by Paul Batkins
Home >> Would you Adam and Eve it?
Now you probably didn’t understand all of that, and I’d be surprised if you did! This is the language of East London, called Cockney Rhyming Slang. Allow me to translate the above sentences into correct English for you.
“Have you noticed what a state the world’s in? That’s probably why there are so many people having a pints of beer at the pub and just talking and doing nothing about it “.
Cockney “rhyming slang� as it is called, was originally invented by the working class traders to outwit the police and unwanted evesdroppers and is an ingenious way of using the English language in a poetic way so that the word that you want to express, (Which has no connection whatsoever with the two rhyming words), is hidden from the untrained ear. Although it was invented 200 years ago, the language is constantly changing and more Cockney slang is being admitted periodically to move with the times. There is actually a Cockney wikipedia just click on this address if you would like to see more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney
Cockney gets its name from Cockney eggs that are mishapen (as if laid by a cock). The word means (city folk ignorant of real life) (I don’t know about that Ed!)
A True Cockney has to be born within the sound of Bow Bells. (These are the bells of Saint Mary Le Bow Church in Cheapside in the City of London near Liverpool Street). I myself was born in a town called Hackney in East London, and consider myself a true Cockney.
Today’s Lingua Weekly Letter is all about this fascinating poetic form of the English language, which probably won’t improve your knowledge of English very much, but you may learn a few words of trivial vocabulary, understand certain words that you may have heard Londoners say, and is I think of great linguistic interest.
The pronunciation of Cockney is similar to that of Estuary English, which is a more refined version of the Cockney accent, spoken by the classless Londoners of today. (see my Weekly Letter on 01 April 2005, but today we’re going to concentrate more on the rich vocabulary pertaining to Cockney English.
Cockney Rhyming Slang uses words that rhyme (usually two separated by “and “) with the word you wish to express. For example: north and south (if pronounced correctly) = mouth. Trouble and strife = wife (I particularly like that one!)
Rabbit and pork = talk. However, the language suffers a further complication for the strangers ear because very often only the first part of the rhyme is uttered, making it virtually impossible for the untrained ear to guess the meaning of the words as they do not rhyme. Please allow me to explain.
If I said “How’s your trouble and strifeâ€? to a man, he may well guess I mean his wife, but “How’s your trouble?â€? would not be so obvious. This was deliberately done to fool the listener in the old days. What’s more Cockney Rhyming Slang is constantly changing and adding rhyming words.
There are a lot of Cockney expressions that even I didn’t know. For instance : needle and pin = Gin, but this later got changed to Vera Lyn ,(who was a famous singer during the second world war) so in my family “ That lady can really knock back a few Veras “ would be quite a normal expression. If the phone suddenly rang in a Cockney’s house or at work you might very well hear “Oy, your wanted on the dog!” (Dog and bone = phone).
Cockney vocabulary has also spread throughout England and as far as Australia, and the Australians have even invented a form of Australian Rhyming Slang. (Copy cats..Ed) Although people don’t know why the expressions mean what they do when they are constantly saying them. I recently found out a couple myself that I’ve used all my life, but didn’t know the origins of the words. For example: flashy meaning llamativo comes form the Cockney (Flash of light) = sight.
Cockney also has special words for amounts of money. A bullseye = 50 pounds a score = 20 pounds. A nicker = 1 pound etc. So if one Cockney says “How much bread you got in your sky rocket?� And another replies “about a score� What do you think is said in the conversation? Answer at the end of this Lingua Weekly Letter. There are also Cockney singers who sing in
Cockney Like Chaz and Dave who had quite a few famous songs including “ Rabbitâ€? “There ain’t no pleasin’ youâ€? among others. There were also TV programmes like “Porridgeâ€?. “Minderâ€? and “The Sweeny “= Sweeny Todd = Flying Squad ie (The special armed undercover police) there are actors like Michael Cain ,Bob Hoskins and the list goes on.
One can also find the Pearly Kings and Queens of London. Each area has a different pearly king and queen. Why are they called pearly kings and queens? I hear you ask. This is because their jackets are covered with pearls, and they are the Cockney representatives for their area. This used to show a person’s wealth in the old days, but now it’s just for show, and a lot of them also do a lot of work for charity.
Well, now you know a bit more about the Cockney tradition in London and it may help you to understand the odd word or two of Cockney if you’re ever in London.
But even if you don’t understand, I think you’ll agree with me that it would be a terrible linguistic loss to lose such an ancient tradition as the Cockney Language of London.
Answer to the earlier conversation question:
“How much money have you got in your pocket?� “About twenty pounds.�
Bread (and honey) = money Sky rocket = pocket a score = 20 pounds.
