What is . . .?

Question

. . .Cockney? Where did it come from? What does it even mean?

Answer 1

The term was in use in this sense as early as 1600, when Samuel Rowlands in his satire The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine, referred to 'a Bow-bell Cockney'. John Minsheu (or Minshew) was the first lexicographer to define the word in this sense, in his Ductor in Linguas (1617), where he referred to 'A cockney or cockny, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London'. However, the etymologies he gave (from '****' and 'neigh', or from Latin incoctus, raw) were just guesses, and the OED later authoritatively explained the term as originating from **** and egg, meaning first a misshapen egg (1362), then a person ignorant of country ways (1521), then the senses mentioned above.

Answer 2

A cockney has to be born within the sound of the bells of St Mary le Bow church, Cockney rhyming slang started as a secret language usually among the criminal or working classes.

Answer 3

Cockney is from the eastend of london,to be a genuine cockney you would have to be born where you can hear the bow bells ,name of a nearby church,cockneys have their own language ,rhyming slang,frog and toad =road, apples and pears=stairs,silly but true.

Answer 4

"Cockney" refers to the white working class natives of London (or, more traditionally those born within earshot of the Bow Bells, Cheapside), or the dialect/slang used by such people. However, the bells were silent from the outbreak of World War II until 1961. Also, as the general din in London has increased, the area in which the bells can be heard has contracted. Formerly it included the City, Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Stepney, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Bermondsey, and Rotherhithe although according to the legend of Dick Whittington the bells could be heard from as far away as Highgate.

The following link will provide you with a long list of Cockney expressions based on the famous rhyming slang. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=99938&lastnode_id=0
Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. Many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys.

Rhyming slang developed as a way of obscuring the meaning of sentences to those who did not understand the slang, though it remains a matter of speculation whether this was a linguistic accident, or whether it was developed intentionally to assist criminals or to maintain a particular community, in the same name as the French argot, another form of slang which was originally the language of the criminal classes.

Answer 5

A cockney is a person born within the sound of bow bells, Cheapside. Although people associate it with the slang used in the east end.

Answer 6

Cockney is a native London, especially of its East End; it's also an urban dialect used in the East End

Answer 7

It's someone from the east end of London although I think the last 3 letters are obsolete to describe anyone from London. The first 4 do the job really well.

Answer 8

London

Answer 9

You must be born within the sound of Bow bells

Answer 10

It's slang. London people made it up and use it the most. Its just made up words that sound like the other word. E.G. :
Ruby Murry - curry
Boat race - face
Joe Maxi - taxi
Hit & miss - piss
Jam jar - car
Ect