American Reacts to How To Cockney!

[@lewisg7614]

I like the more modern "Jeremy hunt", so fitting in many ways..

[@StormhavenGaming]

Yeah, he's a right berk...

[@dianethompson209]

😂 As a geordie I've never heard this, but I hate the real word, so in extreme circumstances I'm going to use this.

[@austinwiththehat]

I also like the 2 stage ones. “I fell on my arris “. Aristotle=bottle, then bottle and glass=arse”

[@jeffredd9965]

I always wondered about that. I use it all the time.

[@jamiesimms7084]

It's good, it's harder for people to understand, except for Aris

[@zaphodbeeblebrox6627]

How about when it cold weather. "Brrrrrr... it's tater's outside!" It comes from a contraction of the word potatoes. Potatoes in the mould = cold.

[@theprophet9429]

Yep, 99% don’t know the origin to Aris’ The double layer one selection are bets, agree. £20 is only “a score” to entry levellers. Seasoned pros know it’s “An Apple” Apple core, score.

[@neuralwarp]

​​​@@theprophet9429 That's 180° like Arris. A score is a word for 20, like dozen is 12. Then 144 is a gross.

[@stuartfitch7093]

I'm Lincolnshire born and bred but i use phrases like "I'm just off for a Jimmy" all the time. I think most Brits have a decent understanding of cockney rhyming slang to the point that we often don't realise we are using it.

[@neuralwarp]

Scots use Jimmy to mean a Number Two.

[@personalcheeses8073]

Well of course you do. You don’t have to be born by the Bow Bells to use rhyming slang

[@hadz8671]

There is an excellent Ronnie Barker sketch where he plays a vicar delivering a sermon in cockney rhyming slang about a "small brown Richard the Third"

[@davidhyams2769]

I was watching the footie (football/soccer) on the box (TV) at me gaffe (home, originally a small, cheap room). The match was a bit naff (originally from Polari, another coded language used among the gay community when it was still illegal, an acronym describing a good-looking straight guy - not available for f***ing. Now used commonly to mean not very good. Most people don't know it's original meaning), so I was happy to be distracted by a knock on the door. It was me old china(plate = mate). He asked me if I wanted to go for a ball (and chalk = walk) up the frog (& toad= road) to the rubba (rub-adub-dub = pub) for a pigs (ear = beer). I said yes, so went up the apples to put on my rounds (round the houses or "ahziz" = trousers, or "trahziz) and me almonds (almond rocks = socks), run a comb through me barnet (fair= hair) andd splash water on me boat (race = face. Most British people will know about the annual race between rowing teams from Oxford & Cambridge universities who compete on the River Thames in London in March each year. It's been going on since 1856) and have a quick Jimmy (riddle= piddle). Then I put on me daisies (daisy roots =boots) and me weasel (& stoat= coat) and shoved me titfer (tit for tat = hat) on me loaf (of bread= head) as it was a bit taters (taters/ potatoes in the mould= cold) and off we went. Well, we got rabbiting (rabbit & pork= talk) and I had a few too many and got quite Brahms (& Lizst= pissed). I got nicked (arrested) on the way home for D&D (drunk & disorderly) and spent the night in the dingley (dell = cell). When they let me out in the morning I felt quite uncle (Dick = sick) and wished I was brown (bread= dead). When I got home, the trouble (& strife= wife) was waiting. She wasn't happy and we had a right old bull (& cow= row) because I'd forgotten that she was going to the flicks (pictures/movies) with her skin (& blister= sister) last night and I'd promised to stay home to look after the dustbins (dusbin lid = kid). I was still too drunk to think up any porkies (pork pie= lie) and she hit me on the eyes (I suppose= nose).

[@JungleTunes94]

I didnt know till recently that Godber in Porridge was Kate Beckinsales dad. Such a good character in the show, died so young

[@auldfouter8661]

yup

[@Isleofskye]

He shot to fame as the tenant in Rising Damp before that. Great Loss.

[@vallejomach6721]

Samantha Beckinsale, that was in London's Burning, looks a *lot* like her dad...Kate Beckinsale was from Richard Beckinsale's second marriage so they're half sisters.

