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. 

12 comments:

  1. 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!

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  2. 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.

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  3. Anonymous2:04 pm

    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.

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  4. v.edgy9:22 am

    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.

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

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  6. 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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    1. Anonymous2:38 pm

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

      Delete
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  9. Anonymous6:56 pm

    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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