Cockney rhyming slang

Mr. Skinny · 6th September 2003, 08:29 AM

I was discussing this with Reginald on PalTalk the other night.

I had borrowed the movie "Limey", starring Terence Stamp, from the library last week, and he used quite a few examples of this form of speech in the movie. Given that the movie was set in the USA, the 'mericans didn't understand him, so he'd offer a translation.

Unfortunately, the translation made no sense to me either. I really couldn't figure out how they derived the "real meaning" from the rhyming slang.

I know DeBunk understands some of this, and Reginald seemed to have a basic explaination, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around this concept.

Can anyone help? Mad Linguist? DeBunk?

Glory · 6th September 2003, 11:38 AM

I only know one example of what you are referring to.

When someone says," we're in Barney" they are talking about Barney Rubble which rhymes with trouble. "We're in Barney"="We're in trouble".

The catch is that the end result has nothing literal to do with the original concept. Trouble doesn't rhyme with Barney. You have to know what Barney means and then know what rhymes with the thing to which Barney refers.

It's all incredibly complicated.

Glory

ChrisH · 6th September 2003, 12:46 PM

Cockney Rhyming was a form of secret communication, to prevent the authorities from understanding conversations. And, as has been said, the actual rhyming word is left out - so if you're sitting at the cain with a bice of richards, you cant really lord...
(Cain & Abel - table, Richard the Third - bird, Lord Mayor - swear). Oh, and 'bice' was butcher's slang for two.

Yes - it is complicated - by design. One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse.

Glory · 6th September 2003, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChrisH
One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse.

Isn't that pretty much a complete circle?

Glory

Zep · 6th September 2003, 03:41 PM

Actually, most Cocknies would say that a "Richard" is a completely different "object" to a bird. Rearrange the letters - URDT

If you wanted a taste of Cockney rhyming slang, just watch The Bill for a few weeks!

Which also brings up all the variations that rhyming slang produces. In Australia it is still sometimes used, eg. "Take a butcher's at that!". Butcher's - butcher's hook - look. A variation is "Take a captains' at that!". Captain's - Captain Cook - look.

Jeff Corey · 6th September 2003, 04:59 PM

There's a whole lexicon on Google. The first one I ever heard was "Me trouble" for " Me trouble and strife".
It looks like it's constantly evolving. The terms seem tohave the general rule that the first part of the middle phrase consists of the term you're using and the term you mean rhymes with the last part.
So trouble means wife.
There's some reversals in some British slang, right, yobos?
And there's Clockwork Orange slovos. my droogs.
Horrorshow!

ChrisH · 7th September 2003, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zep
Actually, most Cocknies would say that a "Richard" is a completely different "object" to a bird. Rearrange the letters - URDT

If you wanted a taste of Cockney rhyming slang, just watch The Bill for a few weeks!

Which also brings up all the variations that rhyming slang produces. In Australia it is still sometimes used, eg. "Take a butcher's at that!". Butcher's - butcher's hook - look.

Yes - "butcher's" is used in UK too. "Richard" can be used for either - remember Ronny Barker's "Small brown Richard the Third" sermon sketch?

In Oz I was asked if I was a "Two and from" = Pom.
Musicians have used "Florries" and "Norwegians" to refer to chords ... fr. music-hall peformer Florry Forde and Norwegian Fjord.

I once had a letter from a friend who had hurt his "Cilla" - referred to elsewhere as his "Cadburys", his back, from Cilla Black and Cadbury's Snack. It's unending!

Colloden · 7th September 2003, 02:31 PM

My particular favourite is Sausage my Gregory
As in “Can you Sausage my Gregory ?”

Sausage and mash – cash
Gregory Peck – check

“Can you cash my check ?”

I know, it doesn’t rhyme.

Zep · 7th September 2003, 04:45 PM

Gor blimey, guv! He's 'alf-inched it and hit the frog-and-toad!

glee · 8th September 2003, 04:11 AM

I was born in London, went to school there and then lived worked there, for a total of 33 years.

I never heard anyone ever use rhyming slang, except when telling a joke or amusing tourists.

Like the Loch Ness monster, it doesn't exist in real life, but people like to discuss it.