By the way, there is a BBC Cockney quiz if you would like to try it, now you know a little bit more. It’s kind of a Cockney (50 por 15) and you might have some fun doing it. Just click on this address http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/games/quizzes/inde x.shtml x.shtml
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2005-10-14 02:00:00 +0200
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As far as I know, the Spanish language has also a slang that, in some cases, could be as obscured as cockney. But, I think the difference is
that common Spanish slang is widely used, even on tv shows and it is not directly associated with poverty.
I think the idea of a secret language is very interesting and in some situations it could be an advantage, in other cases, it could isolate the
secret language speakers from the rest of the society….hmmm or may be they were already isolated and that was the main reason for creating their own language.
I think that a language definately defines a community or even a society.
If we, as a society, have some qualities, our language has to take in consideration this qualities in its vocabulary, different intonations, range of registers we can use, etc.
It is very curious for me how, in Spain, we tend to speak using informal words in more situations than we did 20 years ago.
For example, in Madrid, we use the word “Usted” in very few and extremely formal situaltions, on the other side when our parents used to speak to their parents they would say “usted” all the time.
This change in the use of “USTED” and in the Spanish langauge in general has probably been a result of the strong change in our society.
Bye,
Cristina
It’s very interesting you saying the Spanish have a slang,but does it rhyme like Cockney?
Actually, I think Spain has a wealth of rich dialects and languages like Basque ,Catalán,Galician etc.
I think that Cockneys were (and are ) isolated and looked down on by the upper classes. Cockney has a dialect,which is not rhyming slang, but just pronounces words differently. The h is not pronounced at the beginning of words etc. (Easy for the Spanish, isn’t it?)
With reference to the TU and USTED problem.
I find myself totally confused with this one. As you know in English we don’t have a tú or usted form, just YOU (we did have the impersonal form THOU,but that was hundreds of years ago )and I already knew French when I came to Spain,and in French VOUS is widely repected.
I normally only use USTED when I’m on the phone or to an elderly person. Even then ,they often address me as tú ( and I’m 44 years old with grey hair!)
So I find myself having formal / informal conversations at the same time!
To use YE (USTED) or to NOT to use YE ( USTED) that’s the problem! ( William Shakespeare)
Paul B.
Talking about secret languages, I would like to introduce you to PIG LATIN. Pig Latin is a popular means of communication among children (and immature adults, like me) in English speaking countries. I remember learning Pig Latin when I was about five years old, when I spent a fortnight at the house in the Hamptons (Long Island) of my cousin Samantha. Basically, Pig Latin consists of the following:
1) If a word starts with a vowel (A – E- I- O- U), you simply add “-way” to it. For example, ‘I’ becomes ‘Iway’.
2) If a word starts with a consonant, you shift the consonant from the beginning to the end and add ‘-ay’. For example, ‘you’ becomes ‘ouyay’.
Thus, the first sentence that I have written is, in Pig Latin, “Alkingtay aboutway ecretsay anguageslay, Iway ouldway ikelay otay introduceway ouyay otay IGPAY ATINLAY. ”
There are people who can speak and listen to Pig Latin perfectly. It’s useless, but a fun game to play for a while! Why don’t you click on the Pig Latin translator below and send me a message in Pig Latin?
Ellohay, Aolapay, owhay areway ouyay?. Itway isway eryvay
unnyfay otay alktay ouyay inway Igpay Atinlay, utbay alsoway
itway isway eryvay ifficultday (otnay ithway isthay anslatortray)
I never had heard about this slang, and I don´t understand the rule for the formation of the words. Is the rhyme the only secret?. The article is very interesting.
The idea of a secret language is very old. I think that to keep the information in secret is a way of keep the power or the advantage that you could have in front your enemies or your rivals. In the wars, the armies have a secret language and clues in order to hide information.
The language is very important, without the language the human beings maybe would’nt be so advanced, and when a language is easy to learn can be entended in other societies, with the advantage that it can mean.
We’ve got the English-Pig Latin dictionary…but what about the Pig Latin-English dictionary?
Thank you for your comments concepcÃon.
I have nver heard of this Pig Latin either,but I have heard of a similar sounding languge called back slang that is used in London.
One of my ex-girlfriends used to use it,but I had enough with the other languages I was learning.
As for Cockney. That’s my native dialect so I never really thought about it before I was I teacher,and although I know a quite a bit of Cockney Rhyming Slang. It was just that certain Ryming slang expressions were common in my family, and are still common throughout London and some parts of England today.
I’ve always been really interested in the secret codes used in war and spy films.
I’ve often fantasized about being a spy in Russia, you know, a sort of 003 and a half (not exactly an 007 ) , but then I thought of the danger, and said : ” no way José !”
I think I’ll just stick to a nice little office job instead!