Selects: Cockney Rhyming Slang: Beautiful Gibberish | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hey everybody it's your old pal Josh and. for this week's select I've chosen our. episode from November of 2019 on Cockney. rhyming slang this is one of those silly. episodes that's also packed with a lot. of interesting information and I. remember Chuck and I having fun making. it so I hope you'll enjoy listening to. it too. enjoy welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

[Music]. hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. Clark and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. right there there's Jerry Roland right. there so that makes this stuff you. should know. right that's it for me can't top that I. was trying to think a way to say welcome. to the podcast in Cockney rhyming slang. can you make an intent my I'm my brain. is so broken right now I can't even try.

okay good good well welcome it's a good. good time to record a show right exactly. you're going to do some Cockney in here. right we want to offend as many. londoners as we can I don't know just. just Channel a little Dick Van Dyke oh. you know yeah the. American doing a bad Cockney accent well. I did recently rewatch The. limey yes for Casey's benefit yeah the. great great movie from Steven sod BG.

never seen it it's awesome is it really. yeah I mean I know it's like a classic. and everybody loves it but I mean it's. really that good huh yeah cuz a lot of. people liked um I don't know the. hangover I like The Hangover well how. would you how would you like the limey. and The Hangover same. level yeah they're the same movie almost. all right it's weird well then I've seen. The Hangover so I don't need to see the. liing the limey is great and uh teren. stamp is awesome and it and uses some. Cockney rhyming slang in one great scene.

my big exposure to Cockney rhyming slang. is lockstock and Two Smoking Barrels. snatch yeah which I think are both. directed by Guy Richie right wasn't. lockstock like his first attempt and. snatch was the one that like got him. married to Madonna you a fan of his yeah. I mean as much as I I like his movies I. don't like him personally necessarily. cuz he like hunts boore like a jackass. and stuff like that yeah like drunk with. his friends in the most like.

disrespectful way of murdering a pig I I. meant his movies but yeah I do like his. movies sounds like he's a creep too I'm. not going to go on record saying that. but you. know uh yeah those movies are okay and. then I guess uh what's his name uh don. cheel a little bit in Oceans 11 sure he. did a a little bit of that right and I. mean like it's it's code to Americans. it's oh there's like a a criminal a. British criminal right that's all that. means these days yeah I think so in.

movies it's definitely like all of those. are criminal right criminal people in. the movies but they're like you know. kind of slick cool criminals that like. wear leather coats and stuff like that. not not dumb criminals that wear like. football jerseys or anything like that. they're like you know smooth criminals. that's I think what I was looking for. yeah but um this this idea of. associating it with Cockney is not. necessarily associating it with. criminals it's more associated with like. um lower class working class less.

educated definitely not the aristocracy. over in Britain yeah or the upper class. sure and that by by speaking with a. cockney accent or more to the point. using Cockney rhyming slang you could. really differentiate yourself to as a. point of Pride right like you were. speaking like your group your in group. which was at the time Cockney right but. the big surprise to all this is It's. really possible and even probable that. it wasn't the Cockney that came up with. this rhyming slang that it was somebody.

else altogether maybe who knows should. we say what it is no not for the rest of. the podcast cocky rhyming. slang it wasn't even very clearly. defined in this peace okay did do you. think it was uh it's in there okay you. got to just kind of separate the wheat. from the chaff so it is a two-word. phrase it is a slang phrase okay. consisting of two words so far so good.

where the last word of that phrase. rhymes with the original word and it can. be and I think the best way to do this. is just to throw out a few no no keep. describing well the two- word phrase it. can be it can be a lot of things it can. be a person's name it can be just. something random can be a place could be. a place it could be a lot of things it. can be anything yeah sure I guess it can. be mhm uh but shall we illustrate it. through well there's a second part to it.

okay the second part and this is very. important the tww phrase that you're. using to that where the second one. rhymes with the word you're actually. saying yeah the original word the. original word thank you usually has. nothing to do with it there's no. metaphor there's no connection there's. no nothing there's no there's no context. to it it's supposed to just be random or. in most cases it is just random words. right one of which rhymes with the you. replacing and to further complicate.