Zep · 8th September 2003, 05:49 AM

And we Australians don't all parade around in kakhi shorts and jump away from crocodiles shouting "Crikey! Get a load of THIS little bewdy!". In fact, the current count of the population that does this is still just one(1).

Azathoth · 8th September 2003, 11:08 AM

I loved "The Limey". Another great film with plenty of Cockney Rhyming slang is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. There's actually a great scene with someone telling a story in a nuclear sub (pub) that's subtitled so you can unpack the slang. The DVD has a glossary.

There's plenty of other lists online, though as glee mentions, it seems that many of these terms are invented solely for the purpose of making long lists of Cockney slang terms. Here's one, anyway:

Cockney Rhyming Slang

gnome · 8th September 2003, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Corey
There's a whole lexicon on Google. The first one I ever heard was "Me trouble" for " Me trouble and strife".

I heard that one first on Fawlty Towers, "trouble" - "Trouble and strife" - "wife"

Basil was betting on a horse and said, "Not a word to the Trouble..."

Is there some significance to the choice of rhyming pair... putting some of the connotations of "trouble and strife" into the marriage? Or is that just a coincidence?

glee · 9th September 2003, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gnome
I heard that one first on Fawlty Towers, "trouble" - "Trouble and strife" - "wife"

Basil was betting on a horse and said, "Not a word to the Trouble..."

Is there some significance to the choice of rhyming pair... putting some of the connotations of "trouble and strife" into the marriage? Or is that just a coincidence?

As i said, nobody speaks this way in real life.
Having said that I expect 'trouble (and strife)' is more amusing than e.g. 'fork (and knife)'.
But since e.g. 'butcher's (hook)' translates to 'look', it's clear that there doesn't have to be any connection.

Have you heard about the Cockney 'alphabet'?
It starts with:

A for 'orses
B for Christ (I'm not sure about this one!)
C for yourself

Mendor · 9th September 2003, 04:26 AM

Can't remember much of it, but...

A for horses,
B for mutton,
C for th' Highlanders,
D for what,
E for Novello,
.
.
.
O for the wings of a dove,
.
.
.
S for Rantzen,
.
.
.
V for La France,
etc.

Glory · 9th September 2003, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mendor
O for the wings of a dove,

Madness will never sound the same to me again!

Glory

Ladewig · 10th September 2003, 07:39 PM

So when P.G. Wodehouse refers to evening wear as "soup and fish," is he rhyming something or simply refering to the first two courses in a fomal dinner?

UKBoy1977 · 11th September 2003, 11:31 AM

It's not true to say that it is not spoken any more. A lot of Londoners still pepper their speech with it.

I hear all of the following expressions regularly in everyday speech or on TV:

Someone wearing a syrup
Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8'
'Would you Adam and Eve it?'
Someone being Brassic
A person's Barnet
Let's get down to Brass Tacks
Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk
Dipstick
Being on the 'dog and bone'
Half inch something
Play on the Joanna
Go for a Jimmy
Use your loaf
Take the Mickey
Tell a porkie
Go for a Ruby
Blow a Rasberry
You toerag!
I'm feeling Tom and Dick

So I would say it is still quite alive and well!

Glory · 11th September 2003, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Someone wearing a syrup
Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8'
'Would you Adam and Eve it?'
Someone being Brassic
A person's Barnet
Let's get down to Brass Tacks
Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk
Dipstick
Being on the 'dog and bone'
Half inch something
Play on the Joanna
Go for a Jimmy
Use your loaf
Take the Mickey
Tell a porkie
Go for a Ruby
Blow a Rasberry
You toerag!
I'm feeling Tom and Dick

Okay, so what the deuce does all that mean?

Glory

Zep · 11th September 2003, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by UKBoy1977
Someone wearing a syrup
Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8'
'Would you Adam and Eve it?'
Someone being Brassic
A person's Barnet
Let's get down to Brass Tacks
Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk
Dipstick
Being on the 'dog and bone'
Half inch something
Play on the Joanna
Go for a Jimmy
Use your loaf
Take the Mickey
Tell a porkie
Go for a Ruby
Blow a Rasberry
You toerag!
I'm feeling Tom and Dick

So I would say it is still quite alive and well!

