by (hat and scarf)’, trainers became Rayners’ or and ‘bobble ‘Claire ‘Claires’ Blairs’ were the flared trousers flapping above their ankles. Becks’ ‘Tony ‘Posh ‘n could stand either for sex or for the decks turntables - used by DJs. Typical – exchanges include muff’ for enough’, in shorter rhymes oriental ‘furry ‘fair students are cash dispensers In the same spirit a ‘ornamentals’, ‘drink-links’. drink of Stella ( lager) has mutated through Yuri (Geller) and Nelson (Mandela) to Paul (Weller). Conversations end with potato’ you later’. ‘baked –‘see Language naturally evolves and adapts to the times and rhyming slang is no exception. That’s why the hoary old expressions chosen by the and bone’ – ‘dog (phone), and strife’ (wife), sound as charmingly and hopelessly dated as ‘trouble Donald McGill postcards: I somehow doubt, too, that anyone ever really called their cupboard Hubbard’ or used and jelly’ for Listen out ‘Mother ‘custard ‘telly’. today and you do stand a chance of coming across (McNab)’ for a kebab, ‘Andy ()’ for yawn and porn. is the universal code for beers. Being ‘Johnny – ‘Britneys’ on the dole used to be the) rock n’ roll’, now it’s the Cheryl Cole.’ ‘(on ‘on The other key point that the survey misses out on is that rhyming slang is not necessarily meant to be understood, at least not immediately or by everyone who hears it. It isn’t a shared dialect, it’s an ever-changing dynamic word–game, improvising references and puns and challenging listeners to make sense of them. The technique now belongs to everybody and anybody and lots of current rhyming slang occurs inside the home, with family members competing to declare
by ‘bobble (hat and scarf)’, trainers became ‘Claire Rayners’ or ‘Claires’ and ‘Tony Blairs’ were the flared trousers flapping above their ankles. ‘Posh ‘n Becks’ could stand either for sex or for the decks – turntables - used by DJs. Typical exchanges include ‘furry muff’ for ‘fair enough’, in shorter rhymes oriental students are ‘ornamentals’, cash dispensers ‘drink-links’. In the same spirit a drink of Stella ( lager) has mutated through Yuri (Geller) and Nelson (Mandela) to Paul (Weller). Conversations end with ‘baked potato’ –‘see you later’. Language naturally evolves and adapts to the times and rhyming slang is no exception. That’s why the hoary old expressions chosen by the – ‘dog and bone’ (phone), ‘trouble and strife’ (wife), sound as charmingly and hopelessly dated as Donald McGill postcards: I somehow doubt, too, that anyone ever really called their cupboard ‘Mother Hubbard’ or used ‘custard and jelly’ for ‘telly’. Listen out today and you do stand a chance of coming across ‘Andy (McNab)’ for a kebab, ‘Johnny ()’ for yawn – and porn. ‘Britneys’ is the universal code for beers. Being on the dole used to be ‘(on the) rock n’ roll’, now it’s ‘on the Cheryl Cole.’ The other key point that the survey misses out on is that rhyming slang is not necessarily meant to be understood, at least not immediately or by everyone who hears it. It isn’t a shared dialect, it’s an ever-changing dynamic word–game, improvising references and puns and challenging listeners to make sense of them. The technique now belongs to everybody and anybody and lots of current rhyming slang occurs inside the home, with family members competing to declare
RHYMING-SLANG.docx