"Operation Countryman Operation Countryman was an investigation into police corruption in London in the late 1970s. The operation was conducted between 1978–1982 at a total cost of £3 million and led to eight police officers being prosecuted, though none were convicted. The initial allegations of corruption were made by a ""supergrass"" — an informer occupying an important position in the criminal underworld — who claimed that some officers, including members of the elite Flying Squad (nicknamed ""The Sweeney"", a shortened version of the Cockney rhyming slang, Sweeney Todd) which dealt with commercial armed robberies, were receiving bribes from criminals in"
"purchase a wood burning range from a junk trader called Sam, who litters his language with phony slang in hopes of getting higher payment. He comes up with a fake story as to the origin of Cockney Rhyming slang and is caught out rather quickly. In ""The Jeffersons"" season 2 (1976) episode ""The Breakup: Part 2"", Mr. Bentley explains Cockney rhyming slang to George Jefferson, in that ""whistle and flute"" means ""suit"", ""apples and pears"" means ""stairs"", ""plates of meat"" means ""feet"". The use of rhyming slang was also prominent in ""Mind Your Language"" (1977–79), ""Citizen Smith"" (1977–80), ""Minder"" (1979–94),"
"with the words essentially backwards; cool (look), delo (old) and nammow (woman). Out of the East End of London traditional Cockney rhyming slang developed, which works by taking two words that are related through a short phrase and using the first word to stand for a word that rhymes with the second. For instance, the most popular of these rhyming slang phrases used throughout Britain is probably ""telling porkies"" meaning ""lies"" as ""pork pies"" rhymes with lies. ""Alright, me old fruit?"" is an example of this as ""fruit gum"" is translated as meaning ""chum"" (a friend or acquaintance). ""Cassell's Dictionary"
"track was released on the 2012 album JJ Doom album ""Keys to the Kuffs"". In modern literature, Cockney rhyming slang is used frequently in the novels and short stories of Kim Newman, for instance in the short story collections ""The Man from the Diogenes Club"" (2006) and ""Secret Files of the Diogenes Club"" (2007), where it is explained at the end of each book. In the novel ""Moving Pictures"" by Terry Pratchett, this slang is also frequently used. It is also parodied in Pratchett's ""Going Postal"", which features a geriatric Junior Postman by the name of Tolliver Groat, a speaker"
"as rhyming slang for ""fag"" (i.e. a cigarette). The idiom made a brief appearance in the UK-based DJ reggae music of the 1980s in the hit ""Cockney Translation"" by Smiley Culture of South London; this was followed a couple of years later by Domenick and Peter Metro's ""Cockney and Yardie"". London-based artists such as Audio Bullys and Chas & Dave (and others from elsewhere in the UK, such as The Streets, who are from Birmingham) frequently use rhyming slang in their songs. British-born M.C. MF Doom released an ode entitled ""Rhymin' Slang"", after settling in the UK in 2010. The"
"and truncated to ""Aris"". Ghil'ad Zuckermann, a linguist and revivalist, has proposed a distinction between rhyming slang based on sound only, and phono-semantic rhyming slang, which includes a semantic link between the slang expression and its referent (the thing it refers to). An example of rhyming slang based only on sound is the Cockney ""tea leaf"" (thief). An example of phono-semantic rhyming slang is the Cockney ""sorrowful tale"" ((three months in) jail), in which case the person coining the slang term sees a semantic link, sometimes jocular, between the Cockney expression and its referent. The use of rhyming slang has"
"Rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent in the UK, Ireland and Australia. It started in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang. In the United States, especially the criminal underworld of the West Coast between 1880 and 1920, rhyming slang has sometimes been known as Australian slang. The construction of rhyming slang involves replacing a common word with a phrase of two or more words, the last of which rhymes with the original word; then, in almost"
"Kingdom have helped popularise rhyming slang for the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, amidst dispute over a new contract which has been imposed upon them. This was additionally supported in a tweet by James Blunt. Rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent in the UK, Ireland and Australia. It started in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang. In the United States, especially the criminal underworld of the West Coast between 1880 and 1920, rhyming slang"
"name is used in this context as rhyming slang for ""wrong""; ""Green Street Hooligans"" (2005). In ""Margin Call"" (2011), Will Emerson, played by London-born actor Paul Bettany, asks a friend on the telephone, ""How's the trouble and strife?"" (""wife""). Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) mocked the genesis of rhyming slang terms when a Cockney character calls zombies ""Trafalgars"" to even his Cockney fellows' puzzlement; he then explains it thus: """"Trafalgar square - fox and hare - hairy cheek - five day week - weak and feeble - pins and needles - needle and stitch - Abercrombie and Fitch - Abercrombie: zombie""""."
