Rhyming slang

An optional Cockney rhyming slang language setting on an ATM on Hackney Road in London, England.[1] The rhyming words are not omitted, to make the slang easier to understand.

Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang.[2][3] In the US, especially the criminal underworld of the West Coast between 1880 and 1920, rhyming slang has sometimes been known as Australian slang.[4][5][6]

The construction of rhyming slang involves replacing a common word with a phrase of two or more words, the last of which rhymes with the original word; then, in almost all cases, omitting, from the end of the phrase, the secondary rhyming word (which is thereafter implied),[7][page needed][8][page needed] making the origin and meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know.[9][page needed]

  1. ^ "Cockney cash: Lady Godivas and speckled hens". BBC News. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Cockney Rhyming Slang: Origins and survival". Unravel magazine. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  3. ^ Smith, Jack (7 October 2018). "Jack may have been a dull boy, but he had lots of friends". A Word with You. Sharon Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  4. ^ Partridge, Eric H. (1968). A Dictionary of the Underworld: British and American. Routledge Revivals: The Selected Works of Eric Partridge. Routledge (published 2015). p. 12. doi:10.4324/9781315696300. ISBN 978-1-138-90447-7. LCCN 74356238.
  5. ^ Maurer, D.W. (1944). "'Australian' Rhyming Argot in the American Underworld". American Speech. 19 (3): 183–195. doi:10.2307/487290. JSTOR 487290.
  6. ^ Baker, Sidney J. (1945). The Australian Language. Angus & Robertson. p. 271.
  7. ^ Roberts, Chris (2006). Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme. Waterville, ME: Gale/Thorndike Press. ISBN 978-0-7862-8517-4.
  8. ^ Bryson, Bill (1990). Mother Tongue. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-014305-8. Bryson, a humourist, states that there is a special name given to this omission: "the word that rhymes is almost always dropped... There's a technical term for this process as well: hemiteleia". Given that this is a genus of plant species, and appears in no readily available sources as a linguistic term, it is unclear whether the humourist was being humorous, or informative.
  9. ^ Ayto, John (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Rhyming Slang. Oxford Quick Reference. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280122-7.