[@louiselucilla4019]

😅If you tell a man you like his 'whistle', it means you like his suit. Whistle and flute! Or after a night out at the pub, you go for a Ruby ... (Ruby Murrey, a popular British singer) curry.

[@furnessborn]

One of my favourites is 'Hank Marvin' (starving) Hank was and is a guitarist and lead guitarist with mainly instrumental 60's onward group The Shadows. Also teamed up with Sir Cliff Richard on some of his hit songs.

[@CriticalBrit83]

I hear he's pretty tired of being offered a sandwich when introducing himself to people.

[@Dan_Gilpin]

It's wild as a Brit how many commonly-used phrases come from cockney rhyming slang without you realising. I never gave any thought to why people say rabbit, barnet or porkies before seeing this lol

[@helenlomas1012]

My mum would call people who weren’t behaving sensibly “berks”, and my sister and I would too. Quite the surprise when I learnt what that was, it’s so ingrained in the language it’s lost all its original offensive meaning.

[@BRIDINC1972]

Most people have no idea what the original signifies, my mum here in Ireland practically banned it from the conversation in our house just in case we discovered the original saying. Full sentence becomes very obvious.

[@jeffredd9965]

I still use it but never knew. Just looked it up and now i'm gonna use it much more.

[@J_Degrees]

It's my favourite cockney slang as it sounds so mild while being so offensive. We weren't allowed to say it growing up which made it all the more thrilling to use.

[@brianrobinson1234]

Dog and bone is not used as a verb, only a noun. Never heard anyone use bags of mystery before, as a phrase it's pretty much brown bread, me old china!

[@boggled007]

It's wonderful watching you learn stuff. 🤔Your facial expressions as realisation sinks in is delightfully entertaining. 😃

[@MoJo-dj8qb]

A couple that my Dad used to say: He'd ask for his "tit fa" aka "tit for tat" = hat According Dad my sister and I were NEVER pissed (drunk), there were however occasions that we were a bit "brarms and list" 🤷🏻‍♀️🤪 I often ask people if they are having a "giraffe" = laugh Despite growing up in North West England and living the last 22 years in North Wales, I knew all the ones in the video.

[@brian9731]

She didn't translate the one she used at the beginning - let's have a BUTCHERS. Butcher's hook = look.

[@jerry2357]

A TV cop show from the 1970s was "The Sweeney", from "Sweeney Todd"="Flying Squad". Sweeney Todd was a fictional barber who killed his customers to make their bodies into meat pies, and the Flying Squad is the Metropolitan Police squad that specialises in investigating serious robberies.

[@spiritusinfinitus]

No Cockney rhyming dictionary is complete without including Berkeley Hunt. Calling someone a Berk is much ruder than most people realise!

[@Shoomer1988]

I'm a fan of the more modern variation Jeremy Hunt, it works on multiple levels.

[@spiritusinfinitus]

@@Shoomer1988 Very good point!

[@SkeletonDrums1]

Don't you open that Trapdoor!

[@tsrgoinc]

I’m a cockney born and bred, I was born at the Royal London Hospital in 1971, but the maternity ward was in Bancroft Road, Mike End, which you can see on the map, to the right of Whitechapel!

[@Rachel_M_]

There's another, rarer, coded language you might be interested in. Polari

[@araptorofnote5938]

He might. And he might not.

[@easybigun7825]

Am I getting Julian and Sandy vibes here. Bona.

[@Rachel_M_]

@@araptorofnote5938 come back next language video when I pull out the Patois, bald head.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox6627]

Ooooo Bold!🤔 How bona to varda your jolly old eek!😆😂😂

[@easybigun7825]

Can I troll round your lally.

[@VelvetVoice]

“Keep yer Alans on” (Alan Whickers = knickers).

[@Isleofskye]

Lend us an Alan Whicker, mate. Whicker=Nicker-£1..:)

[@TracyVenables]

In Yorkshire it's either Grundies/under trollies/under cracker's = underwear

[@Blue.723]

My village has an unpleasant one.. If you talk about your "Chalfonts" it means your haemorrhoids. We call them Piles.. My village is Chalfont St Giles (=piles) in Buckinghamshire.

