It's a Mash-Up...in a Sausage and Mash Shop...

February 14, 2013 4:03 PM

Cockney English, once frowned upon as an unsavory dialect in the UK, has endured over the centuries, becoming a hallmark of London's East End culture. Though the demographics of that area have changed within recent decades, the rhyming slang of old still persists in that region's streets - on ATM machines.
posted by Smart Dalek (8 comments total)

Technically, it should only ask you to enter your "huckleberry." I wonder what sort of berk wrote this.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:09 PM on February 14 [4 favorites]

For those of us who lived for any time in London, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise, though it's cool that it's on an ATM. I hadn't heard "Double Top" for 40 quid before - nice darts reference. Septics (who are the majority on MeFi I think) won't get a lot of the comments that are to come, but TheWhiteSkull, the C-Word is generally frowned upon here. Tee Hee.
posted by Sk4n at 4:38 PM on February 14

Rhyming slang, says Green, who has spent his life career as its chronicler, is the dark side of language. "It is what Freud would call the id, or unfettered self," he says. "The themes are sex, insults, defecation, racism, nationalism, or calling someone mad, fat, or stupid."

but there are lots of things like dog and bone = phone, and
apples and pears = stairs to...

( I wonder why some old Cockney phrases enter and survive quite well in the mainstream England-English language (rabbit and pork = talk -> "they was rabbiting on about nothing" ; butcher's hook = look -> "I'm just going to have a quick butchers" etc. - while others remain curiosities or obscure ?
posted by Bwithh at 4:49 PM on February 14

Automated Teller Machine machines...
posted by mrbill at 5:05 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Automated Teller Machine machines = eBeans.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:13 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Do people still use rhyming slang in everyday life? (On preview: welp, I guess they do.)

And because this is always apropos: Johnny Cash shills for an early Canadian ATM. (Lots of backstory: scroll down for the two videos.)

Amazingly, Canada Trust also created life size Johnny Cash cardboard standees which briefly appeared in branches until most of them ended up getting stolen or weather damaged.

I beg to differ: those cutouts were nowhere near life size (they were barely taller than me), but yes, they were awesome. I still regret that my boyfriend with the Canada Trust account wouldn't hear of stealing one.
posted by maudlin at 7:49 PM on February 14

That's a bubble (bath = laugh).
(My favourite from my time in tower hamlets)
posted by Sparx at 9:59 PM on February 14

The rhyming slang exhibited is awful. My favourite when living with East-enders was "Well yaknow he's a bit of a Roland". Roll and Butter = nutter.
posted by BenPens at 5:07 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]