Saturday 26 August 2023

Four expressions I didn't know until today came from rhyming slang


- Scarper; British slang for 'run away'. From Scapa Flow - Go. 

- Grass; as in informant. From Grasshopper - copper (and from there to copper's nark) 

- Dukes; slang for fists, as in 'duking it out'. From Duke of York - Fork. ('Forks' being now-forgotten slang for hands.) 

- Donkey's years; a long time. From Donkey's Ears, rhyming slang for Years... but then the Y crept back in. 


Alt Text: Donkey's ears. And between them, a donkey. Well, I suppose there's always a donkey between a donkey's ears. I mean: another one, framed in the photo between the ears of the first donkey. Glad we've got that clear. It doesn't matter in the least. 

11 comments:

Tealin said...

These are fascinating! I had no idea! I use 'donkey's years' all the time and didn't even know it was British, nevermind rhyming slag (or devolved rhyming slang). Thank you!

Lexi said...

I didn't know any of those, and my workshop is in Hoxton, in living memory a shady part of the East End. English is the best language, no question.

Anonymous said...

Love this, and particularly the return of the 'y' to donkey's years. Margery Allingham has misled me all these years into thinking scarper was a Romany word. Tsk.

v.edgy said...

These are great. On a slightly different note I think I knew that £5 was sometimes called a Lady, after Lady Godiva. But I definitely didn't know until recently, and loved learning, that £15 is sometimes called a Commodore, after The Commodores' song Three Times a Lady.

nkx9 said...

Well, you're clearly a man with access to pictures of sad donkeys...

Zouk Delors said...

Scapa Flow as rhyming slang for 'go' sounds totally plausible, but Scapa isn't pronounced with the long a suggested by the r in scarper, is it?

What's your source, anyway, John?

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Anonymous said...

No self respecting matelot would call it SCAPPA flow …. See “Sink The Bizmark” … 1950s… definitely SCARPA FLO !

Anonymous said...

I think scarper is earlier than that & comes from the Italian scappare - run away - perhaps via theatrical slang & the same roots as Polari (which comes from parlare = speak). A lot of music hall, pantomime & Punch & Judy performers were Italian. Scarper is recorded in 19th century London slums: I kind of doubt people were very conscious of Scapa Flow before WWI.

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