[@austinwiththehat]

The one I use on an almost daily basis is having a butchers. Butchers hook = look

[@sarahealey1780]

I'm from the North, and a lot of these have just made it into everyday language.

[@johnp8131]

You're right about beers being called "Britany's", however traditionally beer is "Pigs Ear', or even a "King Lear" but to make it even more confusing "A Pigs Ear" can also mean to make a mess of something. Which just goes to show, when we think we've understood something? We haven't really!

[@noggintube]

There used to be a pub I knew called 'The Pig and Whistle' which I'm guessing comes from the slang - pig as you say for beer, and the phrase 'wet your whistle', which comes from clay tankards which would have a whistle moulded into the handle that people would blow to get a beer when you'd finished.

[@neuralwarp]

My favourite is Syrup of Fig = Wig

[@wolfie854]

Yes it's a code. Like much slang and what is known as 'cant' it's a special vocabulary understandable only by those in the know. That's the idea anyway. Actually a lot of the rhyming slang words have spread widely over the country. Most brits know some of them.

[@carolineskipper6976]

If trying out Cockney Rhyming Slang- don't forget to drop the rhyming word. So you get phrases like "How're you doing me old china?" when old mates greet each other. Some cockney phrases remain obscure, but there are large numbers of them that are commonly used throughout the UK and understood by everyone. She never got around to explaining 'butcher's', but this is one of those that everyone understands. (Butcher's Hook= look). I'd also add 'Boat Race' which is 'face', and 'Trouble and Strife' which is 'wife'.

[@kevinturner3997]

Although I'm not a cockney and live in the midlands, I grew up with this slang, and everyone I know uses it, and my parents and grandparents used it.

[@stephwaite]

I'm also from the Midlands (Brum) there were some people, back in the day, who used Back Slang did you come across it?

[@kevinturner3997]

@stephwaite My paternal grandmother came from Brum, and she never lost her accent. I believe I have possibly heard some of the slang you have mentioned. When we used to take my grandmother to visit her mother and her siblings, In Brum,( Brummies through and through), I'm pretty sure they used some form of slang that I hadn't heard before. I love the Brummie accent and also the Yamyam (Black country) accent and slang.

[@johnhewett9483]

Great to watch your reaction. I imagine quite an eye opener for you.😊

[@neuralwarp]

The young guy in the Porridge pic was Richard Beckinsale, the father of Samantha and Kate. He died aged 31.

[@andrewdodimead1999]

Berk is my favourite. If you do something stupid you might get called a Berk! It's a shortened version of the rhyming slang for Berkeley Hunt... I think you get what the hunt in Berkeley hunt means ☺️

[@SongsOfDragons]

My father was born in Hackney, but perhaps just out of earshot of the Bow bell, as he doesn't consider himself Cockney ("close but not quite"). Also I know the bell of Bow from the lovely song 'Oranges and Lemons'.

[@Isleofskye]

Me and The Trouble and saucepans were 'aving a Butchers at this when she suggested going to The Rub-A-Dub to play Th.e Old Joanna. Needless to say,she got Brahms so we went for a Ruby...

[@module79l28]

3:06 - Lol, like there's legal contraband! 🤣

[@charliecosta3971]

The catchment area has only 3 current hospitals. Guys, St Thomas which is located south of the River and the only east end hospital is Whitechapel. Anyone born in these hospitals are genuine cockneys. Like myself.

[@jeffredd9965]

I was born in St Thomas' so I guess i'm a cockney.

[@charliecosta3971]

@@jeffredd9965 you certainly are.

[@KSmeaton1]

I was born in Guys, St. Thomas too!

[@user-su5ts9jo6c]

I was born in the East End Maternity Hospital, Commercial Road. Definitely a cockney 😊

[@charliecosta3971]

@@user-su5ts9jo6c yes you certainly are. But I did say current as I am aware hospitals like yours and Lambeth etc no longer exist. But you are 💯 cockney

[@easybigun7825]

My favourite is a double rhyme one, "Aris" which means your backside/bum. Aris is short for Aristotle, Aristotle rhymes with bottle and "bottle and glass" means arse (ass to an American). In the south of England the "a" in glass is long, as if there is a soft "r" after it.

