INTERVIEW WITH A REAL COCKNEY (MY DAD). THE COCKNEY ACCENT + COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG EXPLAINED

Do you find it difficult to understand taxi drivers in London? Or maybe you struggle to understand the British English accent in London gangster films. (Hint: it's not just the accent... it's also the vocabulary, as you'll discover in the video)
During my recent trip back to England I took the opportunity to interview a real life cockney (who also happens to be my dad!) who can help you.
In this short chat we talk about;
What is a cockney?
The cockney accent (a particular London accent)
Cockney rhyming slang.
I hope you find this chat interesting and useful!
Here is a comprehensive list of cockney rhyming slang;
happy2movelondon.co.uk/comple...
Watch this next: Super advanced adjectives • 10 SUPER ADVANCED ADJE...
Ben Gill
English teacher
Instagram: to_the_point_English
Facebook page: Ben Gill English to the Point
#cockneyaccent #britishenglish #britishaccent #cockneyryhmingslang #englishaccents #englishslang
#tothepointenglish #bengill

[@leonidlenko]

Ben, you're the spitting image of your dad :D I'm really grateful to both of you for this thorough explanation of the accent. It helps to know more about the culture even though I prefer to speak with an American accent. Looking forward to another videos with your old man!

[@fernandapistillo495]

Thanks a lot to the both of you for sharing such an interesting piece of the English culture, even though I guess it'd be too difficult, for non native speakers, to get and use the Cockney rhyming slang... I didn't know anything about the origin of this particular accent, so I'd like to thank you dad for sharing a pill of history as well. A big hug from Italy

[@fernandapistillo495]

Your* dad

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You're welcome, Fernanda. It's useful to know some cockney rhyming slang for comprehension purposes but not for your own use 👍

[@mariabaroumi9383]

I've just watched this lovely video and I'm grateful for all the knowledge you've shared with us ! Ben you are one of my favourite teachers on utube !

[@soniamayrink3295]

So, he is your Dad!!! You look very much alike...and he has a beautiful voice.Beautiful accent. Wish both of you lots of happiness and sweet moments together.💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks, Sonia 🙂

[@soniamayrink3295]

@@tothepointenglishwithben. Does he live in Spain, too?

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

@@soniamayrink3295 No. My parents live in Cambridgeshire

[@idochkova]

Awesome! So interesting to get to know this! Your dad is adorable!

[@cbs5357]

Very interesting video Ben, and fantastic the collaboration with your dadd!

[@caro2z]

Thanks for sharing the cockney accent and slang with us. It is very interesting how the language can change even while remaining in London. In that case, I would like to share with you, Ben, something about Argentine slang. Our slang in Argentina is called "lunfardo" and it was the particular way of thieves to communicate with each other. Currently the whole country uses it. A common example of lunfardo is changing the order of syllables into a word . For example "Parado" changes and it comes "Dorapa". The same with "Frío" changes to "Ofri". "hotel" ➡️ "Telo" In other cases, we even subtract a syllable. For example: "Pantalón" ➡️ "Lonpa", "Japonés" ➡️ "Ponja" I hope you learned something new about Spanish today, and thanks for making english videos. I'm preparing for the CAE exam in November and now I feel more confident to take the exam. Greetings from Buenos Aires

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

That's fascinating, Carolina. Thanks for sharing!

[@effielarkin3044]

This dialect and the history of cockney and yiddish influence is fascinating. Im really loving it. Thank you

[@reshadbaghirov1140]

Good for you to have a video with your daddy on father's Day. Keep going sir

[@polinablanc1535]

It's amazing! You are take after your dad so much!

[@summer6868]

How lovely!!!! I loved the curious slang! 💛💛💛🌞🌞🌞

[@lpspeace2343]

Great video - thanks for posting!

[@oliviaengelvin5940]

Cheers this was so amazing ! you english people are so sophisticatedly funny !! I love your language ! I did know about the accent but the slang part was unknown to me, thnx again to both of you, take care

[@TequilaDave]

One of the better videos on rhyming slang, thanks 😊

[@santipoggi]

Nice video! it is always nice to learn more about slang and common english usages. Here in argentina, we do the same in with our spanish.

[@caroltelanianton1926]

Hi Ben, thank you so much for your videos, loved it!!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You're welcome, Carol!

[@draganajovanovic325]

Love the video❤️

[@englishwithalona]

Hi, Ben! Awesome video!❤️Thanks a lot! I am really into different accents! Wish we could watch more videos like this one!😊

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Glad you liked it, Alona!