things sure in a lot of cases and no one. knows why sometimes this happens and. sometimes it doesn't a lot of times that. one of the words of the two-word phrase. is dropped yep and then you're just left. with the one word which doesn't even. rhyme with the original word anymore. right that's I mean that's probably the. best description of cogne rhyming slang. anyone's ever given so I think we should. illustrate it with a couple of examples. I pulled some from uh from something.

called the. internet um here here's one the uh the. tip and tet that's how long it took me. to come up with that tip and for. internet but in 10 years it'll just be. called the tip I'm going to log on to. the tip Governor so let's say your word. was and this was in Oceans 11. specifically trouble is the word that. you're trying to say Cockney rhyming. slang for trouble is Barney Rubble. awesome um and so you would say you're. making a bit of the Bonnie Rubble again.

right when somebody that was kind of um. who was that making a bit of Bonnie. Rubble not the see I already did it. wrong no but I think you did that sound. like a real person to an American for. sure oh yeah um I can't I can't it I'll. shout it out later when it comes to me. man I I finally did a good one we just I. just don't know who it was no but it. wasn't a cockney person is the thing. okay uh another example um for Queen um.

they would use the term baked bean look. who's on TV it's the baked bean right. and that's the queen I like that one uh. or in the case of one that's been. dropped uh what does Ed use here Bees. and Honey that one is not dropped for. money oh okay but which one was apples. and pears for stairs right so you would. say uh I'm going to go up the apple and. stairs apples and pears oh man.

let me retake this everybody you would. say I'm going to go up the apples and. pears to go get my wallet to pay for. this pizza or something to that effect. okay but then over time people drop the. pairs and so now the word for stairs in. Cockney rhyming slang is just apples. which if you're just standing there on. the outside like a normal American bloke. sure which by the way means person um. you have no idea why this person just. called called stairs apples you got what.

they were saying because the context is. there you're going up the apples to get. your wallet to pay for the pizza but why. would you just say that did you did you. hit your head is there something wrong. with you what's the problem why would. you just call that apples yeah that's. why it's so confounding but the great. thing about cooch rhyming slang and in. particular the great thing about. researching cooch rhyming slang is you. learn how you get from apples to stairs. and then it makes sense sometimes.

yeah that's true it's not always yeah. sometimes there's uh it's it's not. documented which Ed points out as one of. the problems sometimes you can draw the. line the through line but because it's. not documented and sometimes these. things take years and years to morph. into its final version right unless you. unless you're you know on the uh what. would you call streets on the. door no on the streets then you wouldn't. know but I don't know know what streets. is you can't just make stuff up like.

there's real words on the uh drums and. beats so you're on the drums right but. they probably have a word for streets. like that's the whole point you can't. just make anything up but the you could. if it hasn't been taken yet sure but. also that's the other thing about. Cockney rhyming slang is it evolves. right so old celebrities that that no. one even knows about anymore Fall Away. to new celebrities whose name also rhyme. with you know whatever word you're. saying right I thought you meant old. celebrities who maybe used to talk this.

way like Michael Kane no he's never said. any rhyming slang in his life no of. course you got to see the movie Alfie. maybe that's who it was it might have. been Michael King I'll take that Michael. Kang I think it was as a matter of fact. yep thank you I'm glad you did it no. always says a good joke is to say. Michael Kane in the correct accent say. the words my. cocaine and it sounds like Michael Kane. saying it and it sounds like that the. correct accent for Michael Kane right. say it um my.

cocaine well you just blew that one out. of the. water you're going to set me up in the. future cuz now you have it recorded me. saying my cocaine well there's I've got. it two ways now man my cocaine here's. the thing my. cocaine that's my cocaine it's pretty. good my cocaine it is good you're right. no you just got to say it the right way. and not like a robot.

Josh so uh here's the one of the things. is sort of confounding if you want to. look up a uh like a. glossery and say well here's what I'm. going to do I'm going to learn cocky. rhyming slang so for my trip to England. I'm really you know I'm really in with. everybody right first of all bad idea. yeah uh second of all it's it can be. very. localized and the accents are all. different yeah so even people in London. sure who both who all use well people in.

