Cockney Rhyming Slang

[EDS]

much as it sticks in my throat, eagles is right, kettle is definitely a watch , it might not even be rhyming slang , though 've heard it as kettle and hob/ fob as in fob watch, or kettle and cotch, i havent got a clue.

It is to do with the watch being in pawn, I will try and find it as I have read it somewhere before.

 

[EDS]

It is to do with the watch being in pawn, I will try and find it as I have read it somewhere before.

**EDIT It was commonplace for everyone to wear a pocket watch and chain in the waistcoat & it was also equally commonplace for the watch to be in the pawn shop as an interim loan security - however no one was keen for people to know that this situation was necessary, so the chain would be kept and worn as normal. In the kitchens of the day the fire would be an open one and there would be a bar or hook above it from which a length of chain would be secured and from there the kettle would be suspended above the fire to boil. So with this in mind, if the pocket watch chain, with no weight on it to hold it in the pocket, fell out and dangled minus the missing watch, there would always be some clever Charlie ready to pipe up "What's that for then, your bleedin' kettle?"

 

[Puppet Master]

Aristotle = Bottle; Bottle & Glass = Arse

Ah thankyou, a good example of double rhyming slang My dad frequently uses "Macker" for shit.... Macaroni = Pony

 

[The Spanish]

I don't think this is rhyming slang but can anyone tell me where the word shant comes from? (as in drink)

i always thought shant meant off sales. refers to the bottle you would take to buy beer out the pub. probably wrong but thats what i was told.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Kettle is not a watch. Most definitely Kettle Drum

A watch is hop as in hop scotch
A glass is smack me as in smack me arse.

They used to call watches 'kettles' on Minder and I trust Terry and Arfur when it comes to rhyming slang.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Buying a new pair of Tilbury's (i.e. Tilbury Docks - socks)

To go with your jekyll's?

 

[pintsawhiskey]

You are wrong, kettle is 100% the original rhyming slang for watch. My granddad used to use it

this 100 percent.

used to watch the kettle from boiling over and putting the fire out, as it hung on a chain, like a fob watch used too!!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

By the way, I used to share a house with a chap called 'Bow Bell Tel' once upon a time. I learn some slang off him.

 

[KLUNK]

Forest Gump and Eartha Kitt are alternatives when downloading in trap 2 ;-)

 

[EDS]

I don't think this is rhyming slang but can anyone tell me where the word shant comes from? (as in drink)

A shant is a pot that holds a quarter of a gallon of beer, so I would assume that is where it came from

Looking on google as I was curious I think it must also be a naval term as in something connected to shanty as the word seems to be used mostly in naval ports and Greenwich, where there is a beer produced called shant.

 

[Jesus Gul]

To go with your jekyll's?

or your Callard & Bowsers

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Is used, but only by folk who clearly don't get cockney rhyming slang.
The slang works on the rhyme of the second word, "giraffe" is but one word.
The correct use would be "You're 'avin' a tin" or alternatively "bird" - second word being "bath" in both examples.

Favs of mine, used often in our household are:
Brush yer barnet [fair]
Wash yer boat [race]
Get us some jockeys [whips]
Bugger, got something in me mincer [mince pie]
Going for a pony [and trap]
Need a Jimmy [riddle]
Oy, that's mine you tea [leaf]
'ello me ole china [plate]
Look at the thrupenny [bits] on that

Don't subscribe to these modern name ones except for Ruby Murray, Hayley Mills, Ertha Kitt & the rarely used Tom Foolery

Nice traditional approach.

I love a bit of rhyming slang and it will often feature as part of banter.

The only ones I use regularly at home are "Barnet", "apples" and "Ruby" ... other traditional ones I like and have used occasionally are "plates" and "almonds".

My brother was once baffled by a geezer approaching him at Victoria and asking for the "bird"...

 

[ditchy]

You're right , its st Mary le bow on cheapside , as for boundaries , they're determined by earshot , I suppose it was a lot further before the advent of high buildings , but in recent times I'd reckon the only true cockneys were people born in barts .

It depended on which direction the wind blew . prevailing westerly so a fair amount of cockneys could hear Bow Bells in the East End as the wind traveled that way .

 

[BensGrandad]

What about your skin (and blister) sister and your smoulder (and smover) brother

 

[Puppet Master]

or your Callard & Bowsers

donkey rides

 

[Puppet Master]

I think a lot of people use rabbit [and pork] and "on me Todd [Sloane]" nowadays without knowing their origins lay in rhyming slang

 

[Kumquat]

Up the Queen Mum.

 

[MJsGhost]

Bangers and Mash, Scooby doo, Drum and Bass, Boracic (lint), and Berk(shire hunt) are favorites. particulaly last because its used by people who wouldnt dream of using the term and probably dont realise what they are saying.

Absolutely this (though I thought it was Berkely Hunt rather than Berkshire?) Either way, I love the way it gets used innocently...

Orchestras is another I like, along with some of the random, more modern ones, e.g. I'm just jumping in the 'Rutger'

 

[fruitnveg]

You're all havin' a bubble.

...and now I'm off for a tommy.

 

[MJsGhost]

You're all havin' a bubble.

...and now I'm off for a tommy.

We're having a Greek? Bobble, Shirley? (Bobble hat & Scarf)