Cockney Rhyming Slang Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2022
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SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Cockney Rhyming Slang: www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk...
History Of CRS: www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK...
Rolls, Baps, and Cobs: yougov.co.uk/topics/consumer/...
Woodlouse Names: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/...
CRS Examples: www.projectbritain.com/cockne...
CRS Origins & Survival: unravellingmag.com/articles/c...
Cants: www.babbel.com/en/magazine/ca...
In Search Of London’s Last Cockneys: londonist.com/london/features...
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What's your favourite piece of Cockney Rhyming Slang?
Pingas
Bread
How can you, a pop culture nerd, list famous cockneys and not mention Lady Penelope's Chauffer, (Nosey) Parker? For shame, Sir!
Does naming various sums of money things like monkey and pony and ton (or is it tun?) count?
There are lots of good (although not necessarily authentic...) examples in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", particularly the scene recounting what Rory Breaker did with "an Aristotle of the most ping pong tiddly in the nuclear sub"!
Australia uses CRS too and we have our own as well, Reg Grundy's (a TV producer) is rhyming slang for Undies, Barry Crocker (a singer) is rhyming slang for a shocker
I was always confused that making a particular rude sound that resembles a bodily function was called a 'raspberry', until I learned it was short for 'raspberry tart', which is CRS for that aforementioned bodily function.
Fart. Say fart.
If you can't bring yourself to say "fart", you could go with "passing gas".
I’ve also heard raspberry for a fake fart sound shortened to “razza”
No a rasberry is a lady of the night
@@theswistory9692 I just liked leaving it as an implication 😛
If you haven't done this already, it would be super interesting to see a full video on thieves cant, and on polari too, although I suspect you might have done that one.
I second this, I'd love a video on polari it's so interesting
Polari? Are you so?
@@Chrnan6710 I'm not sure I understand your comment, but Polari was a slang language used by circus and theatre people, sailors, criminals, and most famously gay men. It contains elements from Romani, thieves cant and cockney, and was used order to communicate in secret.
@@skylark6167 So basically all the coolest people of the time period?
I remember there was an old American credit card (Visa's "It's everywhere you want to be!" campaign, IIRC) where American comedian Jerry Seinfeld was doing a show in London telling jokes using American expressions and was bombing his routine (everyone had blank expressions when he asked a slow walker "What is this, the seventh inning stretch!"), so he went around London and visited shops and all that, so his next show had him using CRS. "As I was walking up the apples, this bloke stopped, so I said 'What is this, the tea interval!'"
The phrase "put up your dukes" may also come from CRS. Fork (meaning hands), rhymes with Duke of York, shortened to duke, or dukes.
I went my whole life thinking knackered was spelt like naked
In some accents "naked" is pronounced like "knackered". Can't tell you from which part of UK though.
Dang I just read an accent.
Actually, even living in the US, I picked up the occasional use of "butcher's" for "look". Never shortened it all the way to "butch", and I haven't really picked up any other CRS phrases. But, that's the one that I seem to remember and infrequently actually use.
What part of the US are you in? I’m in Ohio and I’ve only heard English people say it…
@@alexreid1173 I’m in California, but I’ve visited the UK a number of times.
Lots of these are used in Australian slang too.
Beautifully done. It’s informative, funny and has got a tinge of sadness as things do when endings can be imagined and origins evaporate.
US English speakers don't know that dukes, as in put up your dukes, refers to fists, because your hand is a fork, rhyming with Duke of York.
And a fart sound is a raspberry, because fart rhymes with Raspberry Tart.
As an American speaking English, this was very informative.
Why is your hand a fork?
@@-AirKat- Look at this guy, so rich he never ate finger food.
But that would be to Duke it Out, I though the boxing reference would come from Lord Roseberry
my favourite CRS is "Vera Lynns" meaning skins, or cigarette papers, which is shortened to "Veras"
Please make a woodlouse video. The list of names you gave were all new, but in Canada and the US they have multiple names too (roly poly bugs, and potato bugs)
I think I know what you're talking about, but it's not an insect. I know it as a pillbug, though it's not a bug (bugs are insects).
You're mistaken, these aren't potato bugs. Potato bugs fly, are like large ladybugs but have stripes.
@@pierreabbat6157 yes, I've also heard pillbug! They are crustaceans rather than insects, but at least we're closer than the Brits calling them pigs and wigs :D
@@likebot. It seems a number of small, multi-legged creatures are called potato bugs, the ladybug-like ones you mention look quite cute :)... there's also a termite-looking monstrous potato bug 😶
Funny, Englishman here (Yorkshireman to be precise) and I have always called it a pill bug (or pillybug). And, yes, it's a crustacean - but it does look a bug!
Ohh 😯 in Spanish we have some of that too, it's called lunfardo, it ain't as poetic as CRS, but it's a slang that was born in the same manner, thieves, scammers and such needed a lexicon of their own so the police and commoners couldn't understand them. And it basically serves all of the same functions as CRS, but down south here in 🇦🇷 buenos aires and in "Spanish"
Is that how eggs became balls? I've always wondered that. I used to love asking little old mexican ladies at the grocery store if they wanted a sack for their huevos. It always gave them a giggle.