London don't really do but the people. who use Cockney rhyming slanging in. London might not even agree on what word. is means what I'm just picturing all the. people walking around England laughing. their Ares off oh I can't wait to get to. that one it's a great one as we stumble. through this um yeah Ed had a really. good uh example of why there's no um. codification of the Cockney rhyming. slang he said that when people are. creating a language especially informal.

ones like slang they don't write it all. down quote dear diary referred to my. house as a cat and mouse today because. it rhymed we all had a good laugh might. try just calling it cat tomorrow and see. how it goes it is it sounds funny but. that's that's how it works can you. imagine stumbling across a diary that. said that um and here's the other thing. too is there are. cases where there is a little bit of a. reflection of the original word and the.

example that Ed gives here is Twist yeah. like to call a woman a Twist mhm which I. don't know if that's derogatory or not. or just some weird slang that no one. uses anymore I don't think so although I. don't know so yeah these are also the. people who use the CW like it's. nothing well but can't bring themselves. to say. Fanny oh man I can't wait to go back. there which we're going to do soonish. right I'd love to do in 2020 maybe yeah. all right uh so twist came from twist.

and twirl mhm uh which meant girl which. is uh they were talking about like. dancing with a girl twisting and. twirling in a nightclub let's say so. there's some Connection in that one yeah. so girl and ended up becoming twist so. that sort of makes sense there's another. one called on your Todd after a guy. named Todd Sloan and it means on your. own right and the thing is is like on. your Todd it makes sense slan rhymes. with own it doesn't have have to have. any connection but that one actually.

does yeah cuz Todd SLO was a famous. jockey in the 19th century like horse. jockey yes okay what other kind is there. disc jockeys oh yeah sure um so his book. his Memoir was called Todd Sloan by. himself which is weird to refer to. yourself in third person for your Memoir. H but there was a line in it that. apparently East uh East Enders in London. like really picked up I was left alone. by those I never ceased to grieve for. it's so like the idea of being a loner.

on your own became synonymous with Todd. Sloan his name just happened to rhyme. with that so it's one of those rare ones. where there is a connection to it and. also rare Chuck in that this is a 19th. century horse jockey and still today on. your Todd is recognized as on your own. whereas a lot of people probably have no. idea where comes from ex who he is and. when that happens that frequently that. person gets moved out for potentially. another celebrity or another word that's. a little more understandable.

recognizable another new jockey to. people today right yeah exactly which. can you name one nope nope um all right. maybe we should take a break and we'll. talk about some of the other uh some. other examples after this. [Music]. message you. know you. [Music]. know.

okay we're back Jerry just opened the. loudest sandwich in the history of the. world it really was she's like hold on a. minute and it sounded like it was in a. space blanket it was like Ernest opens a. sandwich over here that was a good one. not as good as part two no it wasn't I. saw that first one in the theater yeah. uhhuh so here's some other examples that. uh have some of them have sort of stayed. over in England and some of them have.

found their way like apparently the term. put up your. dukes Cockney rhyming slang and I didn't. write down where Dukes came from but. that's where it was originally a Cockney. rhyming slang term yeah because so um. you would think it have to do with fists. or something right yeah Dukes for fists. why didn't I write that down okay but. but so that's another really important. point to to say about Cockney rhyming. slang it's frequently rhyming slang. based on slang so the word it's placing. is a SL word to begin with so who knows.

what the duk's actually rhymed with at. any point yeah that's a good point yeah. so uh first of all I've never heard this. blowing a raspberry what have you heard. of that yeah that's toting out of your. that what I just did uhhuh is as much. blowing a raspberry as actually farting. oh really yeah. okay well I've heard of giving someone a. raspberry like that okay that's the same. thing yeah okay well apparently that's. derived from raspberry tart slang for.

