Hello YouTube Artificial Intelligence Bots:
Please don't demonetise me. This video has nothing to do with Brexit
and there's absolutely nothing offensive about the word "Cockney."
Today, I want to examine a unique and extremely creative form of English slang
called Cockney rhyming slang.
Cockneys are traditionally defined as people living within earshot of the Bow Bells
of the St Mary-le-Bow church in the East End of London.
But the term Cockney has come to refer to
working-class Londoners in various parts of the city and surrounding areas.
Cockney rhyming slang was first mentioned in a book published in 1859
and had probably begun to be used in the 1840s.
So, what the heck is it?
Okay, I'll give you the most basic and cliché example of Cockney rhyming slang.
[Cockney speaker:] "I went up the apple [singular] and pears."
The phrase "apples and pears" is a substitute for the word "stairs."
So, you take a word that rhymes with the original word, and then use it to create a pair of related words.
That pair of words now represents the original word, in this case "stairs."
Here's the most interesting part: the second word of the pair,
the one that rhymes with the original word,
is usually left out, as in "I went up the apples."
But how are you supposed to know what it means?
Well, originally, this kind of slang was not meant to be understood by everybody.
It was created by street merchants and criminals in order to prevent other people from understanding
what they were talking about.
But it soon became a colourful form of expression, rather than just covert communication.
Let's look at some more classic examples.
We'll start with the word "house."
A rhyming word is "mouse."
A complementary word is "cat."
So, "cat and mouse" means "house."
[Cockney speaker:] "I went inside the cat and mouse and up the apple (singular) and pears."
It's theoretically possible to shorten both of the rhymes and say the sentence:
[Cockney speaker:] "I went inside the cat and up the apples."
But it would probably be said the long way in order to be less confusing.
Here's another example using an animal word.
The original word is "phone". "Phone" rhymes with "bone."
What animals are normally associated with bones?
Dogs, of course. So, "dog and bone" means "phone."
So, there's this sentence: [Cockney speaker:] "Pass us the dog." Meaning "Pass me the phone."
In Cockney speech, sometimes the plural pronoun "us" can be used with the singular meaning instead of "me."
Here's one more sort of household object: "freezer."
A rhyming pair is "Mona Lisa."
Notice here that in my North American accent, "Lisa" and "freezer" don't rhyme.
But the Cockney dialect, and most dialects of England, are non-rhotic,
meaning that the "r" consonants are only pronounced before vowels.
/ˈfriː.zɚ/ in North American English is /ˈfriːzə/ in Cockney English, and "Lisa" rhymes with /ˈfriːzə/.
[Cockney speaker:] "I got some hands and feet from the mona."
This sentence seems a bit strange. You've got hands and feet in your freezer?
Well, no, actually that's another piece of rhyming slang meaning "meat."
But speaking of hands and feet, here we have a pair of Germans. German what exactly?
German bands. And "bands" rhymes with "hands."
"German bands" refers to travelling musicians from Germany, who used to perform in British cities in the 19th century.
Another one: Here we have a pair of plates.
Plates of what? Plates of meat, which, of course, rhymes with "feet."
And here's your loaf. Loaf of bread, of course. "Bread" rhymes with "head."
And here's your boat, short for "boat race."
"Race" rhymes with "face."
And here are your minces. Mince pies, which rhymes with "eyes."
And this one can be heard all the time.
And here's your north, your north and south. In other words: your mouth.
There are often a number of different rhymes with the same meaning.
Here we have "bottle of beers" or "King Lears" or "lords and peers."
Of course, these all rhyme with "ears."
So, we could refer to your ears as your bottles or your Kings or your lords.
There are lots of Cockney rhymes that include cultural or literary references.
[Cockney speaker:] "There's a cup and Geoffrey on the table."
"Geoffrey" comes from Geoffrey Chaucer and "Chaucer" rhymes with "saucer."
Geoffrey Chaucer is called "The father of English literature" and is the author of The Canterbury Tales.
[Cockney speaker:] "Let me boil some water in the hansel."
"Hansel" comes from "Hansel and Gretel,"
which is more like "Hansel and Gretel [ˈɡrɛʔʊ]" in Cockney pronunciation,
and "Gretel" rhymes with "kettle."
"Hansel and Gretel" is a German nursery rhyme published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.
So, here we should note that the "t" in "water", as well as the "t" in "Gretel,"
is generally pronounced as a glottal stop in Cockney English.
So, while in some British accents,
it would be /ˈwɔːtə/, in Cockney it's [ˈwɔːʔə].
And rather than /ˈɡrɛtəl/ it's [ˈɡrɛʔəl].
And we heard the same thing before in the word "bottle,"
which is pronounced [ˈbɒʔəl].
Other rhymes reference celebrities and influential people.
[Cockney speaker:] "Tell me the Babe." "Babe" comes from Babe Ruth,
the legendary American baseball player.
"Ruth" rhymes with "truth". So, this means: "Tell me the truth."
[Cockney speaker:] "Let's go for a couple of Britneys."
"Britney" comes from Britney Spears, the American pop singer.
"Spears" rhymes with "beers,"
so this means: "Let's go for a couple of beers."
From that last one, you can see that new Cockney rhyming slang is being created all the time.
There are classic rhymes and there are modern rhymes.
But whether these modern rhymes are legitimate Cockney rhyming slang or not is up for debate.
Some of them are widely considered "Mockney" rather than Cockney.
"Mock" meaning "imitation" or "fake".
Cockney rhyming slang is not only used by genuine Cockneys these days.
It has found its way into the speech of people of all over the UK and even further afield.
And some people imitate a Cockney accent and throw in Cockney rhyming slang
even tough they're not from London and not working class.
If we take a look at "Britney Spears" on cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk,
we see that opinions are divided over whether this one is classic, modern or Mockney.
I would think this one should be modern or Mockney
since a classic would be something like "apples and pears," that has been used for decades.
I guess, if you like the rhyme, you'd probably classify it as modern.
If you don't like it and think it's corny and inauthentic, you'd probably say it's Mockney.
So, what do I think? Is it modern or Mockney?
Well, I ain't British, so I ain't got a scooby.
Scooby. Scooby Doo. Clue.
"Ain't" is a negative copula and auxiliary verb that originated in Cockney English.
"Ain't got" means "haven't got" or "don't have."
There are a lot of Cockney rhyming slang expressions that are rude, naughty and downright dirty.
We're going to avoid the rated R ones.
But the next couple are kind of PG 13.
[Cockney speaker:] "That bloke over there is a merchant." Merchant banker. Wanker.
[Cockney speaker:] "Last night I got a bit Brahms and fell on me aris."
"Brahms and Lizst", "pissed", as in "pissed drunk."
Aris. Aristotle. Bottle.
Bottle and glass. Arse.
To finish this video, I'd like you to practise the pattern of the Cockney rhyming slang
by creating your own Cockney rhyme.
To all the genuine Cockneys out there,
I'm sorry for the sacrilege. I know that I am encouraging large-scale Mockney.
But, it's all for the purpose of understanding the pattern of genuine Cockney rhyming slang.
So, remember the pattern. Take a word, like "socks."
Find a rhyming word: "blocks."
Add another word to make a pair: "Lego blocks."
Then, take away the rhyming word: "Lego."
Then, in the comments, write a sentence that gives some context,
so we can guess the word.
"My feet were cold so I put on me Legos."
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thank you for watching and have a nice day.
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