[@MattCarter67]

The Sweeney and Minder are also good TV shows for rhyming slang.

[@gabbymcclymont3563]

I must just go and write the song and then i will sing it.

[@louiewilliams3703]

First, and I’m cockney. Love your channel. God bless

[@PUNKinDRUBLIC72]

Dude, we're English. Sort your commas and 'ands' out!

[@robertfitzjohn4755]

I highly recommend Porridge (the TV series, that is, though I like the oaty sort too). It stars Ronnie Barker of "Four Candles" fame, and other great actors too. Or if you want more regional British accents, there's Steptoe & Son, Last of the Summer Wine, and the almost incomprehensible Rab C Nesbitt, to name but a few.

[@anthonydinsdale8783]

There are regional variations of rhyming slang. In Ireland we have septic for american( septic tank=yank) Gregory (Peck)for cheque, pedal and crank for self love, jammer (jam jar) for car and a load of others. However, in Edinburgh a jammer is a Heart Fc supporter (jam tart). Confusing? Try this sentence of Tuam Shamtalk : " C'mhere sham. Are ya wide to the shades clockin' yer jammer?". I'll join you Patreon if you can translate it 😊

[@DekkardBryon]

Apparently the broadway version of 'Citizen Smith' changed the dialogue from 'He's brown bread mate' to 'He' wholewheat and Ry'd.

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

It started as a criminal slang, but it's expanded well beyond its origins, which is why you have terms like Apples & Stairs. A few very well-known ones throughout the UK are loaf (loaf of bread=head), butcher's (=butcher's hook=look), tea-leaf (=thief), boracic (boracic lint=skint, i.e., penniless), pork pies(=eyes), and brown bread (=dead). There's also the now very dated "titfer" (tit for tat=hat). They have a variation of Cockney rhyming slang in Sydney, Australia - or as the locals call it, Steak & Kidney.

[@laurenceboulter1540]

Ruby Murray = Curry "Coming for a ruby?" Chalfont St Giles = Piles (hemorrhoids) " Me chalfonts are giving me jip today!" Trouble and Strife = Wife Rub-a-dub = Pub Merchant Banker = *anker Berkely Hunt = XXXX - "He's a right berk!" Tom Tit = *hit - "I need to take a tommy!" Grew up with all these and more! Love 'em all!

[@jeffredd9965]

Never heard of the chalfont one. Did make me giggle.

[@johnp8131]

We usually called piles "Farmers" as in "Farmer Giles". Maybe I'm a generation older or from a different area of London to you and that does seem to make a difference?

[@CriticalBrit83]

​@@johnp8131Farmer's is all I've ever heard.

[@laurenceboulter1540]

@@jeffredd9965 My dad used to use it, but I was never sure whether he made it up until I heard Arthur Dayley say it in an episode of Minder.

[@GnrMilligan]

"Alright me ole China?" means "How do you do my old friend?". I just love the way the system works. My great grandparents where a Pearly King and Queen. (You may have to Google that!) And although I never got to meet them, I heard Cockney Rhyming Slang often within my family. I think it's great fun! Another fine video me ole China, I watched it on me dog and bone.

[@kb9102]

'Put a roof on your boat' = smile 😂 Put a roof tile (smile) on your boat race (face)

[@KSmeaton1]

I am Cockney. I was born in Guy & St. Thomas hospital. I don't know much of the rhyming slang though, sadly. I remember my nan telling me about the apples and pears which meant the stairs. It was difficult to teach me though as I have Autism and have a tendency to be literal and would get quite confused. 😂I was raised in south London. Streatham/Brixton/Clapham which I believe are part of the Lambeth borough. I now live in the north east in county Northumbria/Northumberland on the coast.

[@sirwarringtonminge5577]

These Anglophenia videos are donkey's years old. This one was made in 2015, The most popular ones with Siobhan hosting were over a decade ago. They haven't even made one in 7 years!

[@gary.h.turner]

Ah! "Donkey's ears" = "years"! 😊 (Often shortened to "yonks" for some reason!)

