A London (London fog-Blog) about Cockney rhyming vampires (Vampire fang- slang)
Hello and happy start of November!
I have so many ideas about what to do with this blog, and where to take it, but I thought I’d start with something that has always simply fascinated me. Cockney. Particularly, rhyming slang. It’s something I get asked about a lot, because let’s face it, it’s cool. Is the title real rhyming slang? No. Will I one day invent my own rhyming language? I suppose I must.
But moving right along…
Covert Garden
I’ve always loved London. My dad was born there, and I have spent an awful lot of time in the city, both as a child and an adult, having lived there for 5 years at one point after acting school. I love being in London because of the huuuuge number of accents you hear on any given corner, and with them, the characters you meet and the things you overhear.
Cockney is the slightly chaotic, energized, big, brash, loud and lively language of the streets. When I hear it, even the modern version of it, my imagination is flooded with images of cobblestone streets in the 19th century, filled with carriages, filth, life, noise, (the occasional muppet, thank you Christmas Carol) and the bustle of big city life. I simply love it.
Traditionally, a cockney is someone born in the East End of London, within hearing distance of the bells of St Mary Le Bow church in Cheapside. This was a very working class part of London, with an economy centred around the Docklands (London at this time was the largest port in the world) and the East End became the centre of real and imagined horrors, crime, intrigue, and poverty.
East End slum
It is during that time that Cockney Rhyming slang came to be. And it’s no coincidence that this can be traced to around the same time (somewhere around 1820-1840 depending on who you ask) when Sir Robert Peel formed the first the Police Force. (known as Bobbies, after their founder). Now, in an area where many people depend on anything from petty theft to pretty full on crime in order to survive, it’s very convenient to be able to speak in front of Bobbies (and anyone else who may be a snitch) and leave them lost and bewildered as to what on earth you’re on about. It was widely used amongst market traders, sellers of fruit and vegetables, thieves and criminals, and anyone else who found it rather convenient to speak in a secret language of sorts, which passers-by were unable to understand.
Petticoat lane
And Cockney Rhyming Slang was born.
But it then grew and developed into something much more. A sort of in vs out. City vs not symbol and identity. “You’re one of us because you understand.” After all, we humans seem to always find ways to group and separate ourselves into us vs them. (But that’s a whole other story.)
So, what is Cockney Rhyming Slang?
Take a normal word: “Dead”. Find a rhyme: “Brown bread”. So if you want to say ‘dead’, instead you say ‘Brown bread”. (they did often sell food in the streets, so you’ll see a lot of references to that, as well as locations, events, things that were common knowledge!) So you have ‘Have you heard? Tom’s brown bread.” Meaning ‘Tom’s dead.’
Utterly fascinating.
The best part is that sometimes the word that rhymes would actually be eliminated in speech. So you get something like:
Word: “Phone”. Rhyme: “Dog and bone”. Sentence: She’s always on the dog.
Love it.
Here are some more delightful examples. I hope they make you smile as much as they make me smile. You may even recognize a few!
The list can go on and on. Do you know any other rhymes?
If you’d like to find out more, you can have a butcher’s hook (look at these:
http://projectbritain.com/cockney.htm
https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/usage/slang_cockney.html
https://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/blog/what-is-cockney-rhyming-slang/
For more about the East End of London,
https://www.britannica.com/place/East-End
And if you’re into the creepier side of things:
http://the-east-end.co.uk
