2008 Woodie Awards
A Rhyming Linguistic Takeover?
Nicole D'Andrea
Issue date: 11/17/04 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The brass tack of the matter is that this is not a Jackanory but a real way that some people Duke of Cork. Now, to translate: The fact of the matter is that this is not a story but a real way that some people talk.
Cockney is a verbal language that uses substituted words, usually two of them, to create a coded alternative for a word in existence. For example, the phrase "butcher's hook" is the slang word for "look." Cockney gets difficult, however, when the second word is dropped, and all of a sudden someone is saying, "give it a butcher's," instead of "give it a look."
Nobody in particular gets credit for creating the language. Nor does anyone really know where it exactly began, although it is most often associated with East London. The most popular story is that rhyming slang was originally developed by London dockworkers. Also, it is said that thieves developed cockney rhyming slang in the 1850's, who were looking to trick eavesdroppers and police.
The word "cockney" comes from "cockeneyes" which means "eggs that are misshapen," as if laid by a cock, a male chicken, where it was a derogatory term. Its' meaning has twisted slightly over time and later came to refer to city folk who were ignorant of what was known as "real life." Then the modern definition of the word originated in the 17th Century, where it refers to anyone born the sound of the Bow-bells, which are the bells of the tower of St. Mary-le-Bow, which is commonly but incorrectly referred to as Big Ben. Ben is not the tower, but the largest of all of the bells.
Although the term is sometimes still used in a derogatory sense, it mostly refers to the spoken word. The language of cockney itself is slowly infiltrating itself into modern English language, and most people are unaware of where it came from.
There is no rule for the language or what words are chosen to rhyme. It is, however, just something a person has to know what words to use for substitution. Sometimes the second word in a rhyme is dropped, but not always, so a person has to be aware of that. Perhaps the language has not caught on at all because of the many small rules that one must grasp.
Cockney is a verbal language that uses substituted words, usually two of them, to create a coded alternative for a word in existence. For example, the phrase "butcher's hook" is the slang word for "look." Cockney gets difficult, however, when the second word is dropped, and all of a sudden someone is saying, "give it a butcher's," instead of "give it a look."
Nobody in particular gets credit for creating the language. Nor does anyone really know where it exactly began, although it is most often associated with East London. The most popular story is that rhyming slang was originally developed by London dockworkers. Also, it is said that thieves developed cockney rhyming slang in the 1850's, who were looking to trick eavesdroppers and police.
The word "cockney" comes from "cockeneyes" which means "eggs that are misshapen," as if laid by a cock, a male chicken, where it was a derogatory term. Its' meaning has twisted slightly over time and later came to refer to city folk who were ignorant of what was known as "real life." Then the modern definition of the word originated in the 17th Century, where it refers to anyone born the sound of the Bow-bells, which are the bells of the tower of St. Mary-le-Bow, which is commonly but incorrectly referred to as Big Ben. Ben is not the tower, but the largest of all of the bells.
Although the term is sometimes still used in a derogatory sense, it mostly refers to the spoken word. The language of cockney itself is slowly infiltrating itself into modern English language, and most people are unaware of where it came from.
There is no rule for the language or what words are chosen to rhyme. It is, however, just something a person has to know what words to use for substitution. Sometimes the second word in a rhyme is dropped, but not always, so a person has to be aware of that. Perhaps the language has not caught on at all because of the many small rules that one must grasp.