I don't think these are ALL rhyming slang, but I'm sure I will be corrected!

"a syrup" - syrup of fig - wig
"Adam and Eve" - believe
"Barnet" - Barnet Fair - hair
"dog and bone" - phone
"half inch" - pinch (to steal)
"Joanna" - piano
"Jimmy" - Jimmy Riddle - piddle (to pee).
"loaf" - loaf of bread - head
"porkie" - pork pie - lie
"Tom and Disk" - sick (ill)

Easy!

Abdul Alhazred · 11th September 2003, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Corey

And there's Clockwork Orange slovos. my droogs.
Horrorshow!

Silly me. I read Clockwork Orange when it first came out (at my grandmother's suggestion but that's a story for another time). This was before the movie. I foolishly imagined the nadsats putting on phoney Russian accents.

Thus "chelloveck" I imagined being pronounced with the first vowel almost a schwa and the accent on the "o". Not that I speak Russian, but I was around enough Russian speakers to be called "ch'lOvek" from time to time.

The drugs in milk (moloko plus) were "vellocet" ("speed" in Russian), "synthemesc" (synthetic mescaline most likely), and the droogs' favorite "drencom" otherwise known as "milk with knives", to sharpen you up for the night you see.

It wasn't until years later that I figured out that "drencrom" was adrenochrome. I'd never even heard of the stuff when I first read Clockwork Orange.

More fictional pseudo-Russian teenage slang in Enderby also by Anthony Burgess (no movie). Anyone out there know what the Orfa he was trying to get at with that?

Abdul Alhazred · 11th September 2003, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Glory

Quote:

Originally posted by ChrisH

One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse.

Isn't that pretty much a complete circle?

Indeed. See The Doctor is Sick by Anthony Burgess. Looks like there's going to be a lot of Burgess on this thread.

UKBoy1977 · 11th September 2003, 04:42 PM

All the ones I mentioned are explained in the link that was a few posts before mine. They are all cockney rhyming slang. What is funny is that some of them have become part of everyday speech and even British people don't realise that they come from rhyming slang.

I didn't realise toerag, blow a raspberry and use your loaf were!

tonygraham · 12th September 2003, 04:45 AM

My favourite, not that I'm overly keen on cockneys, was always 'Hank' for hungry e.g. "Let's get something to eat, I'm absolutely Hank Marvin".

tonygraham · 12th September 2003, 04:48 AM

And, of course, the favourite of teenage boys, "Having a J Arthur", after J Arthur Rank, of course.

Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank.

UKBoy1977 · 12th September 2003, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank.

That would be an example of a Spoonerism I believe?

tonygraham · 12th September 2003, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by UKBoy1977

That would be an example of a Spoonerism I believe?

I guess so, but a very deliberate one

welshdean · 18th September 2003, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tonygraham
And, of course, the favourite of teenage boys, "Having a J Arthur", after J Arthur Rank, of course.

Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank.

In my neck of the woods, we used ryhming slang to describe all manner of things, a bit of our own 'design' and a lot borrowed from the East End!
If we were discussing something and didn't want to be overheard we would use it. An example similar to tonygraham's above would be 'Having a jod'. A Jodrell Bank!!

gnome · 18th September 2003, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by welshdean

In my neck of the woods, we used ryhming slang to describe all manner of things, a bit of our own 'design' and a lot borrowed from the East End!
If we were discussing something and didn't want to be overheard we would use it. An example similar to tonygraham's above would be 'Having a jod'. A Jodrell Bank!!

I wonder how many other Americans get this one, even knowing that the rhyming word is "Bank."

It helps to watch lots of british comedy.

richardm · 22nd September 2003, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ladewig
So when P.G. Wodehouse refers to evening wear as "soup and fish," is he rhyming something or simply refering to the first two courses in a fomal dinner?

I'm pretty sure that it was contemporary slang for the sort of elaborate formal dinners they had in those days - the ones where you'd have soup, then a fish course, then some sorbet to cleanse your palate, then the main course would arrive, and so on.

