# British slang: why is a fight called a "Barney"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256 "2005-02-21T23:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/21 "2005-02-22T15:26:32Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Did the Cockneys really know who Barney Rubble is? Well they know who Ruby Murray is - and Todd Sloane, so it’s a fair bet they know who Barney Rubble is. The are televisions in London you know - and rationing finished some time ago, so you can get all the jellied eels you can eat (or indeed go for a ruby, you could have a Brittney with it!) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/22 "2005-02-23T06:42:56Z")
I knew there were televisions in London, of course. It’s just that the UK gets shows we’ve never heard of, and vice versa. The Flintstones were a stone-age ripoff of The Honeymooners, which may have lost something in translation. Fred and Barney were voice-over artists doing Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, twenty years later. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/23 "2005-02-23T07:05:00Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The Cockneys still exist, you know. Even though the Bow Bells don’t? Blasphemy! [The term ‘donnybrook’ comes from the name of a suburb of Dublin known for its violent yearly fairs.](http://www.answers.com/donnybrook) ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/24 "2005-02-23T10:11:23Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > The are televisions in London you know Of course, to a cockney it’s pronounced “Laaaahndon”. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/25 "2005-02-23T12:26:51Z")
I always thought it was a reference to the conflict between Barnabas and Paul (Acts 15:36-40) ---
**Author:** ![Madblotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Madblotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madblotter)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/26 "2016-03-05T17:30:51Z")
The Lithuanian word Barnis, plural Barniai, which would be pronounced barney, means quarrel. There would have been Lithianian immigrants into East London at the end of the 19tb century, many Jewish, but not all. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256/27 "2016-03-05T17:43:29Z")
I can find no confirmation; indeed most reputable sources say the origin is unknown, but I alway assumed that it was a corruption of Barnet Fair, which is an annual horse and pleasure fair held in Barnet, England, on the first Monday in September. This fair, which began in 1588 could be pretty rowdy. So Barnet - Barney would not be hard. Barnet Fair (reduced by hemiteleia to barnet) is better known as the origin of Cockney rhyming slang for hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-slang-why-is-a-fight-called-a-barney/291256.md?page=1)