"lady""), (""the being known as Wonder Girl""). The verses and chorus do not relate to each other, with the verses whimsically describing the party and the chorus consisting of Dolenz screaming bigoted remarks at an unseen, long-haired youth. The phrase ""Randy Scouse Git"" in Britain directly translated to, according to Dolenz, ""horny, Liverpudlian jerk"", was taken from the 1960s British sitcom ""Till Death Us Do Part"", in which it was regularly used, by the loud-mouthed main character Alf Garnett, played by Cockney actor Warren Mitchell, to insult his Liverpudlian (""Scouse"") son-in-law, played by Tony Booth. The show was later adapted"
"the 'Rockney' label with the duo in 1980, part of the England's Towerbell Records company. The first single released under this label, ""Rabbit"" would be their first top 10 hit single. The word ""rabbit"" comes from the Cockney rhyming slang ""rabbit and pork"" meaning ""talk"". The song is about a relationship between a man and a woman, in which the man expresses his love for his girlfriend, but complains that she will not stop talking or, ""rabbiting"". It was also used in a television commercial for Courage Bitter. On Christmas Day 1981 they appeared on ""The Two Ronnies"" Christmas Special."
"Cockney Alphabet The Cockney Alphabet, also known as the Surrealist Alphabet, is a humorous recital of the alphabet, parodying the way the alphabet is taught to small children. The humour comes from forming unexpected words and phrases from the names of the various letters of the alphabet. In the 1930s, the comedy double act Clapham and Dwyer recorded the following version: There are many alternative 'definitions' offered for each letter, some of which include: Naming a dog ""Deefer"" (as was common in the '50s) is an example of the reverse of this phenomenon, based on interpreting the line ""D for"
"name was adopted into the rhyming slang used by the Cockneys of the East end of London to mean 'own' as in 'on his own' (from Tod Sl'oan'). Hence, someone 'on his tod' is alone. Tod Sloan (jockey) James Forman ""Tod"" Sloan (August 10, 1874 - December 21, 1933) was an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955. Sloan was born in Bunker Hill, Indiana, near Kokomo, the son of a Union Army soldier. He was a tiny and frail child, and after his mother died when"
"are differing accounts as to what the joke actually was. The plotline of the 1937 musical revue film Sing As You Swing uses their being banned in this way from the ""BVD"" broadcasting organisation as a running gag. Clapham and Dwyer Clapham and Dwyer, Charles Clapham (1894-1959) and William Henry Dwyer (1891-1943), were a British comedy duo in the 1920s and 1930s. The duo were a popular music hall and stage act, appearing in venues all over the country. As part of their act in 1929 they originated the Cockney Alphabet, a humorous alphabet that replaces the letters of the"
"Queen Mary, University of London concluded that Cockney rhyming slang was dying out because children in London are greatly exposed to words and phrases from outside cultures. Teenagers especially are incorporating into their vocabularies new words borrowed from outside the UK. This new slang is also influenced by new technologies, especially mobile phone SMS (short message service) or text messages. While ""dat"" and ""dere"" may be of Afro-Caribbean origin along with many other terms, their use in text messages as easier-to-key options to ""that"" and ""there/their"" cement them as slang in common usage. The large number of immigrant communities and"
"popular use as an expression until well after the first world war. Lines from Lloyd's song, ""Pretty Lips"" were quoted in Rudyard Kipling's book, Stalky & Co.. The ""Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English"" credits Lloyd with popularising the term, ""toff"" to refer to a well-to-do person. The term most likely originated from an abbreviation of Cockney slang, where a toffee-nosed person was simplified to a ""toff."" However, the popularity of Lloyd's song, the ""Shoreditch Toff"" did a great deal to ensure that the expression entered the popular lexicon. Arthur Lloyd (musician) Arthur Lloyd (14 May 1839 – 20 July"
"is a comedy attempting to provide a representation of Cockney life in the East End of London in the early 1960s. A collection of typical characters such as people at the local pub, local tarts, Jewish tradesmen, spivs and others are portrayed, (and possibly larger than life). The dialogue is a mixture of Cockney rhyming slang, London Yiddish, and thieves' cant. ""The New York Times"", in its review said ""this isn't a picture for anyone with a logical mind or an ear for language. The gabble of cockney spoken here is as incomprehensible as the reasoning of those who speak"