My favourite bit of rhyming slang is "Chalfonts", for haemorrhoids. The derivation is quite neat: there are a group of adjacent villages in Buckinghamshire with names like "Chalfont St. Peter, Chalfont Latimer", "Little Chalfont" - and "Chalfont St. Giles". Collectively they are known as "The Chalfonts". Chalfont St. Giles is, of course, a rhyme for "Piles" - haemorrhoids.

6th September 2003, 08:29 AM	#1
Mr. Skinny Alien Cryogenic Engineer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Dayton, Ohio Posts: 8,192	Cockney rhyming slang I was discussing this with Reginald on PalTalk the other night. I had borrowed the movie "Limey", starring Terence Stamp, from the library last week, and he used quite a few examples of this form of speech in the movie. Given that the movie was set in the USA, the 'mericans didn't understand him, so he'd offer a translation. Unfortunately, the translation made no sense to me either. I really couldn't figure out how they derived the "real meaning" from the rhyming slang. I know DeBunk understands some of this, and Reginald seemed to have a basic explaination, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around this concept. Can anyone help? Mad Linguist? DeBunk?
	__________________ U.S.L.S 1969-1975 "thanks skinny. And bite me. :-) - The Bad Astronomer, 11/15/02 on Paltalk "He's harmless in a rather dorky way." - Katana "Deities do not organize, they command." - Hokulele

6th September 2003, 11:38 AM	#2
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068	I only know one example of what you are referring to. When someone says," we're in Barney" they are talking about Barney Rubble which rhymes with trouble. "We're in Barney"="We're in trouble". The catch is that the end result has nothing literal to do with the original concept. Trouble doesn't rhyme with Barney. You have to know what Barney means and then know what rhymes with the thing to which Barney refers. It's all incredibly complicated. Glory
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068

6th September 2003, 12:46 PM	#3
ChrisH Thinker Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 146	Cockney Rhyming was a form of secret communication, to prevent the authorities from understanding conversations. And, as has been said, the actual rhyming word is left out - so if you're sitting at the cain with a bice of richards, you cant really lord... (Cain & Abel - table, Richard the Third - bird, Lord Mayor - swear). Oh, and 'bice' was butcher's slang for two. Yes - it is complicated - by design. One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse.
ChrisH Thinker Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 146

6th September 2003, 01:32 PM	#4
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068	Quote: Originally posted by ChrisH One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse. Isn't that pretty much a complete circle? Glory
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068

6th September 2003, 03:41 PM	#5
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985	Actually, most Cocknies would say that a "Richard" is a completely different "object" to a bird. Rearrange the letters - URDT If you wanted a taste of Cockney rhyming slang, just watch The Bill for a few weeks! Which also brings up all the variations that rhyming slang produces. In Australia it is still sometimes used, eg. "Take a butcher's at that!". Butcher's - butcher's hook - look. A variation is "Take a captains' at that!". Captain's - Captain Cook - look.
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985

6th September 2003, 04:59 PM	#6
Jeff Corey New York Skeptic Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 13,794	There's a whole lexicon on Google. The first one I ever heard was "Me trouble" for " Me trouble and strife". It looks like it's constantly evolving. The terms seem tohave the general rule that the first part of the middle phrase consists of the term you're using and the term you mean rhymes with the last part. So trouble means wife. There's some reversals in some British slang, right, yobos? And there's Clockwork Orange slovos. my droogs. Horrorshow!

7th September 2003, 02:13 AM	#7
ChrisH Thinker Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 146	Quote: Originally posted by Zep Actually, most Cocknies would say that a "Richard" is a completely different "object" to a bird. Rearrange the letters - URDT If you wanted a taste of Cockney rhyming slang, just watch The Bill for a few weeks! Which also brings up all the variations that rhyming slang produces. In Australia it is still sometimes used, eg. "Take a butcher's at that!". Butcher's - butcher's hook - look. Yes - "butcher's" is used in UK too. "Richard" can be used for either - remember Ronny Barker's "Small brown Richard the Third" sermon sketch? In Oz I was asked if I was a "Two and from" = Pom. Musicians have used "Florries" and "Norwegians" to refer to chords ... fr. music-hall peformer Florry Forde and Norwegian Fjord. I once had a letter from a friend who had hurt his "Cilla" - referred to elsewhere as his "Cadburys", his back, from Cilla Black and Cadbury's Snack. It's unending!
ChrisH Thinker Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 146

