I don't mean Cockney rhyming slang. I'm told my Grandad used back-slang, along with rhyming slang, with some of his customers when he had a shop in Lambeth before WW2, so that 'outsiders' couldn't understand what they were saying, but 'yob' is an ordinary word now. I'd like to know if there are any others.
2006-10-15 23:03:45 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Hi, my father is a butcher who's used back slang all his working life.
Some of those that I remember (and can repeat!) are -
L-RIG = Girl
YENOM = Money
TAF SAY =Fat ***!
NAMOW = Woman
D-LO =Old
Y-BAB = Baby
There are a few really offensive ones I could tell you, but it's a little early in the morning!
After reading some of the comments from other answerers, I must say how surprised I am at the snobbish attitude towards this. I can assure you that none of the above has been 'made up' by myself, and the slang used was never of a sophisticated nature because neither were the people using it. That is not intended as an insult, but the people concerned were down to earth, working class folk who used this as a cheeky way of communicating amongst themselves. For example, I have heard the comment 'Look at the taf say on that d-lo l-rig' many a time. Why would I bother to make that up?!
2006-10-15 23:14:24 · answer #1 · answered by Daisy Artichoke 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Butchers Slang
2016-10-17 22:39:00 · answer #2 · answered by raymundo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know it's not the answer but...
Backwards slang, or Back slang, is a form of slang where words are reversed. English backwards slang tends to reverse words letter by letter while French backwards slang tends to reverse words by syllables. Verlan is a French slang, that uses backwards words, similar in its methods to the cockney back slang. Louchebem is French butcher's slang, similar to Pig Latin.
so perhaps looking up butchers slang or Pig Latin maybe better?
2006-10-15 23:24:57 · answer #3 · answered by «Dave» 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
People from Newcastle also used back slang when they didnt want people to understand but I think they swopped the first letter of the word for the last letter.
2006-10-16 03:48:36 · answer #4 · answered by Sunseaandair 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Back-slang is not a cockney derivative and whilst the origin of "yob" is the backwards spelling of "boy", the proper back-slang for "boy" is "oyba".
2006-10-15 23:44:25 · answer #5 · answered by Jellicoe 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There's quite a lot of it still in use, but I'm afraid that at least 50% of the answers you'll get on here are of the "Let's make 'em up as we go" variety, and very little credence should be placed on them without verification from the real thing.
That means rather elderly East Londoners mainly !!!
2006-10-16 00:07:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Jellicoe is right. Amscray for scram for example. My mother was born near the Elephant and Castle and used backslang for years. My sister and I used to speak it all the time just to annoy our neighbours (we lived in Leicester).
2006-10-16 03:14:57 · answer #7 · answered by tradcobdriver 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's a website here
http://www.soundsofthe60s.com/html/books/index.htm
which is promoting a book on the subject.
2006-10-15 23:57:14 · answer #8 · answered by fidget 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