The Beautiful Language/Accent that is Cockney
‘Ave a Butchers
The term Cockney has more geographical
and social meaning than linguistic meaning.
It is often referred to the working
class and specifically the people living in the East End of London.
The earliest known usage of the word was
in 1362 in the book ‘The Visions of
William concerning Piers Plowman’ by William Langland, however this version
of the word meant a small and misshapen egg.
In Middle English it literally meant “A
cocks egg”.
“In Reeve’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer in
1386 it appeared as ‘cokenay’ which at the time meant ‘Milksop’ (a piece of
bread sopped in Milk).
The region of the Cockney language is
still undefined.
Although the region is mostly affiliated
with the East End.
A true Cockney is defined as someone
born within ear shot of the bells of the St. Mary-le-Bow church.
The Cockney accent has been long looked
down upon as being inferior, but Cockney is becoming more and more influential
and some claim that it will become a standard language.
Common parts of the Cockney language
include leaving out the “H” phoneme in some words, such as Head which would
become ‘Ead’ pronounced [E-D].
Some of the best examples of Cockney
slang or expressions are:
(Note that the AND is replaced with an
‘N’)
-
Apples ‘N’ Pears = Stairs
-
Cain “N’ Able = Table
-
Butchers = A Look
-
Banet Fair = Hair
-
Bird Lime = Time
-
Trouble ‘N’ Strife = Wife
-
Frog ‘N’ Toad = Road
-
Jam Jar = Motor Car
-
Pot ‘N’ Pan = Old Man
-
Cobbler’s = Balls/Testis
-
Bag Of Yeast = Priest
-
Dirty Beast = Priest
-
Hot Cross Bun = Nun
-
Steak ‘N’ Kidney = Sydney
-
China Plate = Mate
-
Dead Horse = Bottle Of Sauce
-
Harold Holt = Salt
-
Brahms ‘N’ Liszt = Pissed
-
Brown Bread = Dead
-
North ‘N’ South = Mouth
-
Weasel ‘N’ Stoat = Coat
And the best Cockney word is: Trafalgar’s.
(Read on to understand)
Trafalgar Square
Fox And Hare
A Hairy Greek
A Five Day Week
Weak And Feeble
Pins And Needles
Needle And Stitch
Abercrombie And Fitch
Abercrombie
Zombie (So Trafalgar’s equals ZOMBIES).
Cheers
