Rhyming Slang (was - Re: An interesting bit of trivia)

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Katrina" <patnkatng at c...> 
wrote:
> > 
> > Iggy here:
> > 
> > Interesting... I had always heard that a "knacker" was a kind of
> > butcher, and so if something is "knackered," it's been cut up for 
> its
> > meat.
> > 
> 
> Katrina (late to the discussion):
> 
> I always thought that a Knacker was one of those elfin folk who 
> inhabited Cornish tin mines. (aka Knockers, or Tommyknockers).

Geoff: 
(also arriving late at the discussion):
I don't look at OT as often as I would like to because keeping up 
with FGU is hard enough work. But a few thoughts....

A knacker, traditionally is a person involved in the disposal of dead 
animals. It tends to have become specific to horses and the 
phrase "fit only for the knacker's yard" means that something has 
reached the end of its use. "Knackered" is also used as a term for 
being exhausted, flat out after doing some sort of very demanding 
mental or physical activity.

Re Rhyming slang. I'm not a Cockney but lived in a Cockney area for 
45 years so I've heard it used a lot. There has been some discussion 
about it on the main group - I just did a bit of digging on the 
archive search and there are a number of HPFGU posts from about 80201 
through to 80478 on the subject if you've got time to follow them up. 
Thinking of ones which come to mind (some of these are repeats from 
the main group and may also be that here. I'll have to see if any 
more come to mind.

A side thought - rhyming slang is sometimes disguised because the 
final element of a rhyme is suppressed. The bit in brackets in my 
examples is the section often suppressed.

Use your loaf (of bread) = use your head (i.e. brain)

Butcher's (hook) = look

Box of toys = noise

Trouble & strife = wife

Barnet (Fair) = hair  [Barnet is a town on the north edge of London]

Apples & pears = stairs

A cup of Rosie (Lee) = a cup of tea

**

Some of these are still used quite regularly by non-Cockneys and even 
by well qualified people who may not even recognise that their source.

An interesting one is "berk" which is now used as a mildly critical 
term for someone. This has changed its meaning and its pronunciation 
quite interestingly. if you want all the ins and outs, start reading 
main group from 80201 - it's really quite revealing....

Geoff