dead
- Bubble = Bubble and squeak = Greek
- Butcher's = butcher's hook = look
- Cain and Abel = table
- Captain's = Captain Cook = look
- Chalfonts = Chalfont St Giles = piles (i.e. haemorrhoids)
- Chalk = Chalk Farm = arm
- Charing Cross = (h)'orse
- Charlie = Charlie Wheeler = sheila
- Chatter = Chatter Box = Fox
- Cheese 'n' kisses = missus = wife (see trouble 'n' strife)
- 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
- Council = council gritter (truck sent out by local council to spread grit on icy roads) = shitter (toilet)
- Creamed = cream crackered = knackered (i.e. exhausted or beaten)
- Cries 'n' screeches = leeches
- Currant bun = sun or The Sun newspaper
- Curry 'n' rice = price
- Daisies = daisy roots = boots
- Darby and Joan = moan
- Daughter = lamb
- Dead 'orse = sauce, as in a dog's eye and dead 'orse = a meat pie and sauce
- Derby Kell = Derby Kelly = belly
- Dicky = dicky dirt = shirt
- Dicky or Dickie = Dickie Bird = word = as in "not a dickie", or even "not a dickie bird"
- Dodge 'n' shirk = work
- Dog = dog and bone = phone
- Dog's eye = pie, as in a dog's eye and dead 'orse = a meat pie and sauce
- Duck and Dive = skive
- Ducks and Geese = police
- Duke of Kent = rent, also bent
- Dukes = Duke[s] of York = fork, i.e. hand, now chiefly when balled into a fist
- Dustbin Lid = kid
- East and west = breast(s)
- Eighty-sixed = nixed (as in kicked- or thrown-out)
- Emmas = Emma Freud (English author and columnist) = haemorrhoids
- Elephant's Trunk = Drunk
- Farmers = Farmer Giles = piles (slang for haemorrhoids)
- Flowery Dell = (prison) cell
- Forgive 'n' forget = cigarette
- Fourby = Four by Two (A common size of timber) = Jew
- Fox = fox and weasel = diesel
- Frank Bough = scoff (ie food)
- Fred Astaire = lair = a show-off
- Frog = frog & toad = road
- Gander = Gander & Duck = look
- Gareth = Gareth Hunt (English actor) = cunt
- Gary = Gary Glitter = shitter (again, toilet)
- Gay 'n' hearty = party
- George Raft = draught
- German bands = hands
- Ginger = ginger beer = queer
- Green Eggs and Ham (by Dr. Seuss) = Tram(coincidentally green has traditionally been a popular tramway colour)
- Gregory = Gregory Peck = neck, or cheque
- Grim 'n' gory = story
- Gypsy's = Gypsy's kiss = piss
- Half-inch = pinch (i.e. steal)
- Half ounce of baccy (i.e. tobacco) = paki (Pakistani)
- Hampsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth
- Hampton Wick = prick (i.e. penis)
- Hank = Hank Marvin (singer with Hank Marvin and the Drifters) = starvin'
- Honky tonk = plonk (cheap wine)
- Horse's hoof = poof = a homosexual
- I suppose = nose
- Iron = Iron hoof = poof
- Jack = Jack Jones = alone ("On my Jack" = "On my own")
- Jack and Jill = restaurant bill or contraceptive pill, depending on context
- Jack the dancer = cancer
- 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)
- Joe Blakes = the shakes = experienced after a heavy night drinking
- Joe Blake = a snake
- Johnny Horner = corner
- Johnny Hopper = copper = police officer
- Jugs = jugs of beer = ears
- Khyber = Khyber Pass = arse
- Kick and Prance = dance
- Kitchen sink = drink, also = chink = Chinese (derogatory)
- Lady Godiva = fiver (i.e. five-pound note)
- Laughs 'n' smiles = piles (haemorrhoids)
- Lionels = Lionel Blairs (English variety performer) = flares (as in flared trousers)
- Listerine = [from "Anti-septic" derived from "septic tank" = "yank"] disliking Americans
- Loaf = loaf of bread = head ("use your loaf")
- Loop the loop = soup ("nice cup of loop the loop").
