Cockney Rhyming Slang

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Cockney
One question often asked in the East End is ‘What is a Cockney’?

Well, a common definition of a cockney is a person who has been born within the sound of Bow bells. This has nothing to do with the suburb of Bow to the east of London but to the church of Saint Mary le Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London.

A study carried out in the Millennium Year 2000 tried to determine just how far the Bells of Bow could be heard, (given the noise levels of today would not have been so prevalent when the term was originally coined!)

The conclusion was that they would have been heard for six miles to the east, five miles to the north, three miles to the south, and four miles to the west. Today, that is an area that covers Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Stepney, Wapping, Limehouse, Poplar, Millwall, Hackney, Hoxton, Shoreditch, Bow, and Mile End, and even Bermondsey which is actually south of the River Thames.

One of the defining features of a being a Cockney, however, is use of the dialect known as Cockney Rhyming Slang.

No quite knows when Cockney rhyming slang originated in the East End of London, but it is thought to have started to be used from around 1840 onwards.

There is some thought that it came into being as an alternative form of dialect – a bit of a ‘code’ between the street traders and costermongers with unsuspecting customers being completely unaware of what was being said about them. Others believe that it may have been used by the criminal fraternity as a way of confusing the Police force of the time.

John Hotton produced a ‘Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant & Vulgar Words’ in 1859 which included, for the first time, a Glossary of Rhyming Slang – some of which are reproduced below. Try it out for yourself.

 

Slang

Meaning

Adam and Eve

believe

Almond rocks

socks

Apple fritter

bitter (beer)

Apple peeling

feeling

Apple tart

heart

Apples and pears

stairs

Aunty Lou

flu

Barnet Fair

hair

Beechams pill

hill

Bees ‘n’ honey

money

Bernard Miles

piles (haemorrhoids)

Boat race

face

Bo-peep

sleep

Bottle and glass

arse

Bow & arrow

barrow

Box of toys

noise

Brown bread

dead

Bubble and squeak

speak

Bunny

talk (from rabbit and pork)

Burnt cinder

window

Butcher’ s hook

look

Cain & Able

table

Chalk Farm

arm

Cherry-og

dog

China plate

mate (friend)

Coach ‘n’ badge

cadge (get money off)

Cock ‘n’ hen

ten or £10

Currant bun

sun

Derby Kelly

belly

Dicky Dirt

shirt

Dig in the grave

shave

Dr. Crippen

dripping

Dog and bone

telephone

Donald Duck

luck

Duke of Kent

rent

Friar Tuck

luck

Frog and toad

road

George Raft

daft (crazy)

Ginger beer

queer

Gold watch

scotch

Ham and eggs

legs

Hampstead Heath

teeth

Harry Lime

time

Heap of coke

bloke

Hen ‘n’ fox

box

Holy friar

liar

Holy ghost

toast

House to let

bet

Jack ‘n’ Jill

till

Jam jar

car

Jam tart

heart

Jeremiah

fire

Jim Skinner

dinner

Joanna

piano

Joe Blake

steak

Kate Karney

army

Lemon squash

wash

Linen draper

paper

Loaf of bread

head

Max Miller

pillar

Mince pies

eyes

Mother Hubbard

cupboard

Mutt and Jeff

deaf

Peckham Rye

tie

Pig’s ear

beer

Plates of meat

feet

Pork pie

lie

Pot ‘n’ pan

old man

Rabbit ‘n’ pork

talk

Reads and writes

fights

Reels of cotton

rotten

Rocking horse

sauce

Rory O’Moore

floor

Rosie Lee

tea

Salmon and trout

gout

Saucepan lid

kid (child)

Sexton Blake

cake

Joe Blake

steak

Six to four

whore

Skin ‘n’ blister

sister

Sky rocket

pocket

Taters in the mould

cold

Tea leaf

thief

Tit for tat

hat

Tom and Dick

sick

Trouble and strife

wife