fart isn't that amazing it's pretty. great yeah um so that one is one of the. rare ones I love talking about. exceptions do you know that oh sure um. that's one of the rare ones that made. its way to America because everyone but. you knows what blowing a raspberry is I. guess I'd never heard of the term. blowing but uh giving someone a. raspberry same thing I found two more. one uh is controversial it's not set in. stone but it's as good in explanation as. any get down to Brass tax uh I saw that.

one too uh that's a standing for facts. let's get down to the bare facts uhuh um. possibly that's not that's not right. done um one that is 100% as far as I can. tell is bread I saw that too for money. yeah in America bread and honey became. just bread right and it caught on here. and caught on again just now well Bees. and Honey though was also for money. right is that just one of the local like.

depends on where you are things yeah. okay yeah but in America I mean you know. we use bread everybody calls it bread. yeah I didn't know that that had come. back yeah somebody wrote in to say it. had come back let's get this. bread right I guess so that sounds. familiar you need to spend more time on. Reddit uh here's another one dog and. bone stands in for phone call me on the. Dog and Bone sure uh and then Ed says. there may be some kind of correlation. between one syllable words that lead off.

that. phrase um staying in the phrase but I. don't there are so many exceptions I. don't know if there is a rule exactly. and I think this really this is worth. saying we looked all over the place I. know Ed did too for straight up. linguistic dissertations and papers on. Cockney rhyming SL right it's not there. no it's just treated as fun and. hilarious even though it is its own. madeup language that's ever evolving. still alive has been around we'll talk.

about the history in a minute for 150. plus years but apparently no linguist. has ever thought enough of it to to sit. down and write a genuine paper about it. right so we couldn't find that but the. one thing that really occurred to me was. in looking into. it I don't know if it could ever be. explained I think it's the result of so. many individual decisions yeah and then. Collective agreements to take up and go. along with those decisions. and those agreements can be totally.

undermined by a new individual decision. that catches on that how could you. possibly map and even understand all or. explain all of that different stuff but. even though we can't explain it once you. start to learn how it works it's. understandable so you can't explain but. you can understand it yeah and it's like. I always wonder with any kind of slang. or like who who makes this stuff up who. sets the rules it's probably just the. kind of thing that just starts on a.

playground yeah and spreads from there. right and gets codified unofficially y. uh then everyone's using it sure but I. wonder if there I don't know you can't. trace this stuff which is sort of. frustrating is researchers right because. I think we like to pinpoint things yeah. but it I mean people have tried to trace. it and they've come awfully close well. we'll get to that in a minute okay I. want to go over some more of these all. right I want to get up on my plates and. get out of here you're meat your plates. of meat plates of meat which is.

feet or between podcasts you probably. have to go take a rattle yeah Rattle and. hiss Rattle and hiss like a snake you. got it and that's means peeee right. exactly and then should I guess we. should talk about. ARS yeah sure that's the one you were. pretty excited about yes because it goes. even so much farther than ours even yeah. it's pretty convoluted okay you want to. take it no go ahead okay so ARS the very. famous name for ass in the UK everybody.

knows that sure it's actually it comes. from Aristotle which you're like well. what does that have to do with ass well. let me tell you Aristotle is Cockney. rhyming slang for bottle again the. question is what does that have to do. with ass right well originally the. Cockney rhyming slang word for ass was. bottle and glass right it became. shortened a bottle somebody came long. and rhymed Aristotle with it that got.

shortened to Aris and then to ARS crazy. goes even further than that oh yeah I. saw one plaster for ARS plaster of Paris. oh okay Aris Aristotle bottle bottle and. glass ass wow that's how deep the. Cockney rhyming slang has covered up the. collective ass of the UK yeah and again. it's like why you can't you can't put. that in a book and explain it in any. kind of way that makes sense you got to. do it on a podcast or a paper right you.

just have to accept it it's like that's. how it happened on the street I think. that's a really good way to put on the. street to the East End right right on. your. cocaine no not your. cocaine uh they do have for all that. we're saying about how don't look at. glossies and stuff like that they do. have dictionaries MH that you can buy if. you're a total square I would guess it's. probably not a cool thing to do that's. like saying you know I want to become a. rapper so let me get a rhyming.

