here's a useful page of cockney rhyming slang to confuse you

http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/rc...ockney_faq.html

It aint sumfing u can learn as such, u just pick it up.

U haf to hang around us

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aye an thats rite am ****ed out ma face so get ower it!

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This was a place of fun and madness that is sadly long gone now

All the best to all the UKTAs

08/01/16

Big Dave/little Dave

innit

YOU SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG

Ere ave some more you facking cant! Arm the facking daddy arand ere and we'll ave none of that lark in mar facking Manor! Oi where do u think yor going lav! get down the apple and pears and make me a cuppa and a sausage sarnie with braaan sauce, you facking wot! shut your North and South mate I'll facking ave you for that arm the facking guverner arand ere not you sonny jim! alright John nice new motor there you seen Verns missus she's a right slapper!

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The UK has an incredible amount of accent variation. Look at the size of us compared to somewhere like North America, and we easily have more accents/dialects. The reason is probably because we have had thousands of years to form this language of ours, and in that time we have formed many individual eccentricities in our language which in some parts of the UK vary from town to town. The Americans on the other hand were all Europeans who flocked to the states and needed to adopt a common language, so they used English. Since then, they've had barely a couple of hundred years to establish variations. Sure Texans and New Yorkers might sound different, but I've never met an American I can't understand, and those places are like a thousand miles apart! I've met Scousers, Glaswegians, Cockneys, and even people from my own area (Geordies) that I don't understand! And they are all only a few hours drive away at the most.

Just like you, I can't understand cockney rhyming slang either. If someone asked me for the Duke of Kent, I'd be like WTF? Yet according to goldenarmZ' link it means "rent". You have to be a cockney to understand that basically. If you watch the movie "lock stock and two smoking barrels" (a great British film, I recommend it as one of my all-time favourites) they use subtitles for the dialogue in an East London pub because it's impossible to understand

I'm quite used to toning down my accent quite considerably, because I simply wouldn't survive in London let alone abroad if I spoke to everyone in thick geordie dialect. I learnt this the hard way on my first trip to London, even buying a bag of chips was an aural ordeal! I also had an American girl once ask me if I speak English when I tried to give her directions in London. That was when I realised I really need to turn it down. I can make myself understood to foreigners no problem but it's quite tiresome!

If you want some British translations, here are some useful sites on the net:

London, South-East England
http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/rc...ockney_faq.html - the language of the "Cockneys", wide-mouthed geezers from London with a very thick accent. Cockney rhyming slang, as it is known. You'll mainly only hear this sort of thing in the East end of London I think. In East London they hate nerdy words like "cop", they use words like "the filth". Londoners cannot say the letter R, it becomes a letter W, and clean (not rude) language is a physical impossibility. Ask a Londoner to say 'horrorist' and it produces funny results! People from one end of London think the other end is the other side of the world.

Newcastle (known as 'the toon'), North-East England
http://www.geordiepride.demon.co.uk/dictionary.htm - the language of the "Geordies", a bizzarre people from the North, weened on Newcastle Brown Ale and always up for a fight. Newcastle is an isolated city by British standards, and the North of England has been kind of shat on in history from both the North (the bloody Scots who we fought off for centuries, and who now get more money thn England!) and the South (who have traditionally neglected the hard-working North of England which made this country industrially so mighty). So there exists a kind of North/South divide in England. Some historians suggest the geordie dialect comes from an old form of Scandinavian. We were invaded by the Vikings (who were barbarians from Norway, maybe that explains why people here can't feel the cold) and they brought with them an odd dialect which Newcastle never really progressed from. Some people reckon thats a load of bollocks though!

Liverpool, Mid-West England
www.whoohoo.co.uk - the language of the "Scousers". These people will nick all of your money, your clothes, your possessions, kick you in, and to add insult to injury, they'll waddle off like penguins with it all! This has some Welsh influences (the Welsh language, by the way, is virtually allergic to vowels!). Like the Scots, they have difficulty with the letter R, it becomes a bit like an L.


There are loads more in England, Scotland and Ireland but I can't be arsed to explain them all.

Visit www.whoohoo.co.uk it is adialect translator, it covers all kinds of British accents, and has now added some Irish ones too. It's a great site, but translators don't work very well for obvious reasons, just like English - Spanish translators. In geordie, for example, much of our word construction is different and it's very difficult to keep up to date with British slang which changes all the time. It's got to be one of the best sites out there though.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Nov-24-2002 at 04:39

quote:

Originally posted by Maaz Also, I have don't understanding many things Chris Liberator says in his tunes (What does "it's f*cking ave it ere" mean!?)... this "alternative" English sounds a lot cooler, so I'd like some tips on it. For example, when should I ignore the consonants (such as "h" and "t") and stuff like that

I forgot to answer this question:

Chris Liberator actually said "acid techno, it's not from Detroit and it' not intelligent, but it's fucking having it!", which basically means he's saying Acid Techno is awesome. Cockneys would pronounce this "it's fackin evin it". The E in 'evin' being like the E in 'egg'. Cockneys say "fackin'" very loudly and their accent is very thick, noone else can do it the same In Newcastle we say sort of "fookin'" but it's not quite like that, it's very difficult to put into letters.

If you want to speak like a cockney, you need to learn a lot of the dialect, but the accent is quite easy. Cockneys are known for being wide-mouthed because they have a noisy, thick accent. So if you open your mouth bigger than usual when you speak, and practise exchanging R with W that's a starter. The letter L is sometimes like "oo" or "oow" but it's hard to explain. The letter T is often a silent letter in cockney, you just leave a little pause.

Here's an example of how they would say "bottle" - "bah-ew". The "ah" s very fast and the '-' is a tiny pause and the "ew" is a bit like "oo".


If you want to hear cockney at it's finest, you must watch this film, it's one of the best films ever, as I'm sure other UKTA's will agree:

Wow, thanks for the info By the wa, that "woohoo" page is class (and the rhyming thing is very entertaining... and confusing ) So, cockneys would pronounce "right" as if it were "white"? That's weally weird And I read once that you guys think that it's funny when foreigners pronounce "which" and "witch" the same way... but what's the difference? Also, what does "to be arsed" mean?

I hope you guys don't mind I'm asking all this stuff

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An' of couss, yams gotta consider us from dat west midlands with ar own unique dialect an' accent. If yam knew a brummie, you'll knoo where wim comin from.

'be arsed' v. intr.
To take the trouble; concern oneself.

As in "I couldn't be arsed to go to work today, because I caned it all weekend."

Translates as "I couldn't be bothered to go to work today, because I caned it all weekend."

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"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

quote:

Originally posted by Maaz And I read once that you guys think that it's funny when foreigners pronounce "which" and "witch" the same way... but what's the difference?

I thought we also pronounced which and witch the same way.

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"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Ralph Waldo Emerson