# Is Cockney still spoken? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600 "2003-06-04T14:27:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![G.Cornelius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@G.Cornelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Cornelius)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/61 "2003-06-06T16:18:32Z")
Cockney rhyming slang is just the sort of word play that appeals to the British, so all manner of people use it for fun. I was under the impression (it may be one of those urban myths) that rhyming slag was used to deliberatly obscure the meaning of what was being said. To this end, proper use of rhyming slang should not complete the rhyme - that is left for the listener, who knows the code, to do in his head while leaving the eavesdropper confused. So, one should say “Get in the jar with my skin”. Listener internally vocalises “Jam Jar: Car - Skin and Blister: Sister”. The best rhyming slangs are poetically appropriate. There is none better than “Trouble and Strife: Wife”. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/62 "2003-06-06T16:29:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rayne Man \* > \*\*Time for my rhyming slang joke :- > > This man by the name of Woodcock was so fed up with people making fun of his name that he changed it to Oakhampton. > > See if you can spot the rhyming slang in there. \*\* You don’t expect the foreigners to spot that one surely? ---
**Author:** ![WonTon\_Sean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WonTon\_Sean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonTon_Sean)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/63 "2003-06-06T17:00:40Z")
I find that [http://www.geocities.com/Axiom43/englishfun.html](http://www.geocities.com/Axiom43/englishfun.html) has an excellent rhyming dictionary, as well as a link to excerpts from the (gasp) Cockney Bible! ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/64 "2003-06-06T17:08:08Z")
For us on this side of the pond: “I don’t have the bread I owe you.” “You don’t?! Then put up your dukes and I’ll beat it out of you!” Not being in the mood to fight I razzed him and walked away… And wasn’t St. Mary-le-Bow destroyed in WWII? Did it get rebuilt with the same bells? Inquiring minds want to know… ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/65 "2003-06-06T17:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\*And wasn’t St. Mary-le-Bow destroyed in WWII? Did it get rebuilt with the same bells? Inquiring minds want to know… \*\* Well it was destroyed by bombs, apart from the main tower and a couple of walls. When they restored it in the '60s they recast the bells, so it’s debatable whether they count as the same ones. There’s a sign outside reading: _St Mary Le Bow church, built 1680 by Sir Christopher Wren and repaired after war damage in 1964 replaced the 11th century church which was burnt in the Great Fire. The Norman crypt, in which is found the Court of Arches still survives. The tower and steeple are among Wren’s finest works and house the Bow Bells within whose sound a true cockney is born._ ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/66 "2003-06-06T17:48:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*You don’t expect the foreigners to spot that one surely? \*\* OK , I’ll give them a clue :- There is an area in south-west London called Hampton Wick ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/67 "2003-06-06T19:56:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Cornelius \* > \*\* > The best rhyming slangs are poetically appropriate. There is none better than “Trouble and Strife: Wife”. \*\* The first time I ever heard of rhyming slang, was when Trouble and Strife was used as the title of an episode of Upstairs, Downstairs, and Alistair Cooke explained what it meant for the benefit of us Yanks. ---
**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600/68 "2003-06-06T20:23:50Z")
I believe the language in the movie Quadrophenia is considered to be Cockney. It sure is difficult to understand for an American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cockney-still-spoken/179600.md?page=3)