[@nolaj114]

Australians used to use quite a few of these also - china (mate), porkies (lies) and seppos ( septic tanks = Yanks) are a few - more the older generation though. My father called the pub the "rubbity" (rub a dub dub = pub) and my mum jokingly used the word "titfer" for hat. (tit for tat = hat).

[@cmlemmus494]

Properly speaking Cockney is a *Cant* (or Argot), a language that is specific to a group or profession but not tied to class or region. If you've ever read fantasy you've probably heard the term "thieves' cant," which comes from 16th century crime novels.

[@johnp8131]

Wind direction in the UK is predominantly from the South-West. Therefore the map shown rings true! Pun intended.

[@grahamgresty8383]

The cockney rhyming slang was used in would war 2 to confuse German spies

[@lynnhamps7052]

Someone asks it you like America's got talent..you answer no me old China, I'm pretty Dettol ' Dettol is a brand name of antiseptic. Septic tank..Yank. Antiseptic..anti yank... Lol

[@ericg5791]

I wouldn't say that modern "cockney" terms are exclusively cockney,but they are pretty much from a broader area of London and the southern counties moving up to the mi country. However,actor Danny Dyer really does put cockney through the meat grinder,and kind of still emulates it's connection with East End (London) gangsters,not that he's one himself, despite playing to type

[@antisocialhannah5291]

The direction and distance that the bells could be heard was probably influenced by the shape of the Thames Valley.

[@FrankJmClarke]

The slang term "berk" is a contraction of "Berkeley Hunt", which in turn refers to the English vulgarity "_unt"

[@jaynegifford8547]

My absolute favourite 'reacts' so far 😂

[@neuralwarp]

There's a top pop song Rabbit (Chas & Dave) about a girl who wont stop talking.

[@tsrgoinc]

Right, I’ve just got off the dog, with the old china, now I’m off down the Kermit, to the Rubber, to met him for an either for a few pigs or a drop of gold and then on for a Ruby. First though I have to tell a porky or 3 to the trouble before she gets in a two, I also need to wash me boat and me Gregory, iron the Dickie and the whistle, grab some Reggie’s, clean the rhythm and blues and then down apples to the jam jar. However before all of that I need a Gypsies!

[@zaphodbeeblebrox6627]

You wouldn't use the entire phrase, just the first part . Eg: you don't say "I'm going up the apples & Pears" because then someone only needs to work out what rhymes with the second word. You'd say " I'm going up the Apples". Similarly, if you had misplaced your phone , Instead of saying "Anyone seen my Dog & Bone?" You'd say " Anyone seen my Dog?" As for the Jimmy Riddle, If you were going to a rest room for a pee, you'd say "I'm going for a Jimmy" China plate= mate, So a cockney might say to a friend when meeting up for a drink "How ya doin' me ol' China?" It helps if you know these familiar phrases so you can work out what's being said.

[@WreckItRolfe]

Also, no-one calls them the apples. Some are also said as the whole phrase (Adam & Eve, Sky Rocket)

[@mikeeast761]

Trouble and strife = Wife 😂😂😂

[@grunions9648]

Hey dude, I know this is an old-ish video but if you enjoyed this you should definitely check out a video about 'Polari'. It was another old 'slang' language containing rhyming slang, bits of Yiddish, sailor slang... all sorts of stuff. It was used as a code language in the same way that Cockney slang was and developed in really interesting ways. I don't have a specific video to point you at but it's a really interesting subject and we still use a few words from it today without realising their origins.

[@stephanstreet2160]

Back slang was another one. They used to use it in the markets, so they wouldn’t be understood. I think they used it in the prisons too.

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

It might seem ridiculous when you first learn of it, but it's not unique in being a clever code to avoid nosy law enforcers. Verlan in French is another example. There they just reverse how the words sound in different ways. So "femme" (woman) becomes "meuf", "arabe" (Arab) becomes "rebeu", "américain" (American) becomes "cainri", and "a l'envers"" (inverted) becomes "verlan" (the name of the code)

[@JackNap1er14]

My dad didn't know his mum (my grandmother) was a Cockney till he spoke to her over the telephone decades ago, my favourite slangs are bricks and mortar (daughter), Willy Wonka (silly plonker)

[@seivad74]

My favorites, skin (skin and blister) sister, and trouble ( trouble and strife) Wife.