dictionary yeah although I did have a. rhyming dictionary at one point well. rhyming it's not you know just limited. to Cockney we humans love to rhyme yeah. which is one assertion Ed makes for why. it's popular or so longlasting well. should we talk about some of the. theories on where it originated because. I looked in a bunch of places and I. don't think I mean I think calling it. theory is a little um I think they kind. of know where it came from they just.

don't know exactly why they can pinpoint. it to like on this day on this in this. place right but it's not a complete. mystery though no they've got it. basically localized to about a 1 and a. half mile area of. London and basically down to the year. it's just exactly where and exactly who. and exactly why are the real outstanding. questions which is actually a lot of. questions yeah one of the one of the. wise uh was that uh and this one I think.

doesn't have as much Credence now but no. but it's like the most common one right. is that you will hear that it was coded. language created by criminals to keep. the cops confused as to what was going. on right which makes sense in one way. because it it certainly could cause. confusion but it also um and I think Ed. makes a pretty good point that like. where they like were cops just hanging. around overhearing things like why did. they feel like they needed to create. this whole language. and cops if they were street cops would.

have figured this stuff out as well you. know cuz it wouldn't have been that big. of a secret yeah there's this guy named. Dick Sullivan who wrote an essay on the. Victorian web which is actually kind of. cool uhuh um and he said the the street. cops would have come from the same areas. and families and neighborhoods that the. criminals would have so they would have. been raised on this rhyming slang anyway. sure so it doesn't really hold up to. scrutiny when you when you look at it. like that it was a intentionally created. coded language meant to confuse the cops.

right then that's not to say it. nevertheless wasn't associated with some. kind of criminal underworld East London. types yeah and it almost certainly was. taken up by the Coches but it wasn't. necessarily cochy or criminals who came. up with this rhyming slang to begin with. there's this guy named John Camden. hotton and he wrote one of the better. titled or at least most directly titled. books I've ever heard of and there's no.

colon no there's not there are a couple. commas though a dictionary of modern. slang can't and vulgar words used at the. present day in the Streets of London and. he he has a chapter on rhyming slang and. he basically says that it was uh two. groups shunters and patters basically. traveling salesmen who would stand on. street corners and Hawk their Wares and. you know maybe pick your pocket while. you were trying to buy something from. them and that they came up with Cockney. rhyming slang yeah and I saw that enough.

to think that that's probably true yeah. and the shunters in particular spoke in. like singing rhyming language so it. would have been a pretty quick Evolution. yeah I think this one makes a lot of. sense um Street criers I mean uh England. and London especially has has a long. tradition of street corner barkers and. things like this right I remember seeing. one myself when I traveled there in the. 9s and I was like they're still doing. this stuff yeah it was like a box in the. park where where you can go stand on it. and soap box uh maybe I mean that's.

where that came from right probably and. uh and just you know shout your peace. sure and I saw a guy doing it and I. thought what year is this this is. wonderful right it's fantastic but the. in particular the shunters they sang and. then sold Penny ballads like sheet music. of Penny ballads that they would write. real quick after somebody famous died or. there was a train wreck or something. they'd write a ballot about it and then. be out in corner selling these things. but because they were singing in Rhymes.

and sing song it's a really good bet. that these guys were the ones who. originated rhyming slang yeah but um not. necessarily for any kind of uh. intentionally coded language because. that same guy Dick Sullivan says there's. no reason for patters who sold their you. know little Galls or trinkets or. whatever I love that word um or shunters. who were selling these Penny balls they. worked alone there was no need for them. to come up with a coded language.

communicate with one another yeah in. front of a customer who they were. ripping off because they didn't need to. communicate with one another in front of. customers well I saw that maybe they you. know could communicate with each other. when customers were around or something. I don't know right but the the other. part of that is that it supposedly flies. in the face of how slang develops that. it's unintentional right like you don't. say let's come up with a coded language. and here's how it works yeah even like. American teenagers when they have salang. that their parents don't understand like.

