Planet Word by J. P. Davidson

Author:J. P. Davidson [Davidson, J.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141968933
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2011-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

Cockney Rhyming Slang

Secret languages are the stuff of childhood. Generations of schoolboys have thrilled to the mystery of writing notes in invisible ink and speaking in a code which no one outside their inner circle of chums understood. Pig Latin was a language game beloved of schoolchildren. It wasn’t really Latin (just sounded a bit like it) and involved putting the first letter of a word at the end and then adding -ay. ‘Owhay oday ouyay oday?’ (How do you do?’). Pig Greek – or ubbi dubbi – is another one; also aigy paigy, Double Dutch and gibberish.

These secret languages are essentially games, abandoned in adulthood. But there are other ingenious, covert languages which have developed within a group or a community, often to hide illicit practices or allow coded talk about others without them knowing; in some instances, they’ve spread to become part of the general vocabulary. The argot which we are all most familiar with – especially through TV shows like Minder, Only Fools and Horses and EastEnders – is Cockney rhyming slang.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.