[@IanKnight-h6r]

As an ex postie I always use to say my 'plates' are killing me as in plates of meat (feet) obviously. Cockney rhyming slang did travel south to Brighton where I picked it up as a kid.

[@ascha2l]

and daisy roots = boots

[@neuralwarp]

Dick van Dyke spoke with a Mockney accent. Some Royals insultingly drop their Ts to affect a Cockney accent.

[@philipcochran1972]

'China plate' means mate; hence 'my old china' refers to a friend.

[@honestlord]

cockney rhyme language was started by irish imigrants working on the docks of east london ..

[@karenclover4948]

Growing up in London as I did but left over 25 years ago, I still use dog in relationship to my phone

[@SirZanZa]

Sticky Toffee = Coffee, Alright me old china you fancy a toffee?

[@stephenlee5929]

If you are going to use sticky toffee for coffee, it would be 'alright me old china, fancy a sticky?' You omit the rhyming word.

[@SirZanZa]

we don't say sticky in this case, it don't sound right.. it sounds ..sexual

[@stephenlee5929]

@@SirZanZa Maybe chewy, or molten, but you brought up sticky. Who is the 'we' that doesn't say this?

[@adamaalto-mccarthy6984]

Calling someone a Berk.

[@MrPagan777]

Have a gander at this, me old china: I went to a fancy dress do, but I got blanked by the fittest bird in the gaff, so I went to the local rub-a. "Gimme an aristotle of the most ping-pong tiddly in the nuclear sub", I said. The barman had the brass tacks and did so oblige. I was like a baby giraffe on the frog going home.

[@LondonEve24]

I heard a couple of market traders talking about a mate who was caught ‘avin a J Arfur’.

[@WookieWarriorz]

i always say it but this is why in the uk we tend to look down at american english as too simple and generic, we dont like to say the same thing the same way everytime like some canned phrase, we like to mix and match a million different slang words and rhymes and references etc packed into one sentence, especially when bantering, this can often leave north americans english just seeming childlike to us.

[@Tonyblack261]

A lot of people use the phrase: "Blow a Raspberry", but I discovered that not so many understand that it is Cockney Rhyming Slang for Raspberry Tart = Fart.

[@w4yne_1]

my fun one is. you having a giraffe? = Laugh

[@IanKnight-h6r]

I think it's purely an update, all these phrases adopt a new script at some point.

[@dianethompson209]

​@tredz87 that's crying

[@klaxoncow]

Another "cant" you might want to look up is Polari, as that also has historical significance and some of its "code words" have snuck into everyday British English. Polari was a code that gay people used, back in the day, when homosexuality was illegal. They could identify each other and talk secretly, even be a little flirtatious, without the straight people - or, importantly, cops - cottoning onto what was really going on. If you hear a Brit say that something's "naff" - not very good, poor quality - then that actually originally comes from Polari.

[@carltaylor6452]

Julian and Sandy from 1960s BBC radio show Round the Horne are probably the most famous Polari speakers. Plenty of their hilarious sketches available on KZbin. There is also at least one very good documentary about Polari on KZbin.

[@batman51]

I have to point out (as in many of your previous videos) that cockneys do not screw up their faces to speak (although you might wish to screw your ears shut). As Cockney-born myself, I can also add that we do not all speak so badly.

[@paulguise698]

I sometimes say I haven't got a scooby doo, it means I haven't got a clue, I'm from the north of England

[@petermercury]

Forrest Gump = Having a dump. "I'm just off for a Forrest"

[@angelavara-u6l]

my mom used to say come on its time to get up the apples and pears to bedfordshire.= go up the stairs to bed

[@andyonions7864]

It may be ridiculous, but half of the UK knows at least 10 of these. Edit: Brahms ( and Lizt) is my fave.

[@dazedandconfused318]

Rhyming slang for coffee according to google is chewy (toffee), my guess was sticky (toffee)

[@neuralwarp]

Rosie Lee was a famous Gypsy fortune teller in Victorian times.