7th September 2003, 02:31 PM	#8
Colloden You love me Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Hiding in your underwear drawer Posts: 1,505	My particular favourite is Sausage my Gregory As in “Can you Sausage my Gregory ?” Sausage and mash – cash Gregory Peck – check “Can you cash my check ?” I know, it doesn’t rhyme.
	__________________ Sou, Sou, where for art thou Sou ? Name sounds like the secret lair of the "Colon man." - caniswalensis "AUUUUUUUUUHHH" -Wilhelm

7th September 2003, 04:45 PM	#9
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985	Gor blimey, guv! He's 'alf-inched it and hit the frog-and-toad!
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985

8th September 2003, 04:11 AM	#10
glee Chess Guru Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 574	I was born in London, went to school there and then lived worked there, for a total of 33 years. I never heard anyone ever use rhyming slang, except when telling a joke or amusing tourists. Like the Loch Ness monster, it doesn't exist in real life, but people like to discuss it.
glee Chess Guru Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 574

8th September 2003, 05:49 AM	#11
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985	And we Australians don't all parade around in kakhi shorts and jump away from crocodiles shouting "Crikey! Get a load of THIS little bewdy!". In fact, the current count of the population that does this is still just one(1).
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985

8th September 2003, 11:08 AM	#12
Azathoth Scholar Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 118	I loved "The Limey". Another great film with plenty of Cockney Rhyming slang is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. There's actually a great scene with someone telling a story in a nuclear sub (pub) that's subtitled so you can unpack the slang. The DVD has a glossary. There's plenty of other lists online, though as glee mentions, it seems that many of these terms are invented solely for the purpose of making long lists of Cockney slang terms. Here's one, anyway: Cockney Rhyming Slang
Azathoth Scholar Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 118	__________________ "My object in all arguments is not to make any preconceived opinion of mine seem right, but merely to discover and establish the truth, whatever the truth may be." -- HP Lovecraft, letter to Robert E. Howard 7/27-28/34

8th September 2003, 03:03 PM	#13
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,869	Quote: Originally posted by Jeff Corey There's a whole lexicon on Google. The first one I ever heard was "Me trouble" for " Me trouble and strife". I heard that one first on Fawlty Towers, "trouble" - "Trouble and strife" - "wife" Basil was betting on a horse and said, "Not a word to the Trouble..." Is there some significance to the choice of rhyming pair... putting some of the connotations of "trouble and strife" into the marriage? Or is that just a coincidence?
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,869	__________________

9th September 2003, 03:21 AM	#14
glee Chess Guru Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 574	Quote: Originally posted by gnome I heard that one first on Fawlty Towers, "trouble" - "Trouble and strife" - "wife" Basil was betting on a horse and said, "Not a word to the Trouble..." Is there some significance to the choice of rhyming pair... putting some of the connotations of "trouble and strife" into the marriage? Or is that just a coincidence? As i said, nobody speaks this way in real life. Having said that I expect 'trouble (and strife)' is more amusing than e.g. 'fork (and knife)'. But since e.g. 'butcher's (hook)' translates to 'look', it's clear that there doesn't have to be any connection. Have you heard about the Cockney 'alphabet'? It starts with: A for 'orses B for Christ (I'm not sure about this one!) C for yourself
glee Chess Guru Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 574

9th September 2003, 04:26 AM	#15
Mendor Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 298	Can't remember much of it, but... A for horses, B for mutton, C for th' Highlanders, D for what, E for Novello, . . . O for the wings of a dove, . . . S for Rantzen, . . . V for La France, etc.
Mendor Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 298	__________________ Member of the Liberati

9th September 2003, 09:50 AM	#16
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068	Quote: Originally posted by Mendor O for the wings of a dove, Madness will never sound the same to me again! Glory
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068

10th September 2003, 07:39 PM	#17
Ladewig Hipster alien Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: not measurable Posts: 16,803	So when P.G. Wodehouse refers to evening wear as "soup and fish," is he rhyming something or simply refering to the first two courses in a fomal dinner?
	__________________ Is the JREF message board training wheels for people who hope to one day troll other message boards? It is not that hard to get us to believe you. We are not the major leagues or even the minor leagues. We are Pee-Wee baseball. If you love striking out 10-year-olds, then you'll love trolling our board.

