# Cockney Rhyming slang



## LFcatface (Nov 21, 2007)

Cockney Rhyming Slang originated in the East End of London. Some slang expressions have escaped from London and are in popular use throughout the rest of Britain. For example "use your loaf" is an everyday phrase for the British, but not too many people realise it is Cockney Rhyming Slang ("loaf of bread: head"). There are many more examples of this unwitting use of Cockney Rhyming Slang.


Rhyming Slang phrases are derived from taking an expression which rhymes with a word and then using that expression instead of the word. For example the word "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook". In many cases the rhyming word is omitted - so you won't find too many Londoners having a "bucher's hook", but you might find a few having a "butcher's". 

The rhyming word is not always omitted so Cockney expressions can vary in their construction, and it is simply a matter of convention which version is used.
For Example "Apples and Pears" is slang for "stairs"
"apples"is also slang for 'stairs'

Ok, now, will anyone guess what "Brahms and Liszt " means in Cockney rhyming slang?

Hint- there are two levels- the rhyme is for a "normal" British slang word that means angry in American slang and then can be translated into a normal dictionary word.

Any takers?


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2007)

« Brahms and Liszt » is slang for drunk (p***), isn’t it ?.


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## marval (Oct 29, 2007)

Yes, I told some-one that on the Dog and Bone the other day.


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

Yeah, well I went up the apples, put on me almonds and combed me barnet then I went for a jimmy.

um, enough from me. This is sure to rouse the moderators if they think yer rabittin' in code!


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## marval (Oct 29, 2007)

So you weren't wearing a whistle and flute then.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Gee... It's been TOOOOO long since I've seen *To Sir, With Love*! If it was fresher in my memory, I'm sure I could make a more substantive contribution to the thread than to say this: It's nice to be reminded of the pleasant memories... and   I guess I'm showing my age again, aren't I?


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

marval said:


> So you weren't wearing a whistle and flute then.


.

A whistle? Nah. Just me titfer.


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## marval (Oct 29, 2007)

Well thats ok then, I'll be cilla black when I've had my sticky toffee


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Well... now that I think about it (and to relate things back to music, albeit not classical), wasn't there an *XTC* album a couple of decades back called "Oranges & Lemons?" And-- relating it to an _even older_ memory of prose passages in Huxley's Brave New World, does that make the album title a reference to: a certain neighborhood defined by a Church/Parish? Am I right that it's a _place_?

We also have a place called "The Oranges" in New Jersey, but THAT is something totally different.


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## Aigen (Jul 30, 2007)

Here's the nursery rhyme:

Oranges and lemons 
Say the bells of *St Clements *
You owe me five farthings 
Say the bells of *St Martins *
When will you pay me? 
Say the bells of *Old Bailey *
When I grow rich 
Say the bells of *Shoreditch* 
When will that be? 
Say the bells of *Stepney *
I'm sure I don't know 
Says the great bell at *Bow *
Here comes a candle to light you to bed 
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head
Chop chop chop chop the last man's head!

Highlighted are the areas of London. The last three lines were added when it became a playground game. Two kids would stand facing each other, arms raised, holding hands and the others all filed underneath. Whoever was just going under their arms as the end of the rhyme was sung was "chopped."


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## LFcatface (Nov 21, 2007)

*And the winner is ....*

Clepsydra!
Yes if you are "Brahms and Liszt " you are drunk (p***ed)!

So lay off the egg nog when you listen two those two!
 
lfcatface


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

And winner is Brahms and Liszt


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