you remember how that stuff went it was. something you just heard you never sat. around sure I'm hipped to that and said. you know like hey let's use this other. word that our parents won't know what it. means right you know we'll call it Pepsi. when we're on the phone. okay uh there was also the Victorian. backs. slang uh which that was not Cockney. rhyming slang that was just pronouncing. words. backwards uh sort of simple like yab for.

boy yes but something interesting about. that is that it's based on the spelling. not the pronunciation right which. suggests a strong degree of literacy. which you would probably not have found. among at least the patters right. probably among the shunters because they. were writing songs and ballads right so. it's possible they came up with that too. but they think maybe it was butchers and. butcher assistants who came up with. backs slang oh really yeah and actually. to confused customers or to be able to.

talk about what price they should charge. a customer in front of the customer. right so there is like you take all. these different pieces and you get the. current idea and story for Cockney. rhyming slang but it's actually a bunch. of different stuff yeah that wasn't. really all connected until later on yeah. what it probably also was not was uh. Irish doc workers yeah uh there was one. Theory being bandied about that Irish. doc workers would come over and they. would speak in this made up rhyming. slang uh so you know they could just.

talk among their Irish peers and the. people of London wouldn't understand. them not much of this makes any sense at. all yeah because they don't uh I think. now you see it some in Ireland but um. for all those years that it was. prevalent in London it was not in. Ireland right unless they literally just. made it up when they came over from. Ireland right plus why would they not. just speak Irish in front of the English. who might not speak it yeah or what. would that be. gayc uh sure I think so we're getting so.

much of this wrong do you want to take a. break and fact check everything and. maybe just rewind and start over yeah. let's let's get our uh wait what was. facts our our brass tax that's right so. we got to go get our brass straight. that's. [Music]. right. [Music]. know. [Applause]. [Music].

okay we're back it's been about 30. minutes since we left you guys we um. fact checked everything and so far so. good yeah this is a perfect podcast so. you said at the beginning you teased out. that it might not even have been Cockney. to begin with m everything I saw kind of. placed it in that uh that East I think. they call it cheapside really area wow. um where the cochy were but Cockney was.

also I mean it's also not necessarily. specifically a one place right no but if. you're talking about Cockney people. supposedly the definition of a cockney. person is someone who's born within. hearing distance of the bells of St Mary. labau okay in. cheapside um which was in London what. this guy John Camden hotton who was. writing in 1860 and placed the um placed. the origin of rhyming slang 12 to 15.

years before so this guy was like on top. of it as it was happening yeah um he. placed it at a place called seven dials. which is like a big Marketplace and I. think still is which is a mile and a. half away from cheapside which at the. time was in Westminster at the time a. different town right so you had city of. London and then Westminster which is. where seven dials was so if you if you. believe hotton then it wasn't the. Cockney at all who came up with that it. was those patters and shant.

tours that's a different word than I. said no shant tours well Cockney has uh. what that is though is just sort of the. working class right uh I think used to. be viewed as uh uneducated sort of lower. class um that may be a bit harsh but if. anything it was not the Upper Crust of. British Society right uh you know the. the pub the hard drinking pubg goers the. rubba duub dub goers. is that pubs yeah which is another. exception because you go from one one.

syllable Pub uh to rubba dub dub and it. actually has three Rhymes in there oh. interesting but that is cogne rhyming. sign for Pub well but the cnys were also. known for a bit more of progressive. politics MH and uh I think nowadays. there can be a bit more of a of a pride. of like a working class Pride associated. with it I think there was back then too. was there MH but I think that's one. reason also why the Cockney accent and. Cockney rhyming slang in particular was.

um just treated shabby and looked down. on you know by the rest of England right. because it was supposedly you know. associated with lower classes yeah it. also found its way to. Australia isn't that right and then uh. somehow on the west coast of. America um where the Australian version. came in yeah in the prisons of the West. Coast in the US it was called Australian. rhyming slang so I guess some cool guy.

from Australia showed up and was. speaking in gibberish that just made. everyone think I want to do this too. right uh it's kind of fun to go on. YouTube though and see some of these you. know because it's such a big thing in. England it's been all over the BBC I. watched one episode of The Two Ronnies. where this uh priest did a sermon in. Cockney rhyming sang it was very funny. and one of those sort of you know ' 80s. I guess it was ' 80s early ' 80s BBC. comedies are always fun right you know. the production value is not all there.

the laugh track is it had to have been a. laugh track I don't think it was a. studio audience although it may have. been I don't know it was hard to tell. that's that's during the transition uh. but there were other shows uh not on. your nelli and the Sweeney and the. titles of both of those shows come from. actual Cockney rhyming slang as well. yeah the Sweeny is particularly dense. it's short for Sweeney Todd which was. rhyming slank for flying Squad which is. a particular branch of the Metropolitan.