11th September 2003, 11:31 AM	#18
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191	It's not true to say that it is not spoken any more. A lot of Londoners still pepper their speech with it. I hear all of the following expressions regularly in everyday speech or on TV: Someone wearing a syrup Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8' 'Would you Adam and Eve it?' Someone being Brassic A person's Barnet Let's get down to Brass Tacks Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk Dipstick Being on the 'dog and bone' Half inch something Play on the Joanna Go for a Jimmy Use your loaf Take the Mickey Tell a porkie Go for a Ruby Blow a Rasberry You toerag! I'm feeling Tom and Dick So I would say it is still quite alive and well!
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191

11th September 2003, 01:49 PM	#19
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068	Quote: Someone wearing a syrup Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8' 'Would you Adam and Eve it?' Someone being Brassic A person's Barnet Let's get down to Brass Tacks Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk Dipstick Being on the 'dog and bone' Half inch something Play on the Joanna Go for a Jimmy Use your loaf Take the Mickey Tell a porkie Go for a Ruby Blow a Rasberry You toerag! I'm feeling Tom and Dick Okay, so what the deuce does all that mean? Glory
Glory Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 1,068

11th September 2003, 03:01 PM	#20
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985	Quote: Originally posted by UKBoy1977 Someone wearing a syrup Someone who is upset being in 'a right 2 and 8' 'Would you Adam and Eve it?' Someone being Brassic A person's Barnet Let's get down to Brass Tacks Calling someone a Charlie or a Berk Dipstick Being on the 'dog and bone' Half inch something Play on the Joanna Go for a Jimmy Use your loaf Take the Mickey Tell a porkie Go for a Ruby Blow a Rasberry You toerag! I'm feeling Tom and Dick So I would say it is still quite alive and well! I don't think these are ALL rhyming slang, but I'm sure I will be corrected! "a syrup" - syrup of fig - wig "Adam and Eve" - believe "Barnet" - Barnet Fair - hair "dog and bone" - phone "half inch" - pinch (to steal) "Joanna" - piano "Jimmy" - Jimmy Riddle - piddle (to pee). "loaf" - loaf of bread - head "porkie" - pork pie - lie "Tom and Disk" - sick (ill) Easy!
Zep Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 26,985

11th September 2003, 03:48 PM	#21
Abdul Alhazred Yes, that one. Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 5,476	Quote: Originally posted by Jeff Corey And there's Clockwork Orange slovos. my droogs. Horrorshow! Silly me. I read <u>Clockwork Orange</u> when it first came out (at my grandmother's suggestion but that's a story for another time). This was before the movie. I foolishly imagined the nadsats putting on phoney Russian accents. Thus "chelloveck" I imagined being pronounced with the first vowel almost a schwa and the accent on the "o". Not that I speak Russian, but I was around enough Russian speakers to be called "ch'lOvek" from time to time. The drugs in milk (moloko plus) were "vellocet" ("speed" in Russian), "synthemesc" (synthetic mescaline most likely), and the droogs' favorite "drencom" otherwise known as "milk with knives", to sharpen you up for the night you see. It wasn't until years later that I figured out that "drencrom" was adrenochrome. I'd never even heard of the stuff when I first read <u>Clockwork Orange</u>. More fictional pseudo-Russian teenage slang in <u>Enderby</u> also by Anthony Burgess (no movie). Anyone out there know what the Orfa he was trying to get at with that?
	__________________ The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation.

11th September 2003, 03:58 PM	#22
Abdul Alhazred Yes, that one. Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 5,476	Quote: Originally posted by Glory Quote: Originally posted by ChrisH One of my favourites is "Arris" - Aristotle - Bottle - Bottle and Glass - Arse. Isn't that pretty much a complete circle? Indeed. See <u>The Doctor is Sick</u> by Anthony Burgess. Looks like there's going to be a lot of Burgess on this thread.
	__________________ The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation.

