Rhyming slang

Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. Many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys.

It developed as a way of obscuring the meaning of sentences to those who did not understand the slang, though it is unclear whether this was a linguistic accident, or whether it was developed intentionally to assist criminals or to maintain a particular community.

Rhyming slang is the use of an expression to replace a normal word. The last part of the expression will rhyme with the word replaced. For instance, "face" becomes "boat race", "feet" becomes "plates of meat", "money", "bread and honey". Many of these expressions have been shortened over the years, often to just the initial word. There is no hard and fast rule for this, and you just have to know whether a particular expression is always shortened, never shortened, or can be used either way.

Some substitutions have become relatively widespread in England, for example to "have a butcher's" means to have a look, from the rhyming slang "butcher's hook".

This style of rhyming has also spread through many English-speaking countries, where the original phrases are supplemented by rhymes created to fit local needs. The term Cockney rhyming slang is generally applied to these expansions to indicate the rhyming style, though arguably the term only applies to phrases used in the East End of London.

It is often used in films (Such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), which contains a glossary of Cockney Rhyming Slang on the DVD version to assist the viewer) and on television (e.g. Minder, EastEnders) to lend authenticity to an East End setting.

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

Apples and pears = stairs

Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair

Berk or Burk = Berkshire Hunt = cunt

Boat = boat race = face

Borassic (freq. contracted to brassic) = borassic lint = skint, i.e. penniless

China = china plate = mate

Dicky = dicky dirt = shirt

Dog = dog and bone = phone

Emmas = Emma Freud (English author and columnist) = haemorrhoids

Hampsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth

Jack = Jack Jones = alone ("On my Jack" = "On my own")

Jam jar = car

Jimmy = Jimmy Riddle (unknown person, not the character killed during the Waco siege)= piddle or widdle (urinate)

Jugs = jugs of beer = ears

Lionels = Lionel Blairs (English variety performer) = flares (as in flared trousers)

loaf = loaf of bread = head ("use your loaf")

Mutton = Mutt and Jeff = deaf

Nobbies = Nobby Stiles (English footballer) = piles (haemorrhoids)

Oily rag = fag = cigarette

Ones and twos = shoes

Porky = pork pie = lie, e.g. "He's telling porkies!"

Plates = plates of meat = feet

Richard = Richard the Third = turd (lump of faeces)

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

Rosie = Rosie Lee = Tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie"

Rub-a-dub-dub = pub = public house

Septic = septic tank = Yank (slang for an American)

Skin = skin and blister = sister

Syrup = syrup of figs = wig(s)

Tea = tea leaf = thief (not always truncated due to shortness of the rhyming phrase)

The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad, a special division of the Metropolitan Police

Titfer = tit for tat = hat

Taters = Potatoes in the mould = cold

Trouble = trouble and strife = wife

Veras = Vera Lynns (famous British wartime singer)= 'skins' or cigarette papers, eg, "got any Veras?"