Posted on March 3rd, 2025
The Modern Cockney Festival begins on March the 1st and runs until the end of the month. It celebrates ‘non-posh Londoner’s cultural heritage and identity’.
The Modern Cockney Festival has an array of free activities celebrating this wonderful and evolving sector, both online and in-person. From family fun, to Cockney music hall, inspiring Cockney Women, to tracing your Cockney roots, there is something for everyone. You can view the Modern Cockney Festival timetable of events here. On Monday, March 3rd, it celebrates Cockney Language With Speak Cockney Day – on ‘the fird of fird’!
What is Cockney Language – Rhyming Slang
Rhyming slang is a form of phrase construction in the English language used by the people from the East End of London, hence the name Cockney rhyming slang. A true Cockney, it has been said, is someone born within the sound of Bow Bells (St Mary-le-bow Church in Cheapside, London), as Roy’s Grandmother Emily Arment was. It has been estimated that, before the noise of traffic, the sound of the Bow Bells reached about 6 miles (10 km) to the east, 5 miles (8 km) to the north, 4 miles (6 km) to the west, and 3 miles (5 km) to the south. The majority of the hospitals of London’s East End fall within that jurisdiction. Generally, the term Cockney today is now loosely applied to Londoners, particularly people from the East End, and it is used with pride. The organisers of the Modern Cockney Festival say that ‘Bow Bells is heard through the heart’.
Cockney is a coded language. The construction of Cockney involves replacing a common word with a rhyming phrase, or two or three words, and then in almost all cases, omitting the secondary rhyming word, making the meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know.
For example:
I was on the dog to me old china, telling him to get on his plates up the frog to Arment’s ‘cos they sell the best pie ‘n’ mash and you get change out of a Lady Godiva. Would you Adam and Eve it!
I was on the phone to my mate, telling him to get on his feet up the road to Arment’s because they sell the best pie and mash and you get change out of £5. Would you believe it!
It is thought that rhyming slang was possibly developed in the 19th century intentionally as a game or to confuse the locals. In the market place, it could have been used to allow market traders to talk amongst themselves without their customers knowing what they were saying. It was also said to be used by criminals to confuse the police.
Many of the rearrangements used in Cockney phrasing became harmless nicknames rather than ominous code words. By the 1950s many working-class Londoners, fond of a bit of wordplay, were using those phrases among themselves, often leaving off the rhyming part so “telling porkies” was cut down from “porky pies” (i.e., “lies”).
Like any language, Cockney continued to evolve and additional modern words have joined the Cockney language such as Danny Marr for “car,” David Gower for “shower,” Hank Marvin for “starving,”
In more recent times, the Cockney language has been dying out and there is a call from East Londoners to have Cockney recognised as an official language to help preserve the East London dialect.
Andy Green, co-founder of Modern Cockney Festival, has been raising awareness of the cockney language and keeping London culture alive. He says:
‘Cockneys not dying. It’s just constantly evolving. It’s about connecting everyone – celebrities, cockneys, non-cockneys – all who care about our London pride and do your bit keep the Cockney spirit alive, and where possible, help good causes’. Sentiments Arments agree with.
As part of the Modern Cockney Festival, the second National Pie’n’Mash Week is being launched (March 10th- 16th).
And whilst you’re practicing your cockney, why not pop into Arments pie and mash for some good old London food.
Examples of Cockney Language, many of which we are sure you will recognise!
Adam and Eve- Believe
Apples and pears – Stairs
Apple Peeling – Feeling
Apple Tart – Heart
Ayrton/Ayrton Senna – Tenner (£10)
Barnet/Barnet Fair – Hair
Boat/Boat Race – Face
Borasic/Borasic Lint – Skint
Brahms/Brahms and Liszt – Drunk
Bread/Bread and Honey – Money
Britneys /Britney Spears – Beers
Bo Peep – Sleep
Brown Bread – Dead
(Have a) Butchers/Butcher’s Hook – Look
(My old) China/China Plate – Mate
Crackered/Cream Crackered – Tired/Knackered
Current Bun – Sun
Daisy Roots/Daisy’s -Boots
Dog/Dog and Bone – Phone
Frog/Frog and Toad – Road
Gregory/Gregory Peck – Neck
Hampsteads/Hampstead Heath – Teeth
On your Jack/Jack Jones – Alone
Lady Godiva/Lady – Fiver (£5)
Loaf/Loaf of Bread – Head
Lionels/Lionel Blairs – Flares
Tonys/Tony Blairs – Flares
Mincies/Mince Pies – Eyes
Mutton/Mutt and Jeff – Deaf
North and South – Mouth
Peckham/Peckham Rye – Tie
Pen and Ink – Stink
It’s all gone Pete Tong – Gone Wrong
Plates/Plates of Meat – Feet
Taters/Potatoes in the mould – Cold
Rabbit/Rabbit and Pork – Talk
Rosie/Rosie Lee – Tea
Syrup/Syrup of Figs – Wig
Tea Leaf – Thief
Titfer/Tit for tat – Hat
On your Tod/Tod Sloan – Alone
Trouble and Strife – Wife
Weasel/Weasel and Stoat – coat
