Tuesday 4 March 2014

Rhyming slang



  • Adam and Eve = believe = as in "would you Adam and Eve it?"
  • Almond Rocks = socks
  • Apples and pears = stairs
  • Aris = Aristotle = bottle & glass = arse (a two-stage rhyme) [see Plaster below]
  • Artful Dodger = lodger
  • Ascot Races = braces
  • Aunt Joanna = piano
  • Bag of fruit = suit
  • Baked Bean = queen
  • Baker's Dozen = cousin
  • Ball and Chalk = walk
  • Barnaby Rudge = judge
  • Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair
  • Berk or Burk = Berkshire Hunt = cunt (used as an insult, never as an anatomical reference)
  • Boat = boat race = face
  • Bob Hope = soap
  • Boracic (freq. contracted to brassic) = boracic lint = skint (i.e. penniless)
  • Bottle = bottle and glass = arse (i. e. courage; Courage also happens to be the name of a brewery)
  • Brahms = Brahms and Liszt (classical composers) = pissed (i.e. drunk)
  • Brass Tacks = facts
  • Bread and Honey = money
  • Bricks and Mortar = daughter
  • Bristol = Bristol City = titty (i.e. breast)
  • Brown bread = dead
  • Bubble = Bubble & Squeak = Greek
  • Butcher's = butcher's hook = look
  • Chalfonts = Chalfont St Giles = piles (i.e. haemorrhoids)
  • Chalk Farm = arm
  • China = china plate = mate
  • Cobblers = cobblers' awls = balls or 'bollocks' (i.e. testicles , but usually meant in the sense of 'rubbish' as in "You're talking a load of cobblers")
  • Cock and Hen = ten
  • Creamed = cream crackered = knackered (i.e. exhausted or beaten)
  • Currant bun = sun or The Sun newspaper
  • Daisies = daisy roots = boots
  • Darby and Joan = moan
  • Dicky = dicky dirt = shirt
  • Dicky or Dickie = dickie bird = word = as in "not a dickie", or even "not a dickie bird"
  • Dog = dog and bone = phone
  • Duck and Dive = skive
  • Ducks and Geese = F--k-in' Police
  • Duke of Kent = rent
  • Dukes = Duke[s] of York = fork, i.e. hand, now chiefly when balled into a fist
  • Dustbin Lid = kid
  • Emmas = Emma Freud (English author and columnist) = haemorrhoids
  • Farmers = Farmer Giles = piles (slang for haemorrhoids )
    Flowery Dell = ( prison ) cell
  • Frog = frog & toad = road
  • George Raft = draught
  • Ginger = ginger beer = queer
  • Gregory = Gregory Peck = neck, or cheque
  • Gypsy's = Gypsy's kiss = piss
  • Hampsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth
  • Hampton Wick = prick (i.e. penis)
  • Half-inch = pinch (i.e. steal)
  • I suppose = nose
  • Jack = Jack Jones = alone ("On my Jack" = "On my own")
  • Jam jar = car
  • Jam tart = heart
  • J. Arthur = J. Arthur Rank (1930s UK flour magnate and film producer) = wank (i.e. masturbate)
  • Jimmy = Jimmy Riddle (unknown person, not the character killed during the Waco siege)= piddle or widdle (urinate)
  • Jugs = jugs of beer = ears
  • Khyber = Khyber Pass = arse
  • Kick and Prance = dance
  • Lady Godiva = fiver (i.e. five- pound note)
  • Lionels = Lionel Blairs (English variety performer) = flares (as in flared trousers)
  • Loaf = loaf of bread = head ("use your loaf")
  • Lucy Lockett = pocket
  • Mickey Bliss = piss (as in "take the Mickey" = "take the piss" = satirise)
  • Minces (or mincers) = mince pies = eyes
  • Mutton = Mutt and Jeff = deaf = named after Mutt and Jeff , two early 20th century comic strip characters
  • Nobbies = Nobby Stiles (English footballer) = piles (haemorrhoids)
  • North and South = mouth
  • Oily rag = fag (i.e. cigarette)
  • Ones and twos = shoes
  • Orchestras = orchestra stalls = balls (Orchestra stalls = part of a concert or other hall. Example = "A kick in the orchestras.") [Coincidentally, "orchi-" is also the Greek root meaning "testicle."]
  • Peckham Rye = tie (i.e. necktie)
  • Pen and Ink = stink
  • Pigs ears = big beers (large glasses of Ale )
    Plaster = Plaster of Paris = Aris = Aristotle = bottle = bottle and glass = arse (a three-stage rhyme)
  • Plates = plates of meat = feet
  • Porky = pork pie = lie, e.g. "He's telling porkies!"
  • Pony = pony and trap = crap (note: Cockneys also use "pony" to mean £25 - hopefully the meaning is clear from the context)
  • Rabbit = rabbit and pork = talk
  • Raspberry = raspberry tart = fart (as in "blowing raspberry/ies" = making rasping noises with your mouth)
  • Richard = Richard the Third = turd (lump of faeces)
  • Richard = Dicky Bird = bird (slang for girl) but also Dicky Bird = word
  • Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie"
  • Round the houses = trousers
  • Rub-a-dub-dub = pub = public house
  • Ruby = Ruby Murray (popular singer in the 1950s born in Belfast ) = curry
  • Salmon and Trout = snout
  • Scarper = Scapa Flow = go (as in "run for it!")
  • Septic = septic tank = Yank (slang for an American)
  • Sexton Blake = cake
  • Sherbet Dab = (taxi) cab
  • Skin = skin and blister = sister
  • Sky = sky rocket = pocket
  • sweaty = sweaty sock = jock = Scottish person
  • Syrup / sirrup = syrup of figs = wig(s)
  • Tea leaf = thief
  • The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd =Flying Squad , a special division of the Metropolitan Police ; used as the title of TV series The Sweeney
  • Taters = Potatoes in the mould = cold
  • Titfer = tit for tat = hat
  • Tod = Tod Sloane = own (as in "on your tod", meaning "alone")
  • Tom and Dick = sick
  • Tomfoolery = jewellery
  • Treacle = treacle tart = sweetheart
  • Trouble = trouble and strife = wife
  • Vera = Vera Lynn (famous British wartime singer)= 'skin' or cigarette paper, eg, "got any Veras?", or chin, or gin
  • Whistle = whistle and flute = suit = as in "a nice whistle"

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