- Lucy Lockett = pocket
- Merchant banker = wanker
- Mickey Bliss = piss (as in "take the Mickey" = "take the piss" = satirise)
- Micky Mouse = house
- Mickey Mouser = Scouser = person from Liverpool
- Minces (or mincers) = mince pies = eyes
- Mutton = Mutt and Jeff = deaf = named after Mutt and Jeff, two early 20th century comic strip characters
- Nails 'n' screws = news
- Near 'n' far = bar
- Nelson = Nelson Mandela = Stella (Stella Artois), a Belgian brand of lager
- Nobbies = Nobby Stiles (English footballer) = piles (haemorrhoids)
- North and South = mouth
- Nose = fireman
- Oily rag = fag (i.e. cigarette)
- Old Jack Lang = slang
- Ones and twos = shoes
- Optic = optic nerve = perv = to look, usually with a sexual nuance, or a pervert
- 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."]
- Oxford scholar = dollar
- Pat Malone = alone
- 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)
- Pride and joy = boy
- Rabbit = rabbit and pork = talk, as in "She can rabbit on."
- Raspberry = raspberry tart = fart (as in "blowing raspberry/ies" = making rasping noises with your mouth)
- Reg Grundy's (Australian Television Producer) = undies = underpants
- Richard = Richard the Third = turd (lump of faeces)
- Richard = Dickie Bird = bird (slang for girl) but also word
- Rock 'n' lurch = church
- Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie"
- Round the houses = trousers
- Rubbity = Rub-a-dub-dub = pub = public house
- Ruby = Ruby Murray (popular singer in the 1950s born in Belfast) = curry
- Salmon and Trout = snout
- Saucepan lids = kids
- Scarper = not rhyming slang, derived from the Italian word 'scappare' meaning 'escape'. Commonly and incorrectly ascribed to rhyming slang for Scapa Flow
- Scotch eggs = legs
- Scooby's = Scooby Doo = clue, as in "Sorry mate, haven't got a Scooby's".
- Septic (often "Seppo" in UK, Ireland and Australia) = septic tank = Yank (slang for an American)
- Sexton Blake = fake, or cake
- Sherbet Dab = (taxi) cab
- Sigourney = Sigourney Weaver = beaver (vagina)
- Skin = skin and blister = sister
- Sky = sky rocket = pocket
- Smash 'n' grab = cab
- Steak and kidney = Sydney
- sweaty = sweaty sock = jock = Scottish person
- Syrup / sirrup = syrup of figs = wig(s)
- Taters = Potatoes in the mould = cold
- 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
- Threepenny (pron. approx. "thrup'ny") = threepenny bit (an obsolete pre-decimal coin) = tit (breast)
- Tin Lids = kids
- Titfer = tit for tat = hat
- Thomas = Thomas the Tank = wank.
- Tod = Tod Sloane = own (as in "on your tod", meaning "alone")
- Tom or Tom Dick or Tom and Dick = sick
- Tomfoolery = jewellery
- Treacle = treacle tart = sweetheart
- Trouble = trouble and strife = wife
- Tube of glue = clue. (eg "he hasn't got a tube of glue")
- Tumble Down The Sink = drink (as in, "Going down the rub-a-dub-dub for a tumble down the sink")
- Two-an =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
- Wally = Wally Grout = shout (buy a round of drinks), as in "It's your Wally." Also stout or snout depending on context
- Warwick's = Warwick Farm (Racecourse) = arms (Australian)
- Whistle = whistle and flute = suit = as in "a nice whistle"
- Yellow Sub = Pub (Public house)
- Young 'n' frisky = whisky
- Zane Grey = pay
It should be noted that not all these slang phrase examples, nor their definitions, are generally accepted as equally valid.