[@matedoliashvili7620]

Hello Ben, I usually watch your videos not only one but many times and for the first time on KZbin I would like to write a comment and say what a nice person you are. I have seen so many English teachers here but you are the best. Not only because you have very good accent and very interesting videos but because you are such a nice person. I am looking forward to your next videos. Thanks ones again. 👌👌

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thank you! That's a lovely comment 🙂

[@2010Tigresa]

Love this video! Thank you very much, especially to your father. Greetings from Uruguay!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Glad you liked it, Patricia!

[@pavelzhivalov8572]

It permanently keeps mind inventive,that's great!

[@cyruschang1904]

Love it! Special thanks to your dad for being such a sport!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

👍

[@innerhonesty5046]

Thank you, this is very interesting!!

[@tiany5430]

That was a really informativ video. It's so important to know about the culture and some slangs. Learning a language is not jus about grammar, reading or writing but also, to understand the style of speaking from people from different areas across England, I mean, my focus is on british English for example. Natives are always pleased if an English learner knows what they mean. Thanks a million.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Glad you found it useful 🙂

[@emiliavizireanu1230]

Hi teacher, Ben ! It was a pleasure for me to hear you father talking . It was an agreeable talk . And also I found out more about English slang , London slang in this case . I would have kept on listening to him . He is a distinct man . Thank him on my behalf.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I will 👍 Thanks, Emilia

[@fleurblanche7642]

Yes this a nice and endearing video a nd a good introduction to English familiar situations Not for all bees and honey I wouldn't change watching this family relationship that emanates love and affection and respect

[@samirayadgar8197]

Your father is correct I believe, Ben. This a working class slang; a defense mechanism against those in power.

[@paulchignell8341]

Cant.

[@franciscojose6496]

Fantastic to the point congratulation very information

[@TheEnglishStop]

Never heard of cockney slang, so interesting, thanks for explaining!!🙏

[@seanwilson6288]

My father is cockney. Also born in '47 in South london. I grew up in America but also have in the back of my mind his accent. This is brilliant for myself to witness another generational difference of language and learning to understand eachother

[@TeacherZdenek]

I used to work in Romford among Cockneys for about a year back in 2005. Great lads :)))

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Salt of the earth! I was born in Romford (I think we spoke about that in you podcast 👍)

[@TeacherZdenek]

@@tothepointenglishwithben. Haha, yeah. We must have done. My memory is like a sieve these days :D

[@Trnaif_]

God bless him. Thank you both🤍

[@franciscopontesvelasco4315]

Thanks for the video

[@bonafidelore]

Run up the apple and pears grab the dog and bone, jump in the jam jar and go for a ruby Murray. Love bumping into a fellow cockney and just going back and forth.

[@ContentCrave]

Your videos are quite informative. One would get real knowledge out of them.

[@petelobl]

Hi Shami, I am happy you are learning and making progress! I read your sentence starting with “One would get..”, and I think you are being polite and thankful regarding the videos, is that so? I wanted to ask because “would” seems a bit conditional to me, and I feel like I expect a second part to the sentence, such as, “if only one watched them.” etc. “Would” in your usage also could mean that one really receives good information from the videos, but I think it might be better stated with a different verb selection. Direct is always a good choice. In this case, “You can learn a lot from them.” works alright. The use of “one” as a general subject tends to sound a bit formal; it is a choice of style, and I’m sure you’ll understand more over time. Keep up the good work.

[@ContentCrave]

@@petelobl thank you for your correction.

[@deyiramirez1813]

Thank you! It was super interesting.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You're welcome... glad you found it interesting! 🙂

[@aysunylmaz2418]

Having the opportunity of learning about Cockney culture is amazing. Thanks from Bursa,Türkiye.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You're welcome 🙂

[@Mona-kd7fr]

It was a great pleasure to get acquainted with your father, Ben. You're so jammy to have him by your side. I'm still in denial about my beloved father's sudden departure. He passed away last year and that the fact that every tomorrow starts without him really weighs on my heart.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I'm so sorry about your father, Mona ❤

[@Mona-kd7fr]

@@tothepointenglishwithben. Thnx for your sympathy 🙏❤🌻

[@paulchignell8341]

Your dad is alive and will continue to live as long as you remember him and cherish his memory.@@Mona-kd7fr

[@mariteacher]

So interesting, I love to keep learning about language variety. It's the same in Spanish. Such a varied language depending on where you're from. And no variety is "better". I live in Bilbao,Spain. Every time I'm on the phone with my mum from La Rioja,my Spanish accent ( even my words,tone, everything) changes instantly. My children always say it's very funny to hear me . Like I suddenly turn into a totally different person 🤣

[@claudiareginateixeira2662]

What a brilliant cockney talk in such a special day! It would be lovelly to have a special weekly cokney talk. What do you think of it? I wish I could rhym any sentence. Thank you very much indeed. Your father has got a lovelly voice, and that took me to the novels where dad always stop by and storytelling... Down here, where I live in Brazil, we celebrate father's day in the first sunday of August. We Brazilian have our own celebration calendar and they never mach with any other country. LOL!

