Cockney rhyming slang
East End cipher
Cockney rhyming slang is a form of slang originating in London's East End that substitutes a rhyming phrase for a word, then often drops the rhyming element. "Stairs" becomes "apples and pears," shortened to "apples": I'm going up the apples. "Phone" becomes "dog and bone," then just "dog." The pattern remains productive, generating new expressions like "Britneys" (Britney Spears = beers).
- apples and pearsCockney term for steps
- porky piesRhyming slang for lies
- tea leafDried plant for brewing
- bread and honeyRhyming slang for money
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
East End · working class · Bow Bells · regional dialects · Whitechapel · pub culture · Adam and Eve · idiomatic expressions · Shoreditch · Tower Hamlets · figure of speech · dry humor · British comedy · barrow boy · tea-time · euphemism · Victorian era · London Bridge
- East EndEast End, Bow Bells, Tower Hamlets, Whitechapel, apples and pears
- secret slangargot, cant, secret language, code words, twin language
- slangjargon, lingo, argot, cant, vernacular
Cockney rhyming slangQueen's English
Standard British formal speech
King's English · RP · BBC English · Oxford English · academic discourse