COCKNEY
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:02 pm
• cockney •
Pronunciation: kahk-ni • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A resident of the East End of London. 2. The accent (dialect) associated with the residents of the East End of London.
Notes: Here is an appropriate word to consider while our minds are still on yesterday's all British word, dekko. Cockney English is as striking a dialect of English as 'Brooklynese' or the 'drawls' of the southern US. It contains no Hs, replaces T with the glottal stop we all pronounce between the oh's of Oh-oh!, drops all Rs at the ends of syllables, and replaces TH with F.
In Play: To make this dialect of English all the more impenetrable, Cockneys have introduced a special code called 'Cockney rhyming slang', replacing words with words that rhyme with them. A lie is called a porky because lie rhymes with pork pie. To have a butcher's is to have a look, rhyming with butcher's hook. Your china is your mate because mate rhymes with china plate. Click here to hear some Cockney filled with real and fake rhyming slang.
Word History: You won't believe where this word came from! In Middle English the word was cokenei "cock's (rooster's) egg", something pretty special, wouldn't you say? Well, that is why the meaning soon shifted to "a pampered child", whence it quite naturally took on the meaning "city dweller" to those who resided in the villages and countryside. Cockneys today are a very special type of city dweller. Cock itself is seldom used to refer to a male fowl in the US due to a vulgar sense it has recently assumed. However, it comes from the same source as chicken: sound imitation. Even Late Latin referred to clucking as coccus from coco, the sound of clucking. The Old English word for chicken was cicen, probably from cici [kiki], the sound of chicks clucking (clicking?)
Pronunciation: kahk-ni • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A resident of the East End of London. 2. The accent (dialect) associated with the residents of the East End of London.
Notes: Here is an appropriate word to consider while our minds are still on yesterday's all British word, dekko. Cockney English is as striking a dialect of English as 'Brooklynese' or the 'drawls' of the southern US. It contains no Hs, replaces T with the glottal stop we all pronounce between the oh's of Oh-oh!, drops all Rs at the ends of syllables, and replaces TH with F.
In Play: To make this dialect of English all the more impenetrable, Cockneys have introduced a special code called 'Cockney rhyming slang', replacing words with words that rhyme with them. A lie is called a porky because lie rhymes with pork pie. To have a butcher's is to have a look, rhyming with butcher's hook. Your china is your mate because mate rhymes with china plate. Click here to hear some Cockney filled with real and fake rhyming slang.
Word History: You won't believe where this word came from! In Middle English the word was cokenei "cock's (rooster's) egg", something pretty special, wouldn't you say? Well, that is why the meaning soon shifted to "a pampered child", whence it quite naturally took on the meaning "city dweller" to those who resided in the villages and countryside. Cockneys today are a very special type of city dweller. Cock itself is seldom used to refer to a male fowl in the US due to a vulgar sense it has recently assumed. However, it comes from the same source as chicken: sound imitation. Even Late Latin referred to clucking as coccus from coco, the sound of clucking. The Old English word for chicken was cicen, probably from cici [kiki], the sound of chicks clucking (clicking?)