Police kind of like major case oh. interesting so the Sweeney was like the. major case division of Metropolitan. Police so Nelly comes from the word. Nelly Duff the name Nelly Duff which is. apparently just a nonsense name and that. rhymes with puff which means life so not. on your Nelly means not on your life. yeah. clearly it's so dense and then of course. things like you mentioned guy Richie. really brought it into the American. Consciousness in the 90s when he made.

those two movies right he brought into. my Consciousness I'll tell you that yeah. sure so there's a really good question. uh Chuck that I think we need to ask how. is it that in 2019 uh you and I are. analyzing a. hyperlocal slang that came out of the. 1840s yeah in you know some very. specific part of London like how how is. cogne rhyming slang still around after.

all this year all these years when so. much other slang is come and gone over. the years that we have no idea ever even. existed what's the staying power of. cogne rhyming slang do do you expect me. to have an. answer I don't have one about why it's. stuck around other than people you know. if people don't still use it then it. would have fallen by the wayside so. clearly it's popular yeah it seems to. have gotten and maybe this is just my. recognition of it but seems to have. gotten more popular in the last 20 years. what I was reading is that especially in.

the UK it's it popularity is based on. kiness yeah you know kind of like. hipster irony like the Cockney rhyming. word for wife is trouble and strife uh. so I imagine that probably doesn't go. over very well if you don't call your. wife that with a smile like you're. joking kind of thing so I think that's. the um that's the current use of it uh. but I mean it's it was used and it's. still in use and there's still new words. like um Posh and beex is the word for.

sex oh really that's pretty new uh. apparently Britney Spears can be used. for beers which is great and I saw one. um Nelson Mandela if you're getting a. Stella Artois yeah is a Nelson Mandela. for Stella so the fact that it's still. evolving it's still being contributed to. new like these existing words are being. replaced with new ones um and the fact. that it's 150 years old I mean there's. got to be some thing to it that makes it.

more more I think I think it's that it's. just so hard to understand until someone. explains it to you I think it's fun I. think it's a few-fold it's fun that's de. it's fun it's fun it's uh there is a. code to it and part of the fun is that I. think his friends maybe trying to make. something up and having it catch on sure. uh it's almost like a game like a word. game yeah a. bit did you just go a.

bit and then. um the the the unique britishness of it. all yeah is has a lot to do with it I. think yeah because even though it got. exported to Australia No One Associates. it with austral sorry Australia but if. we like if it really took off in America. with hipsters people in Britain would. probably be like forget it it's flown. the it's FL well what is flown the coupe. what could you say for Coupe um it's uh. on the uh Gwyneth and the.

goop so the gwith it's flown the. Gwyneth okay see that one might catch on. I can do this all day you never know. some of them aren't so good but other. ones or gems uh the why of it all though. to begin with I thought was interesting. um I asked you why and you said you. don't know no you said why is it. sticking around I mean why did it start. to begin with oh okay and I think you. know Ed makes a pretty good point that. they're just timing period has always. been a thing right even in the states.

and he uses uh examples like SE lator. alligator after wild crocodile like I. remember saying that when I was a kid I. just said that yesterday did you really. yeah see you later alligator yeah. there's just something about it maybe. it's the childlike nature of it that's. fun it makes old people feel young again. yeah it's I mean like it takes something. boring and adds a little flare to it you. know uh or like Yiddish like fancy. schmancy I love that people say that. kind of stuff all the time I never. Associated it with Yiddish but it. absolutely is isn't it I think.

so I mean not outright Yiddish but uh. yish culture I think so um but yeah it. is strange it is strange that it started. to begin with and like I I wish there. was a definite like person zero that we. could point to yeah and you know on the. Streets of London and someone thought it. was funny and then they told two friends. and so on and so on. yep Rich Richie started it and poy and.

