Cockney Rhyme Glossary

Who Are Cockneys?

The term Cockney is applicable to any inhabitant of the London area who is born within the sounds of the Bow-bell. This is the 'True Cockney'.

There are other notable origins to the Cockney story, one of strangest is from the 17th Century scholar John Minsheu, who proclaimed himself as a 'professor of languages' (who offered the now-famous definition above), gave this etymological reference to the word Cockney:

'. . .which tearme came first out of this tale: That a Citizens sonne riding with his father into the country asked, when he heard a horse neigh, what the horse did the father answered ''the horse doth neigh''; riding farther he heard a cocke crow. and said ''doth the cocke neigh too?'' and therefore Cockney or cocknie, by inuersion thus: incock, incoctus: raw or vnripe in Country-men affaires.' Simon Elmes, Talking for Britain: A Journey through the Voices of a Nation (England: Penguin Books, 2005), p.54.

This is unlikely; in fact what is interesting is that the earliest recorded use of the word cockney in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the Middle English term an egg:

'An egg: the egg of the common fowl, hen's egg; or perh. one of the small or misshapen eggs occasionally laid by fowls, still popularly called in some parts ‘cocks' eggs’, in Ger. hahneneier. Obs.' (Cockney, n. (a) A.n.1, <www.oed.com>,15/04/2008.)

Its use widened from being a misshapen egg, to 'an indulged child' (Elmes,(E) p.54) and then became used a term of abuse by people from the country to the townsfolk. It then became, after much change, the term that was used to describe the people from one particular town, the city of London.

Another theory that is also based in the medieval period in England is proposed by Wilfred Whitten who says that:

'The term ''Cockney'' was not at first a term of reproach; it meant one who dwelt in the land of Cocaigne, that is, the Land of Plenty. Cocaigne was an imaginary town in medieval story, where all the houses were made of cake, and all the streets paved with gold: so London appeared to the rude country-folk a city overflowing with food and riches: therefore they called the townspeople Cockneys. It would seem from an old play of Elizabeth's [the first] time that ''Bow Bell'' was actually used as synonymous with Cockney: ''He's a Bow Bell,'' signifying, ''He's a Cockney.'' Julian Franklyn, The Cockney: A Survey of London Life and Language (Great Britain: Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1953), p.48.

From the Nineteenth to the End of the Twentieth Century:

The progression of Cockney rhyming slang during this period is a result of a variety of factors that range from social and cultural movements and major historical events.

During the Victorian era, the introduction of Standard English and the establishment of Received Pronunciation or the 'Queens' English' caused a stir in the world of language and creation of dictionaries. Most notably there became an increase in dictionaries of 'vulgar tongue' that contained many of the disrespected slang and cant of the common working class. This disrespect fell hard upon not just the Cockney slang, but their accents, status in society and the culture.

Many believed that Cockneys were criminals, because of their 'secret language', comparing them to the thieves that were rife in London during this period who also had jargon and cant for their particular trades (.e. pick pocketing and mugging). (I go into much more detail of the origins of the rhyming slang in Cockney Rhyme.) This view dissipated once the class system began to be less stifling in society during the early stages of the twentieth century. More benefits and routes became open to the working class.

War provided change in different ways. As the army needed all of the available men in Britain to go to war, there was a multitude of dialects and accents together in one unit of Englishmen. It is noted this regional integration caused the adoption of each regions particular styles of slang, which was passed on once the men returned on a national level. A mixing of English dialects also came into practice during the evacuations of the inner city children, most famously during the Blitz in London. There was a merging of both the 'north and south', and the 'country and city' during this period of war. This has led to a large understanding and acceptance of the multiple dialects and slang words used by different regions across England.

The image and behaviour of the Cockney, their distinct accent and rhyming slang began to spread far out of London and into homes everywhere through wide media coverage the television and feature films were becoming more popular during the late fifties. This increase in media attention in critically acclaimed motion pictures and television dramas, have made the stereotype of the Cockney internationally recognized. In the last fifty years there have been many famous portrayals of the stereotypical Cockney and the imitation of their equally famous accent, most notable are Audrey Hepburn’s Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and the roles Nancy and the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver!.

This continues in film and television during the eighties and nineties in ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and the BBC's ‘Only Fools and Horses’:

This has created a large acceptance of this English character, and it has become an icon of Englishness and England herself. The youth culture of today (as many do) imitate iconic figures in our society and attempt to adopt the slang used by them; therefore this heightened media coverage of the Cockney has reversed the views of Victorian society completely, showing that as a nation we have come to accept diversity in culture and language.

The 21st Century and the Future of Cockney 'Slanguage':

The youth culture that has adopted the slang of the now iconic Cockney stereotype have began to forget the traditional and classic rhyming slang phrases like 'apples and pears' in favour of the more recent icons of music, film and television; for example, 'George Michael = menstrual cycle' and 'Britney Spears = queers.' This type of mutation is known as 'Popney' rhyming slang, this was 'contrived for www.music365.co.uk, an Internet music site' (The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Volume II:A-I Ed. Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor (UK:Routledge , 2006), p.267.) This can be seen as diluting the original essence of dry wit and humor surrounding the traditional Cockney rhyming slang; it is now losing the identity of the Cockney and becoming a part of modern day youth culture, and moving away from a small minority group to a global scale of superficiality.

Many words and phrases like 'blowing a raspberry' and 'taking the mick' have been taken from Cockney rhyming slang and integrated so well into the English language that their origins have been mostly forgotten; this is because of the global acceptance and dilution of the Cockney into our culture. This amalgamation, although on one hand has had positive effects on the perceptions and societies' reaction to the Cockney heritage, has also began to destroy this heritage, as traditional slang is being lost within the confines of history, in favour of our modernised 'hip' and 'cool' new slang rhymes in this new millennium.

The future is still uncertain, but the continued cycle of integrating and utilising Cockney rhyming slang within a modern society that is dominated by youth culture will only lead to the complete eradication of this interesting display of language play in favour of a 'revamped' universal system of rhyming slang and its contemporaries.