"tool, a spinner's weasel used for measuring in spinning, a piece of silver plate, or that 'weasel and stoat' is Cockney rhyming slang for ""throat"", as in ""Get that down yer Weasel"" meaning to eat or drink something. An alternative meaning which fits better with the theme of ""that's the way the money goes"" involves pawning one's coat in desperation to buy food and drink, as ""weasel (and stoat)"" is more usually and traditionally Cockney rhyming slang for ""Coat"" rather than throat and ""pop"" is a slang word for ""pawn"". ""Pop goes the weasel"" meant pawning a coat. Decent coats"
"Mockney Mockney (a portmanteau of ""mock"" and ""cockney"") is an affected accent and form of speech in imitation of cockney or working-class London speech, or a person with such an accent. A stereotypical mockney speaker comes from an upper-middle-class background. A person speaking with a mockney accent might adopt cockney pronunciation but retain standard grammatical forms, whereas the genuine cockney speaker uses non-standard forms (e.g. negative concord). The first published use of the word according to the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1967. It is an affectation sometimes adopted for aesthetic or theatrical purposes, and at other times just to"
"""Yid"" (which itself comes from the Yiddish word for a Jew). In December 2004 Joe Pasquale, winner of the fourth series of ITV's ""I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"", became well known for his frequent use of the term ""Jacobs"", for Jacob's Crackers, a rhyming slang term for knackers i.e. testicles. Cary Grant's character teaches rhyming slang to his female companion in ""Mr. Lucky"" (1943), describing it as 'Australian rhyming slang'. Rhyming slang is also used and described in a scene of the 1967 film ""To Sir, with Love"" starring Sidney Poitier, where the English students tell their"
"of of in most other accents of English. The merger is responsible for the ""Brooklynese"" stereotypes of ""bird"" sounding like ""boid"" and ""thirty-third"" sounding like ""toity-toid"". This merger is known for the word ""soitanly"", used often by the Three Stooges comedian Curly Howard as a variant of ""certainly"" in comedy shorts of the 1930s and 1940s. The songwriter Sam M. Lewis, a native New Yorker, rhymed ""returning"" with ""joining"" in the lyrics of the English-language version of ""Gloomy Sunday"". This merger did not however exist in the South, which maintained a distinction between the two phonemes due to often having"
"example, in Australian slang, the term for an English person is ""pommy"", which has been proposed as a rhyme on ""pomegranate"" rhyming with ""immigrant"". Rhyming slang as such is not in general use in the United States, but a few notable exceptions include: Rhyming slang is continually evolving, and new phrases are introduced all the time; new personalities replace old ones—pop culture introduces new words—as in ""I haven't a Scooby"" (from Scooby Doo, the eponymous cartoon dog of the cartoon series) meaning ""I haven't a clue"". Rhyming slang is often used as a substitute for words regarded as taboo, often"
"Clapham and Dwyer Clapham and Dwyer, Charles Clapham (1894-1959) and William Henry Dwyer (1891-1943), were a British comedy duo in the 1920s and 1930s. The duo were a popular music hall and stage act, appearing in venues all over the country. As part of their act in 1929 they originated the Cockney Alphabet, a humorous alphabet that replaces the letters of the alphabet with cockney phonetics, such as ""A for ‘Orses"" (Hay for Horses) and ending with ""Z for Effect"" (Said for Effect). In February 1929, they appeared in two early short films made in the Lee DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film"
"His 'Smiley' nickname was gained due to his method of chatting up girls at school – he would ask them for a smile. Prior to his recording career he worked as a DJ with many of London's reggae sound systems, most often with the Saxon Studio International system, where he met and worked with a number of other reggae artists, including Maxi Priest, Papa Levi and Tippa Irie. Signed to the London-based reggae record label Fashion Records, his first single ""Cockney Translation"" (1984) was a Jamaican's guide to the East End dialect – '""Cockneys have names like Terry, Arfur and"
"Uncle Tom Cobley The phrase Uncle Tom Cobley and all is used in British English as a humorous or whimsical way of saying ""et al."", often to express exasperation at the large number of people in a list. The phrase comes from a Devon folk song ""Widecombe Fair"", collected by Sabine Baring-Gould. Its chorus ends with a long list of people: ""Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all."" The surname is spelt as ""Cobleigh"" in some references. Whether Tom Cobley, or the other characters from the song, ever existed"
