Tate and Lyle – Style. Refers back to the sugar-refining company formed in 1921 by the merger of the businesses of Henry Tate and Abram Lyle, who both entered the market in the mid-part of Queen Victoria’s reign.
While money may not always have been in plentiful supply among London’s working classes, pride in appearance has always been a core value.
* Alan Whickers – knickers. A tribute to the debonair broadcasting legend particularly famed for his reports from disparate corners of the globe. Benny Hill once ran a series of parodic sketches called ‘Knicker’s World’. Also Brenda Frickers, after the Dublin-born actress who won an Oscar in 1990 for the film My Left Foot.
* Almond rocks – socks. Almond rocks was a popular treat in the Victorian era, a sweet bisuit made with flaked almonds and candied peel.
* Baked beans – jeans. Levi 501s or Heinz 57s.
* Canoes – shoes. Drawing on the physical similarities between the two objects. For the generation brought up on the antics of the Sex and the City girls, there is an almost too convenient alternative in Jimmy Choos. Choo is perhaps the most famous living shoe-designer, alongside Manolo Blahnik, and operates out of London, having fostered a long association with Hackney. His products were objects of almost lustful desire for the character Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker.
* Charlie Prescot – waistcoat. A rhyme relying on the antiquated pronunciation of waistcoat as ‘westcot’. Modern users might prefer an updated John Prescott, after the former Labour deputy prime minister and a man built to model just such an item of clothing.
* Daisy roots – boots. Establishes the image of something planted firmly in the ground. Lonnie Donegan incorporated it into his song ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’: ‘He looks a proper narner / In his great big hob nailed boots / He’s got such a job to pull ’em up / That he calls them daisy roots.’
* Dicky dirt – shirt. A ‘dickie’ was the name for a detachable shirt front from the earliest days of the nineteenth century (perhaps linked to the coinage of ‘dicky bow’ for a bow tie). The addition of ‘dirt’ to make the rhyme work is suggestive of the dangers to a crisp white shirt in the grimy city.
* Eddie Grundies – undies (as in ‘underwear’). Eddie Grundy is a character in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, the world’s longest-running soap opera. Played by Trevor Harrison, Eddie is always working on some get-rich-quick scheme or other.
* Epsom races – braces. The most famous of all the races at Epsom Downs is the Derby, which has been run since 1780. Epsom is in Surrey, a short trip out of London, and the arrival of the railways allowed Londoners of all classes to dress up and make a day of it, a tradition that lives on.
* Fag packet – jacket. A jacket pocket is a natural home for a packet of ciggies.
* Fleas and ants – pants. Recalling the phrase ‘ants in your pants’.
* Fly-by-nights – tights. While a fly-by-night is generally someone considered unreliable or of dubious trustworthiness in business, here there is also the sense of moonlit flits and of hosiery whipped off after dark.
* Half and half – scarf. The alternative, tin bath, relies on the pronunciation of ‘bath’ as ‘barf’.
* House of Lords – cords (as in corduroy trousers). A fashion item rarely seen in the hallowed corridors of Parliament’s Upper House.
* Leg of mutton – button. An alternative among scholars of cricket is Len Hutton, who played for Yorkshire, captained England to Ashes victory and was among the most prolific batsmen of all time, scoring 364 in an innings against Australia in 1938.
* Lionel Blairs – flairs. Blair is a mildly camp actor, choreographer and dancer, perhaps best known for his many years as a team captain on the charades-based TV show Give Us a Clue. His eternal fame was secured by his being the subject of outrageous innuendo by Humphrey Lyttelton on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.
* Lucy Locket – pocket. Referencing a nursery rhyme probably dating from the eighteenth century. Lucy was, it is believed, a real person – a barmaid at Fleet Street’s Cock public house. The verse runs: ‘Lucy Locket lost her pocket, / Kitty Fisher found it. / Not a penny was there in it, / Only ribbon round it.’
* More or less – dress. A cheeky nod, perhaps, to what might be on show depending on the particular cut and style of the dress.
* Ooh-la-la – bra. In which the corrupted French rhyme adds a quaint layer of sexual suggestiveness.