[@oeynon]

Great video, Ben.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks, Ol!

[@staredziejeshaiya8141]

That’s really interesring, thanks guys

[@hastalavista9431]

Many thanks both of you! Very interesting topic! My teacher from Manchester explained principles of cockney accent as a slang language and we found the same examples in our mother tongue.

[@jadeoscill784]

I am FASCINATED!!!! Being half Mexican, I know rhyming slangs from Mexican slangs, especially the different "barrio" slangs, you find it in certain rap songs too. sometimes it's not as much of a rhyme but more homophones, but I see a lot of similarities in these slangs

[@rosemary-y4733]

Ben u r amazing, fank u for your videos!!!!! ❣️❣️❣️

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You're welcome, Rosemary. 🙂

[@michaelharrison3602]

The Bow bells Church iis the Church of St Mary le bow in cheapside not Bow Church in Bow East London, Bermondsey in South London is much closer than places like Stratford and west nam

[@deniskuzmin3770]

Nice one 👍

[@mariatrapasso9358]

Hi Ben, you both are great!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks, Maria

[@thechatbox18]

Hey Ben! So nice to meet your old man here 😀 Where are you both? Cause as far as I know today's Father's Day in the UK as well. Now I know where you got your Barnett looking so good 😀 Thanks, as usual everything you share is cool, interesting and fun.

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I was in England a couple of weeks ago and took advantage of my trip to film our chat. Glad you liked it 🙂

[@lupat5630]

Very difficult to learn, Ben! Cheers to your father!

[@ermelindalombardo1477]

Thank you for sharing such an interesting aspect of the English language. Cockney is a riveting part of the English culture. It's good to know, because I have lot of English friends speaking Cockney. Next time I'll invite them to a Ruby jajajaj

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I'm glad you found it interesting 👍

[@Clasesdeingles.]

Oh dear! I found really difficult to understand and follow your father`s speech. Now, I see cokney accent is quite complex . I have already knew about this because I am a fan of Adele and she speaks like that. Anyways, it`s so interesting to meet new accents and learnings as such.

[@sarahgill7579]

Your skin and blister really enjoyed this 🤣

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Of course! How could we forget skin and blister! 🤦‍♂️

[@marisouza2629]

Oh, teacher Ben, I loved your dad! 🙏🏿💙🙏🏿😘

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I'll let him know 🙂

[@leogeee1]

Thanks Dad!

[@Crisguay]

Hi Ben! You are the spitting image of your dad and I can tell from this video that the apple never falls far from the tree. Congrats to both of you for being able to share moments like this. Enjoy that cup of Rosie Lee together and as many as you can. THANKS FOR SHARING!! 👨‍👦☕

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks, Cristina 🙂

[@TheLittlechicthings]

You won't believe I was teaching Cockney expressions the other day!! 💗💗

[@colomba8722]

What an elegant man your dad is!!

[@free_boy]

Thanks for lesson. To be honest i was extremely discombobulated while your father's talking. It was hard to hear sounds and understand sentences in some situations. But it was interesting)

[@AlfieFone]

Ruby Murray was singer in the 1950

[@colinpiper4386]

Ben, St Mary Le Bow church is in the City of London.

[@miguelmelo8735]

your videos are particularly informative and It reminds of the film "to sir with love " starring Sydney Poitier .well he didn't understand students well when they used a cockney rhyming slang and asked them what is that meant? i liked This vídeo so much as usual

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I need to watch that film! 🙂

[@paulchignell8341]

My favourite bit of rhyming slang is the use of the word "Melton" to mean "lie". Melton Mowbray is the home of the pork pie. You can do the rest for yourself.

[@user-xk2sn4up2g]

Wow! That was interesting and exhilarating! Cockney accent is always so horrible to understand for English learners. So it is for me. But Thanks to your video I am making progress 😂👍🏻

[@luciamelodesousa6371]

Ben: it is very interesting! Thanks!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I'm glad you found it interesting, Lucia! 🙂

[@shaunigothictv1003]

His dad is a really cool guy.

[@OceanChild75]

You don’t half look like your dad!! Awesome video by the way 😊

[@ronaldvillardo3714]

LOL... "Pete Tong" hosts a show on BBC Radio... loved this "it's all gone Pete Tong" thing, lol

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

😁

[@TheAdamField]

I am from Hungary and a big fan of Cockney accent. I am always watching Only Fools and Horses. I think Del’boy and Rodney use this dialect. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am also speaking German and currently learning Japanese :) but Cockney accent is something unique.