@@rowynnecrowley1689 idk about Mexicans. Argentina is so far away from Mexico it might as well be in another galaxy brother.
So has anyone said "I should put the food in the London Brige?"
It came here to Australia and kind of morphed into it's own weird thing
Anything involving Australia is doomed to morph into a weird thing.
I know you only do English words but I think it’d be cool to look at “Verlan” French Slang
French youth has the same thing with verlan. But in French, you take a word and flip it or switch the two syllables. (For example fou = crazy = ouf, or louche = bizarre/odd = chelou)
Over time, I've discovered (as someone who learns French as a second language) the best way to learn these is to just learn them one by one. Most of these words although they should mean the same, are used in completely different context. And despite what some want you to believe, verlan isn't used that much. There are a couple of verlan words that are used all the time, but except those, verlan is not often done to like 'new words' as far as I'm aware.
Flipping the words or switching the two syllables can be found in Japanese slangs and underworld codes, too. For example: おんな/女(woman/girlfriend)→なおん. (Though most of them are regarded vulgar. )
yeah, the current situation does seem very similar
in just watched La Haine and it felt very over the top with its verlan, until i realised it's from '95
basically it used to be a sign of trying to codify your speech *and* it had a porductive mechanism
now all the terms that remained are mostly fossilised, living their life as different words, with the plug on the word-machine being pulled
you should do a video about bristol accents
Did you say "infamous portrayal" or "infamous betrayal", there? I mean, both are accurate descriptors of that (godawful) Mary Poppins character.
We have some rhyming slang in America. Most common I've heard is "Chew the fat" (="Have a chat"). Another frequently used slang is "raspberry" for any farty noise; from "raspberry tart" = "fart." We may be using so many more, but just don't realize it.
The inflections in your voice get me
Incredibly interesting video!
Idk if you ever played the Jackbox games Dictionarium, but I think it'd be fun to see what words or slang you may create.
We use CRS in Australia. Remnants from British settlers over 200 years ago. It's used more in regional Australia as opposed to in the cities though.
Thank you, Name Explain! I requested this a few weeks back, I'm not sure if you read my comment at the time or not, but either way, thanks for teaching us more about CRS! :D :D :D
I remember learning about this with blowing raspberries where raspberries is short for raspberry tart and the rhyme of tart is fart. What I never really thought about until just now was the use of CRS in the remake of The Italian Job where one of the thieves mentioned the risk of being in Barney. He was met with some puzzled looks and he specified Barney Rubble. Then he clarified that he meant trouble. Not sure if this is established CRS, but if not, there's a definite parallel.
missed yonks as a shortened donkey's years
As mentioned there is the unique Australian Rhythming Slang. There are many that have come from the UK but most are Australian.
One of my favourites is the complexity of "Seppo" for an American. It's Septic Tank for Yank(ee). This is then shortened to Septic. This is then shortened to Sep. But this is extended to Seppo.
Cockney accent is very close to Kent too, (Dont forget Kent went up to London Bridge area as Essex went as far as Tower Bridge before hitting Middlesex.
My favorite is "berk" / "Berkeley Hunt." I heard it used and knew it had to be CRS, but had to have a butch at a wind & kite to find the full term.
Criminals to Merchants is a nice title
There is yet another thing in the "this has the name A in one region and name B in another region" which makes it even more difficult. That is, when the word from the other region is present in the own region, but for another thing.
A german jelly-filled donut ist in the most parts of Germany a "Krapfen". But there is another term. Its "Pfannkuchen" which translates to "pancake".
Another example is a softdrink which is a mix of coke and fanta (an orage soda). In the northern part of Germany, the name for that is "Spezi", but in the south of Germany, its name is "Diesel". Well, in Southern Germany "Spezi" has the meaning of a good friend. And "Diesel" in Northern Germany just has the meaning of the petrol/gas "diesel".
And yes, the bread roll has different words for it in Germany, too: Brötchen, Semmel, Rundstücke. Just the names from the tip of my head.
Just the other day, I was talking about how so many places in the U.S. have different names for a sandwich on a long roll, depending on where you grew up: Hoagie, Sub, Grinder, Torpedo, and Spuckie (the last one, I only just recently heard of).
@@ShawnRavenfire
Isn`t the Sub specific for Subway?
@@HalfEye79 Kind of, but I've heard it used other places.
Another bread roll word: Wecken/Weckle.
I love this who would've thought this even existed
There's some proctor slang in Cold Nightie.
0:16, are you referring to interviews the musicians have done or their songs? With good technique, aren’t accents supposed to disappear while singing?
Someone once told me that a particular song would get the heavy metal band that sings it into deep doo doo (my words,, not his) with the Irish mafia because it uses CRS to a prohibitive level. I have my doubts, though I choose not to name the song or the band "just in case," cuz I don't know nothin' and I can prove it.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
Always say donkeys years for a long time and I’m Irish never knew where it came from
Well, unless the Geico lizard goes away, I think the accent will live on.
