Rhyming Slang

To lead on from the article I posted about the girl who wanted a cab and instead got a cabinet, I thought we could look at Cockney rhyming slang. If you remember, the girl phoned Directory Enquiries asking for a Joe Baxi which is slang in parts of London for a taxi.

Cockney Rhyming Slang is a specialised form of slang used in the East of London. It is a kind of anti-language where words are replaced by phrases that sound the same or rhyme.

Dog and bone = phone
Adam and Eve = believe

Sometimes, the last word is dropped, which can make it very difficult to understand unless you are used to it. An example of this is with the Cockney slang for lies. The original phrase was 'to tell pork pies', but now the second word is rarely used and the term has been shortened to 'porkies'.

Most Cockney rhyming slang would be difficult for many natives to understand but some forms are widely used. For example, if you want to say that you are alone, you can say that you are on your Jack Jones. And some men still refer to their wife as the trouble and strife!

If you would like to learn more about the history of Cockney Slang and see some more examples, you should check out this website.