[@veronicaclare1]

Roland = roll and butter = nutter.

[@andrewbowman4611]

If you wanted a rhyming slang for coffee, bonf would be a good one; short for bonfire as in bonfire toffee. A cup of Highland (toffee) would work as well. I don't know of any American toffees that you could use, but I'm sure there are some.

[@carolineedward1127]

A cup of sticky 😂

[@andrewbowman4611]

@@carolineedward1127 It'd probably be more 'a cup o' stick', but that's the general idea.

[@kaydisney9872]

Honestly though, I'm Scottish, and some of this slang I know, most I don't have a Scooby Doo (Clue)!

[@auldfouter8661]

I like " It's just your Donald " from Donald Duck = luck.

[@davepb5798]

Up the apples and pears to Bedfordshire.

[@lukespooky]

it's just apples

[@bryanromans2331]

Simple one is 'apples and pears - stairs - but you don't use the pears bit - 'i'm going up the appeles' means - I'm going up the stairs

[@Murdo2112]

"Do me a lemon!" Lemon flavour : favour. Not as in "please help me", more "I find that hard to believe". I suppose the American version would be "gimme a break".

[@klaxoncow]

Oh, the best one, though, is calling people "a berk". This is now considered a very mild insult. Something you can get away with saying in polite company or in front of children. "You stupid berk". But if you actually know its Cockney rhyming slang origin, it's anything but polite. Basically, "berk" is short for "Berkeley Hunt", which rhymes with... yeah, that word.

[@vtbn53]

Ha! I thought you were a lost cause at first, but you ended up doing pretty well in the end.

[@AndyLeMaitre]

To call someone a "berk" is derogatory but it should be pronounced "bark." You will sometimes hear Del Boy pronounce it correctly. (Comes from "Berkshire Hunt").

[@dianethompson209]

So Delboy was really saying c***?! 😮 Did tart really mean that or is that something else too!?

[@AndyLeMaitre]

@@dianethompson209 "Lady of the night," I believe but when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s it came to mean attractive girl.

[@andrewroberts299]

Now that you’ve (sort of) got an idea of how Cockney rhyming slang works, look up a Two Ronnies comedy sketch, where Ronnie Barker plays a vicar who is giving a sermon to a number of Cockney worshipers and speaks to them in this ‘language.’ Unfortunately, there isn’t subtitles when the vicar tells the audience at home what the Cockney definitions are (which is half the fun of the sketch if you haven’t a clue what the vicar’s talking about in the first place), so for instance when he says in the sketch, “He was walking along the frog and toad and came across a small brown Richard the Third, which he carefully picked up and placed on a wall,” the translation is meant to be, “He was walking along the road where he came across a small bird, which he carefully picked up and placed on a wall.” This doesn’t sound funny in itself, until you realise that the audience at home (those that know this language) are laughing because they know that a ‘Richard the Third’ is not really Cockney rhyming for a ‘bird’ but a ‘turd,’ so hearing someone say that they carefully picked up some poop and placed it on a wall is a bizarre but extremely funny image to have in your head. It really is a clever and witty script/sketch and one I think you’d find very funny.

[@m-arky66]

My advice would be dont even attempt it. Now I've said that, I need to drop a Richard!

[@tussk.]

'It was used by street traders and criminals' As though there was a difference.

[@jamesleate]

The funniest use of rhyming slang for me is the word "Berk". It seems like a really mild, soft insult to use in front of children, family etc. Then you realise that it is actually short for "Berkshire Hunt" (I'll say no more).

[@shinyjohn6568]

didn't no that

[@dianethompson209]

Me neither! My family used to say that "Eeee you daft berk" to me when I was being silly as a kid 😂 (geordie) I'm not really sure how it made its way here. (looks up if berk is also of geordie origin)

[@pauleade6173]

Don't forget Trouble and Strife

[@nickordinaire8355]

My favourite: kettle = watch. Kettle & hob- fob..fob watch. Nice kettle me old china

[@chrismackett9044]

You can suffer from farmers i.e. Farmer Giles = piles. Or with the trouble and strife = wife.