Appendix:Cockney rhyming slang

List of Cockney rhyming slang in common use

The following is a list of well-known (to Londoners) examples of Cockney rhyming slang. It is not intended to be comprehensive.

Many terms are based on popular culture, and so the cant is constantly updated according to changing fashions. The terms listed here are well-established.

• Adam and Eve — believe
• apples and pears — stairs
• aris (short for Aristotle) — bottle, arse
• Barclays Bank, J. Arthur Rank, Jodrell Bank, Tommy Tank — wank
• Barnet Fair — hair
• Barney Rubble — trouble
• bees and honey — money
• berk short for Berkeley Hunt — cunt (metaphorical - referring to person, not genitalia)
• bird lime — time (in prison)
• boat race - face
• boracic lint — skint
• bottle and glass — arse
• Brahms and Liszt — pissed (drunk)
• bristol (usually plural; short for Bristol City football team) — titty (breast)
• bubble, bubble and squeak - Greek
• butcher's hook — a look
• Cadbury's Flake - Mistake
• china plate — mate (friend)
• cobbler's awls — balls (testicles)
• currant bun — sun (also The Sun, a British newspaper)
• custard and jelly — telly (television)
• dog and bone — phone
• dog's meat — feet [from early 20th c.]
• dustbin lid — kid
• frog and toad — road
• Gareth Hunt — cunt (most common at the height of the actor's fame)
• ginger beer, King Lear, Brighton Pier — queer (homosexual)
• Gypsy's kiss — piss
• half-inch — pinch (to steal)
• Hank Marvin - starving
• irish pig — wig
• iron hoof — poof (a homosexual)
• jam-jar — car
• Jimmy Riddle — piddle
• Khyber Pass — arse
• loop the loop — soup
• mincers (short for mince pies) — eyes
• Mutt and Jeff — deaf
• Nelly Duff — puff (= life; used in the phrase not on your nelly!)
• north and south — mouth
• pen and ink — stink (noun)
• plates of meat — feet
• porker, porky short for pork pie — lie (untruth)
• rabbit (short for rabbit and pork) — talk
• raspberry ripple — nipple
• raspberry tart — fart
• Rosy Lee — tea (drink)
• Ruby Murray — curry
• salmon and trout — snout (tobacco)
• septic tank — Yank
• sherbert (short for sherbert dab) — cab (taxi)
• syrup of figs — wig (sic)
• tables and chairs — stairs
• taters (short for potatoes in the mould) — cold (adjective)
• tea leaf — thief
• Tid (short for tiddlywink — Chink (Chinese person)
• titfer (short for tit for tat) — hat
• tom tit — shit
• Tristram Hunt — cunt (metaphorical - referring to person, not genitalia)
• trouble and strife — wife
• two and eight — state (of upset)
• whistle and flute — suit (of clothes)

Some Direct Rhymes in Cockney Slang

• coco, cocoa — direct rhyme with "say so", as in "I should coco"
• joanna — piano (pronounced 'pianna' in Cockney)
• tomfoolery — jewellery