What is cockney rhyming slang? For those of you who have never come across it, it was a humourous language used by East End market traders and street sellers back in the 1800s, probably so that customers weren't able to understand what they were saying. A sort of secret language if you like.Today, cockney rhyming slang is still used in London and all over Britain. So if you want to talk like a real cockney, you'll need to polish up your rhyming slang. To make it a little more confusing, sometimes only part of the phrase is used.
1. Apples and pears = stairs - Just nip up the apples would you?
2. Adam and Eve = believe - You wouldn't Adam and Eve it
3. Bubble bath = laugh - You're having a bubble
4. Loop the loop = soup - I'll have a bowl of loop
5. Oily rag = fag (cigarette) - Give me an oily
6. Tea leaf = thief - Keep your eye on him, he's a tea leaf
7. Skin and blister = sister - She's my skin and blister
8. Syrup of figs = wig - He's wearing a syrup
9. Rosy Lee = Tea - Would you like a cup of rosy?
10. Hank Marvin = starving - I'm hank
If you like these, add a comment and I'll post some more over the coming weeks - there are literally hundreds of them:)
Take a butcher's at this:
https://wordwatchtowers.wordpress.com/tag/humourous-or-humorous/
However please bear in mind that we cockneys do not use these expressions nearly as often as is suggested by many people.
Indeed I have not heard them being used on a regular basis for well in excess of 40 forty years.
It all started a long time ago by costermongers and was a way to secretly describe the prices to be charged to customers.
It is a fact of life that in all businesses in all centuries and ages, newcomers are charged much more than experienced traders, and often get sold the rubbish/garbage. They do sound a bit peculiar now.
When they began the costermongers would know both side of the rhyme or code and another costermonger would say the ending of the code.
So if a rhyme (code) meant let him have 5% discount, the costermonger would say for example. "go up the apples and pay. And the other costermonger or person collecting the money in the office for example, would know that "apples and pears" mean't 5% discount.
This way the experienced or long term trader would get 5% discount whilst the new inexperienced traders may be charged "over the odds". = "too much" more than they should have.
And on the same subject an item for sale in a warehouse or store is called "a line' because in a warehouse things are stored in "lines" now called "aisles". And the term "where are the good lines" or "show/give him a good line". = Show/take this customer to the "modern day aisle'" to see where the good stuff is.
You may still hear it used today, "we have a good line over here sir" now means "we have a good product over here sir"