0:20 Eh, I wouldn't say they're *completely* different - they're similar enough that whoever did John Lennon's voice on _Family Guy_ apparently sounded closer to Manchester.
I wonder why there are so many different accents in Great Brittan. Similarly, New York City is a relatively small area, but has a wide variety of different accents. That might make for an interesting video topic, if you haven't already.
Probably best known to some as the accent and style of slang used by Yangus from Dragon Quest VIII.
My Fair Lady. The same year as Poppins.
Lovely
Can I make some up, like "fortune & fame window pane".
Also, I'mma start calling Name Explain "Fortune Window" now... :P
Coming from and still living in London I've never heard butchers shortened to butch.
I think it would be mishearing it, as in butchers being pronounced as butch'rs, you know how we Londoners shorten the end of words. I can see how without context and be fair there ain't much context, you might here 'have a butch' rather than 'have a butch'rs '.
But I can confirm I've never heard anyone make this mistake, 'til now.
Which region of British accent does the case where one cannot pronounce "th" and instead use "f", like saying "free" for "three"?
East London and Essex, though it could be others too.
I can’t tell the difference between Liverpool’s and Manchester’s Accents
I have 2 requests. 1. Make a video' on why Illegal Fireworks are called Illegal firewoeks. And why it's literally called Illegal. Why is it called that anyways if it's bad, then it's illegal, but I don't understand why is it called that. That is so stupid! 2. On your shorts for the countries, how come I don't see Aruba on there?
Illegal, meaning not legal, further meaning "against the law", and thus a crime.
@@wmdkitty No I wonder why illegal fireworks are called that if it's bad. Why does it have the name illegal?
@@upsidedown3656 I think the confusion here is that not all fireworks are illegal, we have legal fireworks too.
and what is your accent with that upward slide at the end of each sentence?😀
Wackapooga
Rhymy Whymy All the Tymy
0:43 BARM or BARM CAKE😂
I haven't heard of woodlice called anything other than woodlice!
Edit: Most Londoners would say, "Give us a Butcher's..." and not just "Give us a Butch"
E got mon'tized
Shouldn't slang make things quicker & easier to say than the normal way? Seems like they're adding more detail lol.
But now I got to the end of the video and I see it was created with the intent to confuse. Fair play.
Also, in normal use, only the 1st word of the phrase is used, so you may go up the apples, or talk on the dog.
cant wait for the day when all languages and accents get merged into one.
Considering how much we interact online these days, I wouldn't be surprised if future accents stop being geographical, and start reflecting which social media app you use. Imagine overhearing someone talk, and immediately knowing that he's from Twitter.
People in the US say knackered. I think we stole it in recent times. Probably due to the popularity of certain British TV shows like Absolutely Fabulous.
I think most people including myself say butchers for look, not heard anyone say butch
I only knew look as butcher not butch.
I Will Now be Using The Term "Fat Boy Slim"
It’s all gone Pete Tong in the Fatboy Slim…
I have learned never to accuse a manx of being a scouse and vice verse.
Since languages change, and new CRS is being made up... I wonder if inconsistencies in rhymes can cause confusion or if people exposed to CRS just end up "filling the blanks" in their head.
Slater bugs = wood swindlers
There’s a right Dane Judy in here…
Dame Judy, goddamit
Soap opera has nothing to do with soap or opera
I believe the 'soap' part comes from early soap operas often being sponsored by soap companies.
@@charlespentrose7834 I believe you're right.
@@charlespentrose7834 Rather nicely bookended by the Kitchen Sink Drama
Isn't the "ck" silent in "Cockermouth"?
Muffled certainly.
On behalf of my country, I apologize for Dick Van Dyke.
Example of CRS from Murdoch Mysteries: “I couldn’t get a Dicky-Bird out of her” (Of course, Dicky-Bird itself is a funny British slang word to me)
Also, wood lice aren’t insects my guy 😫
What's "dicky-bird" in standard Oxford Dictionary English?
The phrase "dicky-bird" sounds very suggestive to me but I don't know CRS.
@@modmaker7617 its one of the non-rhyming ones, it means to talk (specifically sing for the law enforcer and grass someone up, which is a big no-no)
@@highpath4776 Dickie bird rhymes with word, but it is one that is not normally shortened.
@@stephenlee5929 Yes, this is how it was used.
Yes dicky-bird is word. I have more often than not heard this shortened to just dicky. But just to add to the confusion, dicky can also mean shirt - from dicky-dirt. This is why a bow tie is a dicky-bow.
A load of cobblers.
Cobbler's Awls (a large needle for passing thread through leather)
TL;DW they're strange people and criminals
Accents --> dialects
tbh Billy Butchers accent to me sounds like a terrible Australian accent...I would have never got that he was Cockney...
Worst language ever!!!!
No mate we say butchers let me have butchers i live in canning town and have never heard someone say let me have. Butch at that lol