Ralph malf took it from there and it. just kept spreading like wildfire you. got anything else uh yes I found a 2012. survey by the Museum of. London and uh it set off a bunch of. articles about how Cockney Ryman slang. is dying but if you read the article it. says that 40% of respondant believed it. was dying which means 60% don't believe. it's dying yeah so that's good yeah and. then they they go on to talk about how. there's all these you know new words.

that are being replaced and added so I. don't think it's going anywhere I think. it's usage has become more ironic and. everything but it's still like most most. Britain still understand Porky pies. means lies yeah like don't tell me any. porkys give it to me straight well I. think it was good we were able to sit. here and have a good rabbit and pork. sure or. Torque apparently rabbit and pork is. talk. but oh that was one other thing the. studying this there's reasons people.

study this it gives you a window into. the past for example like pronunciations. yes so Farthing used to be um a. Camden well Farthing is like a quarter. penny that they don't use anymore but it. used to be called a Camden after Camden. Gardens which tells linguists if they. would get off their deaths and study. this thing that um they used to. pronounce far thingss as. fens oh interesting or at least it's. something that rhyme closely to Gardens.

but that's why people study this. allegedly amazing well if you want to. know more about Cockney rhyming slang. get yourself a great Cockney rhyming. dictionary and go to England and just. start talking up a storm they love that. stuff they love they can't get enough. they'll treat you like one of their own. that's right uh and since we said that. it's time for listener. mate uh satanic Panic we just. re-released that as a Saturday select uh. I think that was was that one of your. your picks or one of mine I don't know. I'm not sure but it was it was a good.

pick for October one of our favorite. episodes yeah it I think of all time and. we got a lot of U people emailing again. about it uh after listening to it for. the first time hey guys listen to. satanic panic and realized I had a story. about that I grew up in a suburb of. California by the teenage years I'd. become what you might call goth wore. black spiked jewelry dark makeup and all. that stuff my town had a 10 p.m. curfew. on one night when I was 14 my friends. and I were walking home after curfew got. pulled over by the cops they questioned. and searched us then called the parents.

except for mine I'm not sure why but the. officer insisted on driving me home once. there he also demanded to come inside my. home I was too scared to argue so I let. him in he went to my bedroom this is. getting creepy yeah uh I was really. worried about where this was headed uh. he went to my bedroom which is full of. posters of Marilyn Manson uh and the. crow and stuff like that and he started. going through my things what he told me. he was concerned because satanists are. out there and that if I wasn't careful. I'd find myself sacrificed he told me.

there were rituals and barns that. require virgins and I should rethink my. lifestyle before I got raped or. hurt uh I thanked him for his concern. and I quietly said everything nice that. I could to get him out of my house. before he woke up my father situation uh. this happened in 2000 uh after hearing. your episode today it's hard to believe. that the residue the satanic Panic would. still be around then especially in the. police force uh just to be clear the. suburb I lived in had very little crime. so the officer was very surprising.

indeed uh my boys and I love your show I. recommend it to everyone nice that is. from Lisa G. this really something Lisa I know kind. of disturbing yeah like I don't I don't. know if that cop was a good guy I don't. know it started to go down a pretty. creepy Road there it really did yeah. maybe he was just looking for some pod. or something he was just coming up with. a cover story I got to get in your room. and go through your stuff exactly you. got any weed yeah really I was relieved. to know that it just ended in the cop.

leaving but yeah agreed he went above. and beyond and not in a good way right. well thanks a lot Lisa glad that you. made it through that and that you and. your boys are listening to stuff you. should know could you get any cooler I. don't think so well if you want to be. cool like Lisa Ander boys you can get in. touch with us by going on to stuff you. should know checking out our Social. Links there and as always send us an. email to stuff podcast iheartradio.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of.

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