From British Comedy (1977-1979), ITV Series

From British Comedy (1977-1979), ITV Series

Mind Your Language.

S1E4

- What we're gonna talk

about? - You'll have to talk up

l'm a bit Mutt and Jeff

Excuse me! Who are these Mutt and Jeff?

Mutt and Jeff is deaf

Scuse! What we gonna talk about?

l don't mind! l'm just happy

to rest my plates of meat

Excuse please! l am not

seeing any plates of meat

Plates of meat is feet

- Your feet are plates of meat? - Yes

lt's slang you see! lt's

easy if you use your Uncle Ned

- l am not having an uncle

Ned - Uncle Ned! Your uncle Ned?

- Uncle Ned? - Yes

- You mean he's crazy?

- No but l think you lot are

- l think you're taking the mick - No

We are interested in everything you tell us!

Already you are teaching

us words we not learn before

- Please teach us more - Yeah

- l'll tell you about what

happened last night - Yes please

Well first of all, l had a bit of a

bull and a cow with the trouble and strife

lt was all over the dustbin lids!

l went down the frog and toad into the

rub-a-dub and l met my old china plate

He looked a bit Unce Dick so l get him a

Jack the Dandy and l had a Vera Lynn

One thing led to another and

we were both Brahms and Liszt

So l staggered back home, took

off my Dickie dirt and my daisy roots

And passed out like a

light on the apples and pears

Blimey l think we are better

off talking with each other …

* Rhyming slang always involves two words or a small phrase. Tte last word of the pair or phrase will rhyme with the target word. So apples and pears will mean stairs; linen draper will mean paper.

In conversation, only the rst word of the phrase will be used: “I’m just going up the apples”

The meaning of the phrase is unlikely to have any relationship with the meaning of the target word – it’s the rhyme that’s important.

Rhyming slang started developing from around the late 18th century and the early 19th century.

There seems to be no definitive reason as to why it started, but the most popular theories are:

1. It was developed as good-humoured joking by Cockneys so that outsiders, such as the gangs of Irish navvies working on canal and railway construction, could not understand them.

2. It was started by thieves and criminals to communicate in public without being understood by outsiders.

3. An oppressed minority developing a secret language as a defense measure to give them a bit more inner strength.

Other examples of Cockney Rhyming Slang, or phrases inspired by it, are:

ñAdam and Eve = believe = as in "would you Adam and Eve it?"

ñAlmond Rocks = socks

ñApples and pears = stairs

ñBag of fruit = suit

ñBaked Bean = queen

ñBoat = boat race = face

ñBob Hope = soap

ñBoracic (freq. contracted to brassic) = boracic lint = skint (i.e. penniless)

ñBottle = bottle and glass = arse (i. e. courage; Courage also happens to be the name of a brewery)

ñBrahms = Brahms and Liszt (classical composers) = pissed (i.e. drunk)

ñBread and Honey = money

ñButcher's = butcher's hook = look

ñCock and Hen = ten

ñCurrant bun = sun or The Sun newspaper

ñDaisies = daisy roots = boots

ñDarby and Joan = moan

ñDicky = dicky dirt = shirt

ñDustbin Lid = kid
Frog = frog & toad = road

ñI suppose = nose

ñJam tart = heart

ñJugs = jugs of beer = ears)

ñMinces (or mincers) = mince pies = eyes

ñNorth and South = mouth

ñPlates= plates of meat = feet

ñRichard = Dicky Bird = bird (slang for girl) but also Dicky Bird = word

ñRosie = Rosie Lee = tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie

ñRound the houses = trousers

ñRub-a-dub-dub = pub = public house

ñSky = sky rocket = pocket

ñTea leaf = thief

ñTom and Dick = sick

ñTreacle = treacle tart = sweetheart

ñTrouble = trouble and strife = wife

ñVera = Vera Lynn (famous British wartime singer)= 'skin' or cigarette paper, eg, "got any Veras?", or chin, or

ENGLISH

COCKNEY

Body parts

	Chalk Farm
	Jumping Jack
	Strange'n'Weird
	Auntie Nellie
	Tom Jones
	Mince Pies
	Chevy Chase
	Tony Blair
	Ivory Band
	Uncle Ned
	Ham and Eggs
	Cheerful Giver
	Gregory Peck
	monkey's tail
	Irish Rose

Family

	One and t'other
	Sock and Blister
	Mrs. Chant
	Trouble and Strife
	Dustbin Lids, God Forbids

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