rhyming slang
Apples and pears
Rhyming slang substitutes a rhyming phrase for a word, then often drops the rhyming part: "stairs" becomes "apples and pears," shortened to "apples." It originated in 19th-century London and remains associated with Cockney speech.
Some terms have spread widely: "use your loaf" (loaf of bread = head), "blow a raspberry" (raspberry tart = fart).
The slang functions partly as insider code, since outsiders can't decode the truncated forms.
- thieves' cantCoded criminal vocabulary
- East EndLondon district beyond the City
- argotGroup-specific coded speech
- truncationCutting something shorter
- lingoGroup-specific vocabulary
vernacular · substitution · pub culture · raspberry · coded language · dialect · cant · tea leaf · hidden meanings · wordplay · stairs · apples and pears · patois · phone · porky pies · Adam and Eve · boat race · feet
- slangjargon, lingo, argot, cant, vernacular
- Cockney slangapples and pears, boat race, mince pies, porky pies, bread and honey
- East EndEast End, Bow Bells, Tower Hamlets, Whitechapel, cockney
- London slanginnit, bruv, fam, roadman, bare
- British Englishaluminium, aubergine, behaviour, biscuit, bonnet
- language termsgrammar, word, vocabulary, syntax, synonym
rhyming slangplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
straight talk · explicit language · plain language · direct speech · plain English
rhyming slangformal language
Elevated, rule-governed expression
Queen's English · official language · proper English · legal language · BBC English
rhyme, rhythm, slang, rhythmic, rhymes, rhyming, rhymed, slangy, rhymer