* Pair of kippers – slippers. Implicit is the notion of wafting foot odour. An alternative is Yankee clipper, a clipper being a speedy sailing ship popular with merchants in the nineteenth century (of which Cutty Sark docked at Greenwich is one of the finest examples). This latter rhyme continues the association between footwear and boats established above.
* Peckham Rye – tie. Peckham Rye is a neighbourhood of Southwark immortalized by Muriel Spark in her novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye. William Blake also claimed to have visions there.
* Pound note – coat. Perhaps pointing up that the more money you have to spend, the better the coat. An alternative is Quaker oat, a tribute to the popular breakfast cereal. As the wise know, on a cold day a good breakfast is what you need to set you up.
* Reelings and rockings – stockings. A frisky little rhyme born from Chuck Berry’s rock ’n’ roll classic ‘Reeling and Rocking’, with its suggestive boasts of ‘reelin’ and a-rockin’ and rollin’ till the break of dawn’.
* Roman candles – sandals. A type of traditional firework that also conjures up images of ancient Rome and its distinctive footwear.
* Round the houses – trousers (usually contracted to round the’s or sometimes round de’s). In a variation of Harris Weston and Bert Lee’s classic 1938 song, ‘Knees Up, Mother Brown’, Fat Old Uncle Henry is depicted dancing while the buttons on his trousers come off one by one. It finishes with the lines: ‘Another one went “pop”, / He said I’m gonna keep on ‘till me round the houses drop.’
* Swallow and sigh – collar and tie. Suggestive of a certain discomfort in dressing formally.
* Tit-for-tat – hat. Almost exclusively contracted to titfer.
* Tomfoolery – jewellery. Usually shortened to tom by nefarious sorts planning a spot of robbing.
* Turtle doves – gloves. Hailing from the 1850s, when the birds were considerably more common in Britain than they are now. Of course, my true love sent me a pair of them on the Second Day of Christmas. These days, a pair of gloves is a far more likely gift.
* Weasel and stoat – coat. A rhyme where the creatures in question on occasion find themselves recycled as the item of clothing they describe.
* Whistle and flute – suit. One of the most widely used of all slang phrases.
* Widow Twankey – hanky (as in ‘handkerchief’). Widow Twankey is the traditional pantomime dame who has been appearing in the Aladdin story since 1861. Always played by a man, she is the mother of Aladdin and Wishy Washy and is normally the proprietor of a Chinese laundry, where she no doubt launders many a hanky.
Pearly Kings and Queens
To many, the Pearly Kings and Queens of London are symbols of ‘Cockney London’, famous for their distinctive outfits covered in pearl buttons and for mastery of rhyming slang. They serve as the heads of a charitable organization rooted in the traditions of the London working class. Today there is a king and queen for each London borough as well as for the City of London and the City of Westminster.
The organization traces its origins back to 1875 and an orphan, Henry Croft, who earned his living by sweeping the city’s market streets. He was drawn to the costermonger lifestyle, with its smart talk, distinctive fashions (pearl buttons were commonly sewn on to seams, pockets and hats) and sense of social responsibility (at least to each other). Having found gainful employment, Henry decided he wanted to do something to help the children in his old orphanage, so started to collect money for them as he worked. He kept an eye out as he swept for any buttons that had fallen off people’s clothes and then sewed them on to his own clothes until his suit and hat were entirely covered. Even now, it is the Kings who are responsible for designing and making their outfits. Henry’s great-granddaughter is the Pearly Queen of Somers Town to this day.
SLANG IN ACTION
Everyone knows Geoff. A big fellah, nice enough until someone upsets him. He always wears the same thing – great big daisies on his feet, a pair of classic baked beans, a white dicky and a smart black weasel. Always has a titfer on his bonce too. What people don’t know is that underneath it all he’s wearing alans and an ohh-la-la that belong to his wife. That’s what I call tate.
Translation
Everyone knows Geoff. A big fellah, nice enough until someone upsets him. He always wears the same thing – great big boots on his feet, a pair of classic jeans, a white shirt and a smart black coat. Always has a hat on his bonce too. What people don’t know is that underneath it all he’s wearing knickers and a bra that belong to his wife. That’s what I call style.