Rhyming slang

[15]: 30 The use of rhyming slang has spread beyond the purely dialectal and some examples are to be found in the mainstream British English lexicon, although many users may be unaware of the origin of those words.

[22]: 3  John Camden Hotten's 1859 Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words likewise states that it originated in the 1840s ("about twelve or fifteen years ago"), but with "chaunters" and "patterers" in the Seven Dials area of London.

[20] Hotten's Dictionary included the first known "Glossary of the Rhyming Slang", which included later mainstays such as "frog and toad" (the main road) and "apples and pears" (stairs), as well as many more obscure examples, e.g. "Battle of the Nile" (a tile, a common term for a hat), "Duke of York" (take a walk), and "Top of Rome" (home).

[20][23][22] It remains a matter of speculation exactly how rhyming slang originated, for example, as a linguistic game among friends or as a cryptolect developed intentionally to confuse non-locals.

If deliberate, it may also have been used to maintain a sense of community, or to allow traders to talk amongst themselves in marketplaces to facilitate collusion, without customers knowing what they were saying, or by criminals to confuse the police (see thieves' cant).

[citation needed] The academic, lexicographer and radio personality Terence Dolan has suggested that rhyming slang was invented by Irish immigrants to London "so the actual English wouldn't understand what they were talking about.

In the 20th century, rhyming slang began to be based on the names of celebrities — Gregory Peck (neck; cheque),[25]: 74  Ruby Murray [as Ruby] (curry),[25]: 159  Alan Whicker [as "Alan Whickers"] (knickers),[25]: 3  Puff Daddy (caddy),[25]: 147  Max Miller (pillow [pronounced /ˈpilə/]),[citation needed] Meryl Streep (cheap),[25]: 119  Nat King Cole ("dole"),[25]: 221  Britney Spears (beers, tears),[25]: 27  Henry Halls (balls)[25]: 82  — and after pop culture references — Captain Kirk (work),[25]: 33  Pop Goes the Weasel (diesel),[25]: 146  Mona Lisa (pizza),[25]: 122  Mickey Mouse (Scouse),[25]: 120  Wallace and Gromit (vomit),[25]: 195  Brady Bunch (lunch),[25]: 25  Bugs Bunny (money),[25]: 29  Scooby-Doo (clue),[25]: 164  Winnie the Pooh (shoe),[25]: 199  and Schindler's List (pissed).

[25]: 163–164  Some words have numerous definitions, such as dead (Father Ted, "gone to bed", brown bread),[25]: 220  door (Roger Moore, Andrea Corr, George Bernard Shaw, Rory O'Moore),[25]: 221  cocaine (Kurt Cobain; [as "Charlie"] Bob Marley, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Gianluca Vialli, oats and barley; [as "line"] Patsy Cline; [as "powder"] Niki Lauda),[25]: 218  flares ("Lionel Blairs", "Tony Blairs", "Rupert Bears", "Dan Dares"),[25]: 225  etc.

[27] In the 2001 feature film Ocean's Eleven, the explanation for the term is that it derives from Barney Rubble,[28] the name of a cartoon character from the Flintstones television program many decades later in origin.

[citation needed] Unique formations also exist in other parts of the United Kingdom, such as in the East Midlands, where the local accent has formed "Derby Road", which rhymes with "cold".

[22]: 74 Lesser taboo terms include "pony and trap" for "crap" (as in defecate, but often used to denote nonsense or low quality); to blow a raspberry (rude sound of derision) from raspberry tart for "fart"; "D'Oyly Carte" (an opera company) for "fart"; "Jimmy Riddle" (an American country musician) for "piddle" (as in urinate), "J. Arthur Rank" (a film mogul), "Sherman tank", "Jodrell Bank" or "ham shank" for "wank", "Bristol Cities" (contracted to 'Bristols') for "titties", etc.

Rhyming slang has been widely used in popular culture including film, television, music, literature, sport and degree classification.

Examples include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) (wherein the slang is translated via subtitles in one scene); The Limey (1999); Sexy Beast (2000); Snatch (2000); Ocean's Eleven (2001); and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002); It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004), after BBC radio disc jockey Pete Tong whose name is used in this context as rhyming slang for "wrong"; Green Street Hooligans (2005).

In Margin Call (2011), Will Emerson, played by London-born actor Paul Bettany, asks a friend on the telephone, "How's the trouble and strife?"

The live-action Disney film Mary Poppins Returns song "Trip A Little Light Fantastic" involves Cockney rhyming slang in part of its lyrics, and is primarily spoken by the London lamplighters.

In the animated superhero film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), character Spider-Punk, a Camden native, is heard saying: "I haven't got a scooby" ("clue").

The use of rhyming slang was also prominent in Mind Your Language (1977–79), Citizen Smith (1977–80), Minder[36][page needed] (1979–94), Only Fools and Horses (1981–91), and EastEnders (1985–).

London-based artists such as Audio Bullys and Chas & Dave (and others from elsewhere in the UK, such as The Streets, who are from Birmingham) frequently use rhyming slang in their songs.

In Dashiell Hammett's The Dain Curse, the protagonist exhibits familiarity with Cockney rhyming slang, referring to gambling at dice with the phrase "rats and mice."

[39] The author of the novel, Anthony Burgess, also believed the phrase "as queer as a clockwork orange" was Cockney slang having heard it in a London pub in 1945, and subsequently named it in the title of his book.