Appendix:Cockney rhyming slang
Appearance
List of Cockney rhyming slang in common use
[edit]The following is a list of well-known (to Londoners) examples of Cockney rhyming slang. It is not intended to be comprehensive. Many terms are based on popular culture, and so the table is constantly updated according to changing fashions. The terms listed here are well established.
- Adam and Eve — believe
- Adam and son — done
- Alan Whicker — ‘’knicker‘’
- apples and pears — stairs
- Almond Rocks — "Socks"
- aris (short for Aristotle) — bottle
- Arthur J. Rank — wank ('I was just having an Arthur J.')
- ball of chalk — walk
- Barclays Bank, J. Arthur Rank, Jodrell Bank, Tommy Tank — wank
- Barnet (short for Barnet Fair) — hair
- Barney Rubble — trouble
- bees and honey — money
- berk (short for [[Berkshire Hunt]]) — cunt (metaphorical — referring to person, not genitalia)
- billy (short for billy-goat) - coat
- bird (short for bird lime) — time (in prison)
- boat race — face
- dusty bin and supersonic — gin and tonic
- black cabs — ‘’
- boracic (short for boracic lint) — skint
- bottle (short for bottle and glass) — arse (audacity)
- Brahms and Liszt — pissed (drunk)
- brown bread — dead
- Bristol (short for Bristol City, a football team) — titty (breast) (usually plural)
- bubble (short for bubble and squeak) — Greek
- bubble (short for bubble bath) — laugh (noun)
- bull and cow — an argument
- butcher's (short for butcher's hook) — look (noun)
- Cadbury's Flake — mistake
- Cane (short for Cane and Abel) - table
- cattle trucked — fucked (meaning exhausted, f.e. 'I feel cattle trucked')
- chalk (short for Chalk Farm) — arm
- cheese and kisses — missus (wife or girlfriend)
- Cherry-og — "Dog"
- Cherry Ripe — "Pipe"
- Cherry tart — heart
- china (short for china plate) — mate (friend)
- Chocolate flaked — ‘’baked‘’
- city slickers — knickers
- cobblers (short for cobbler's awls) — balls (testicles)
- cocoa — say so, as in "I should cocoa."
- cream-crackered — knackered (slang word meaning tired)
- currant bun — sun (also The Sun, a British newspaper)
- Custard Creme — "dream"
- custard and jelly — telly (television)
- cuts and scratches — "matches"
- daisy roots — boots
- Dickie Dirt — "shirt"
- Dicky bird — "word"
- dog and bone — phone
- dog's meat — feet
- Duke of Kent — rent ("The landlord's putting up the duke.")
- Duncan Goodhew - clue
- dustbin lid — kid
- Finsbury (short for Finsbury Park) — arc(light) (in theatres)
- fireman's hose - nose
- four by two — Jew
- Frazer-Nash — slash (urinate)
- frog and toad — road
- Gareth Hunt — cunt (most common at the height of the actor's fame)
- Gary Glitter — shitter
- German bands — "hands"
- ginger (short for ginger beer), Brighton Pier — queer (homosexual)
- Ginger hair — ‘’bear‘’
- Grass in the park — "nark" (informer)
- grumble and grunt — cunt
- Gregory Peck — neck
- gypsy's kiss — piss
- half-inch — pinch (steal)
- Hampsteads (short for Hampstead Heath) — teeth
- Harry Randall — Candle
- Hampton Wick — Dick
- Hank Marvin — starving
- Hearts of oak — "broke" (no money)
- Holy Ghost — toast
- in and out — snout
- Irish jig — wig
- iron hoof — poof (homosexual)
- Jack Jones — own (as in 'on your own')
- Jack The Dandy — Brandy
- jam-jar — car
- James Blunt — cunt (derogatory)
- Jimmy Riddle — piddle (urinate)
- Joanna — piano (pronounced "pianna" in Cockney)
- Kettle — Watch (kettle and hob, fob (watch))
- Khyber (short for Khyber Pass) — arse
- King Lear — Ear
- cup of John — “cup of coffee” (John coffee)
- laugh and joke — “smoke”
- loaf (short for loaf of bread) — head
- Longer and lingers — "fingers"
- loop the loop — soup
- Mickey Bliss - piss (taking the Mickey)
- mike and dave — microwave (CJ)
- mince pie — eye
- minces (short for mince pies) — eyes
- Mork and Mindy - Windy
- Mutt and Jeff — deaf
- nelly (short for Nelly Duff) — puff (life, as used in the phrase "Not on your nelly!")
- Nervous tick — dick
- Night Boat to Cairo - giro
- north and south — mouth
- Oily rag - fag (cigarette)
- Oliver Twist — pissed (drunk)
- ones and twos — shoes
- Oxford (short for Oxford scholar) — dollar (five shilling piece, since Royal Mint made dollar coins with 'Dollar and Five Shillings on them, until decimalization)
- Peckham Rye — tie (necktie)
- pen and ink — stink (noun)
- Pete Tong — wrong (as in "it's all gone a bit Pete Tong")
- Pig's Ear — "beer"
- pipe your eye — "cry"
- plates of meat — feet
- pony and trap — crap
- porker, porky (short for pork pie) — lie (untruth)
- rabbit (short for rabbit and pork) — talk
- raspberry ripple — cripple
- raspberry (short for raspberry tart) — fart
- rifles (short for rifle ranges) — changes
- Rosie (short for Rosy Lee) — tea
- rub-a-dub — pub
- Ruby Murray — curry
- salmon and trout — snout (tobacco)
- sausage and mash — cash
- scarper (short for Scapa Flow) — go
- scooby (short for Scooby Doo) — clue (inkling, as in "I haven't got a scooby.")
- scotch eggs — "legs"
- septic tank — Yank
- Sexton Blake — "fake"
- sherbert (short for sherbert dab) — cab (taxi)
- Shirt and tie — ‘’cry‘’
- skin and blister — sister
- Sparkly clean — ‘’bean‘’
- struggle and grunt — cunt
- syrup (short for syrup of figs) — wig (sic)
- tables and chairs — stairs
- taters (short for potatoes in the mould) — cold (adjective)
- tea leaf — thief
- thruppennies (short for thruppeny bits) — "tits"
- tid (short for tiddlywink) — Chink (Chinese person)
- Tilburys (short for Tilbury docks) — socks
- Tilburys (short for Tilbury docks) - pox (venereal disease)
- titfer (short for tit-for-tat) — hat
- tomfoolery — jewellery
- Tommy guns - the runs (diarrhea)
- tom tit — shit
- town halls — balls (testicles)
- trouble and strife — wife
- Uncle Dick — sick
- Uncle Ned — bed or head
- Turtle doves — gloves
- two and eight — state (of upset)
- Vera Lynn - gin
- Vera Lynn - skins
- Vera & Philharmonic — gin and tonic
- Weasel and Stoat — "Coat"
- Weeping Willow — "Pillow"
- whistle and flute — suit (of clothes)