Cockney rhyming slang

Visitors to London are often puzzled by the strange expressions used by many of its inhabitants in their everyday speech, as in “Hello, me old china, fancy a butchers at me new jam jar? Hey, I like your whistle! How’s the trouble and strife?” These are examples of Cockney rhyming slang, and there are five in the quote just given.

One thing to make clear is that not all Londoners are Cockneys, but their slang has spread far beyond their “zone”, and many examples have become common expressions in the English of people who have never lived anywhere near London. To be strictly accurate, a Cockney is someone who was born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church (pictured), which is just to the east of St Paul’s Cathedral. However, the bells are not heard very often these days, and even when they do sound, the noise of the modern city has limited their range considerably. For practical purposes, a Cockney can be reckoned to be a working-class Londoner who lives in the east end.

Rhyming slang appears to have emerged around the 1840s among the local traders who sold goods from carts or stalls and were known as costermongers. It is possible that the slang developed as a form of private language with a view to confusing anyone who was not local, particularly any “toffs” who might have wandered into their patch. Alternatively, it could have started as a sort of verbal word game, with one person trying to guess what another person meant.

The rhymes are quite basic, and stand for everyday words, so “apples and pears” means “stairs” but some of them have a certain relevance to the intended word, so when a Cockney refers to his wife as the “trouble and strife” he has more than just a rhyme in mind!

What really confuses the uninitiated is the fact that the actual rhyming word is often omitted, as in “whistle” above. Here, the full expression is “whistle and flute” which rhymes with “suit”. Indeed, the rhyme is just as often omitted as spoken, so references to a “syrup”, “china” or “barnet” need a bit of working out (“syrup of figs” for “wig”, “china plate” for “mate” and “Barnet Fair” for “hair”).

Many people use rhyming slang regularly with ever knowing that they are doing so. The common phrase “give us a butchers”, has spread far beyond London to mean “let’s have a look” (from “butcher’s hook”), and many a young man has referred to a woman’s breasts as “bristols” without appreciating the original rhyming slang of “Bristol cities” for “titties”.

Sometimes it is not easy to work out the origin of a slang term, simply because the original “rhyme word” is no longer in common use. An example of this is “kettle” for “watch”. This only makes sense as “kettle on the hob” to rhyme with “fob”, although nobody today uses a pocket watch attached to their waistcoat by a fob chain.

Cockney rhyming slang has often used the names of well-known people, and it is a sign of having really arrived in the public’s consciousness when somebody is featured in the slang vocabulary. Winona Ryder will doubtless be delighted to know that she is rhyming slang for “cider” and Britney Spears is “beers”.

Mind how you go as you walk down the field (of wheat, meaning street). Don’t go Pete Tong (wrong), but always be Isle of Wight. You’d better Adam and Eve it!

© John Welford