[@dominiquelasserre828]

Cockney rhyming slang could be useful on KZbin to bypass censorship!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

😀

[@merccadoosis8847]

I had to use close caption in order to understand what was being said. Am old enough to remember what used to be called "flash" or old NY street lingo. There were some similarities but nobody speaks that way anymore.

[@angelicasouza5376]

Happy Father’s Day

[@markkirkby8897]

All my family Inc me are South London Cockneys born in Bermonsdey & the Elephant - a true cockney doesn't use the whole fraze i.e "apples & pears" we would only say apples - I was bought up speaking tradition cockney "Pete Tong " is a modern version ! like your olde pot & pan if your around people that are rabbiting in cockney it all comes back - "get up those woodens wash ya boat & don't forget ye gregory ! time for some bopeep" ! ---- like yer dad I also got told off for not speaking properly, most of us did as you was looked down on for speaking like a londoner / cockney and that's why a lot of us speak a bit posh !

[@Andy-di1ot]

I literally figure out the meaning of cockney and I am here at first as well for my learning English. Cockney is interesting but actually difficult a bit.

[@hardywatkins7737]

I took a young guy i was caring for to london to see his family who were in the east end. His mother was wierd, often in conversation she would say "Look!" and i was a bit confused as she didn't seem to be asking me to actually look at anything. It seemed to be quite random ... just saying "Look!" now and again. In the end i just decided it must be some kind of east end thing. My mother is technically a Cockney ... born in the sound of Bow bells.

[@Marta26M]

👌

[@linhnguyenhuong6005]

Can you give some modern, or newly created Cockney Rhyming Slangs used today?

[@dhoraray1310]

The look of a real replica of this father.

[@Joy-lg1kg]

I'm going to use apple and pears and frog and toad.I think they are very nice expressions. Of course not while I'm taking the Cambridge exam.😅

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

😀👍

[@tylerkwong4947]

😂

[@michelecompagno4861]

Adele's accent❤

[@abhilashb7922]

Ben sir.......India

[@LUR1FAX]

Nice beard, innit luv.

[@lakshmanankomathmanalath]

❤️❤️❤️🙏😊

[@dianestahr4421]

Apples and pears means stairs.

[@craigpimlott204]

April in Paris .bottle and glass .😂

[@marthapapargyri4961]

For a cockney, your dad has a rather "posh" London accent!

[@rollercoaster271]

I'm a cockney was born in forest gate maternity

[@venomtang]

5:00

[@loveOldMen2023]

hello, do you often use cockney rhyming slang when you speak with non-native speaker or people who their English is advanced?

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

No, never.

[@loveOldMen2023]

@@tothepointenglishwithben. Thank you...by the way.. greeting to your father...!!

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks 👍

[@Yasmin-cx4hk]

English native speakers enphasize the rhyming slang as a clear feature of cockney. For us , foreiners, cockney is the way they drop or change souns. Adele or Tom Hardy are examples of cockney speakers opossing for example Tom Hildeston's way of speaking. I love both acents. Your father , in my opinion, doesn't sound working class. He has, I think, an average, natural accent. You two tought us English maneres: sorry, it's alright, thanks... Love your culture

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Thanks 🙂

[@user-th2rv8mb1j]

Oy man... I've never heard about that before... Rhymes. Seriously? Is there any chance to guess what would one speak, if I am out of the context?

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

You would need the context

[@OutNaBoutYallahBiNa]

If i am not mistaken, now the church is in a muslim/bangladeshi area now? Are you from bengladeshi background too?

[@Joe-ym6bw]

I wish i could speak English but i speak American

[@carlaferrauto3628]

Too difficult for me this video 🥺

[@montesierra717]

Oaw! It's impossible for us to understand cockney. Do you understand what the rhymes are referring to, Ben?

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

I understand a lot of them. There are so many, though. Unless you live in the East End, it's impossible to know them all

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

Are you older than your dad?

[@lauraa.6418]

Lovely cockney rhyming slang! Are there any books about it? However, I found this video absolutely riveting. Could your father teach us English, with you?! 😁

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

😀 I'll ask him. Maybe he could prepare a course

[@lauraa.6418]

@@tothepointenglishwithben. It would be great! 🤩

[@nickychimes4719]

In English we just the word "earshot", i.e -within earshot of etc etc Terrible level kids! 😢😢😢

[@TheLittlechicthings]

Your dad should be in your videos more, if he doesn't live near you, maybe in video conferences. Just saying. 😜

[@tothepointenglishwithben.]

Maybe!

[@lilj804]

Bees and honey = money