"of 'Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang', or rather, rhyming slang which ""does not actually rhyme"". Thus, a wig is a 'prunes', from 'syrup of prunes', an obvious parody of the Cockney ""syrup"" from ""syrup of figs -- wig"". There are numerous other parodies, though it has been pointed out that the result is even more impenetrable than a conventional rhyming slang and so may not be quite so illogical as it seems, given the assumed purpose of rhyming slang as a means of communicating in a manner unintelligible to all but the initiated. In Scottish football, a number of clubs have"
"or by criminals to confuse the police (see thieves' cant). The English academic, lexicographer and radio personality Terence Dolan has suggested that rhyming slang may have been invented by Irish immigrants to London ""so the actual English wouldn't understand what they were talking about."" Many examples of rhyming slang are based on locations in London, such as ""Peckham Rye"", meaning ""tie"" (as in necktie), which dates from the late 19th century; ""Hampstead Heath"", meaning ""teeth"" (usually as ""Hampsteads""), which was first recorded in 1887; and ""Barnet Fair"", meaning ""hair"", which dates from the 1850s. By the mid-20th century many rhyming"
"spread beyond the purely dialectal and some examples are to be found in the mainstream British English lexicon, although many users may be unaware of the origin of those words. Most of the words changed by this process are nouns, but a few are adjectival e.g. ""bales"" of cotton (rotten), or the adjectival phrase ""on one's tod"" for ""on one's own"", after Tod Sloan, a famous jockey. Rhyming slang is believed to have originated in the mid-19th century in the East End of London, with several sources suggesting some time in the 1840s. According to a Routledge's slang dictionary from"
"""Scots halfpennyworth"" implying ""Scottish fool"". At the time of the political union of Scotland and England in 1707, the Pound Scots was worth 1/12 of the Pound Sterling, thus a ""Scots halfpennyworth"" implies worthlessness. The word ""sawney"" survives in the current Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD), which validates the word in Scrabble tournament play, and is defined as ""a foolish person"". The main text of this article is derived from - With additions from - Sawney Sawney (sometimes Sandie/y, or Sanders, or Sannock) was an English nickname for a Scotsman, now obsolete, and playing much the same linguistic role that"
"Sawney Sawney (sometimes Sandie/y, or Sanders, or Sannock) was an English nickname for a Scotsman, now obsolete, and playing much the same linguistic role that ""Jock"" does now. The name is a Lowland Scots diminutive of the favourite Scottish first name Alexander (also Alasdair in Scottish Gaelic form, anglicised into Alistair) from the last two syllables. The English commonly abbreviate the first two syllables into ""Alec"". From the days after the accession of James VI to the English throne under the title of James I, to the time of George III and the Bute administration, when Scotsmen were exceedingly unpopular"
"by the names ""Bundle"" or ""Pile-on."" ""Tinny"" is also a term for audio which lacks resonance, resembling a piece of tin being struck. The phrase is also referenced in the Monty Python sketch ""Woody and Tinny Words"" where Graham Chapman describes various seemingly-random words as being ""tinny"" or ""woody"" with the former utterance inducing great discomfort in his daughter. In the town of Bathgate, West Lothian, ""Tinnie"" often refers to an aluminium can of Tennent's Lager. ""Here Oj, gies a tinnie o'er mate"". Tinnie The slang or colloquial term tinnie or tinny has a variety of meanings, generally derived from"
"Cockney Wanker Cockney Wanker is a character created by Graham Dury and Simon Thorpe in ""Viz"" based on a stereotyped male Cockney. Wanker speaks in rhyming slang (often slang invented by the writers) and spends his days drinking and selling stolen or unworkable goods to passers-by from an East End market stall. Another of Wanker's specialities is trading used cars. Playing upon the stereotype of the indigenous population of London being fantasists, Wanker often buys a car, sells it back to the same person, for the same amount of money, then declares the transaction to have been ""A nice little"
"slang expressions used the names of contemporary personalities, especially actors and performers: for example ""Gregory Peck"" meaning ""neck"" and also ""cheque""; ""Ruby Murray"" meaning ""curry""; ""Alans"", meaning ""knickers"" from Alan Whicker; ""Max Miller"" meaning ""pillow"" when pronounced /ˈpilə/ and ""Henry Halls"" for ""balls (testicles)"". The use of personal names as rhymes continued into the late 20th century, for example ""Tony Blairs"" meaning ""flares"", as in trousers with a wide bottom (previously this was ""Lionel Blairs"" and this change illustrates the ongoing mutation of the forms of expression) and ""Britney Spears"", meaning ""beers"". Many examples have passed into common usage. Some"