11th September 2003, 04:42 PM	#23
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191	All the ones I mentioned are explained in the link that was a few posts before mine. They are all cockney rhyming slang. What is funny is that some of them have become part of everyday speech and even British people don't realise that they come from rhyming slang. I didn't realise toerag, blow a raspberry and use your loaf were!
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191

12th September 2003, 04:45 AM	#24
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	My favourite, not that I'm overly keen on cockneys, was always 'Hank' for hungry e.g. "Let's get something to eat, I'm absolutely Hank Marvin".
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	__________________ How can you lie there and think of England, when you don't even know who's in the team? Billy Bragg Never criticise a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, you'll be a mile away and you'll have his shoes.

12th September 2003, 04:48 AM	#25
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	And, of course, the favourite of teenage boys, "Having a J Arthur", after J Arthur Rank, of course. Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank.
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	__________________ How can you lie there and think of England, when you don't even know who's in the team? Billy Bragg Never criticise a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, you'll be a mile away and you'll have his shoes.

12th September 2003, 04:58 AM	#26
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191	Quote: Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank. That would be an example of a Spoonerism I believe?
UKBoy1977 Thinker Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 191

12th September 2003, 05:30 AM	#27
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	Quote: Originally posted by UKBoy1977 That would be an example of a Spoonerism I believe? I guess so, but a very deliberate one
tonygraham Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 225	__________________ How can you lie there and think of England, when you don't even know who's in the team? Billy Bragg Never criticise a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, you'll be a mile away and you'll have his shoes.

18th September 2003, 04:23 AM	#28
welshdean 2012 6Nations Grand Slam -------CHAMPIONS------- Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Spitting in Andrew Wakefields eye Posts: 1,398	Quote: Originally posted by tonygraham And, of course, the favourite of teenage boys, "Having a J Arthur", after J Arthur Rank, of course. Sorry to labour the point, and it's not rhyming slang, but the aforementioned was also known in my neck of the woods as having a 'wafty', short for wafty crank. In my neck of the woods, we used ryhming slang to describe all manner of things, a bit of our own 'design' and a lot borrowed from the East End! If we were discussing something and didn't want to be overheard we would use it. An example similar to tonygraham's above would be 'Having a jod'. A Jodrell Bank!!
	__________________ Poe's Law!!! im christian if we came from apes how come were not hairy and have a big mouth and did we end up looking like we do know and besides there isnt any serious proof of apes they showd a video saying an ape was wondering around in the forest that thing looked exactly like a costume that i had saw at a store know one ever cought an ape (spelling/punctuation by original author)

18th September 2003, 08:25 AM	#29
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,869	Quote: Originally posted by welshdean In my neck of the woods, we used ryhming slang to describe all manner of things, a bit of our own 'design' and a lot borrowed from the East End! If we were discussing something and didn't want to be overheard we would use it. An example similar to tonygraham's above would be 'Having a jod'. A Jodrell Bank!! I wonder how many other Americans get this one, even knowing that the rhyming word is "Bank." It helps to watch lots of british comedy.
gnome Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,869	__________________

22nd September 2003, 06:45 AM	#30
richardm Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,270	Quote: Originally posted by Ladewig So when P.G. Wodehouse refers to evening wear as "soup and fish," is he rhyming something or simply refering to the first two courses in a fomal dinner? I'm pretty sure that it was contemporary slang for the sort of elaborate formal dinners they had in those days - the ones where you'd have soup, then a fish course, then some sorbet to cleanse your palate, then the main course would arrive, and so on. My favourite bit of rhyming slang is "Chalfonts", for haemorrhoids. The derivation is quite neat: there are a group of adjacent villages in Buckinghamshire with names like "Chalfont St. Peter, Chalfont Latimer", "Little Chalfont" - and "Chalfont St. Giles". Collectively they are known as "The Chalfonts". Chalfont St. Giles is, of course, a rhyme for "Piles" - haemorrhoids.
richardm Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 9,270	__________________ Rimmer: Look at her! Magnificent woman! Very prim, very proper, almost austere. Some people took her for cold, thought she was aloof. Not a bit of it. She just despised fools. Quite tragic, really, because otherwise I think we'd have got on famously.