Some Notes on Rhyming Argot

Abstract

T CONSIDER that I can probably make a contribution to the ascertainment 1 of the origin of some of the examples given as doubtful between English and American in Mr. D. W. Maurer's article on 'Australian' rhyming argot in American Speech for October, 1944. Briefly, my qualifications for doing so are that as a young officer I served from 1914 to 1922 in a Regiment of the British Army exclusively Cockney in its area of recruitment. During that period, especially in the first four wartime years, there were the unrivalled opportunities of trenchlife for getting to know the habits of thought and expression of one's men, sharpened, in the case of rhyming slang, if one's individual interests were already inclining towards philology or word study. The argument then is as follows: As rhyming slang is admittedly English (predominantly Cockney), and more than a century old, there is, in this particular field, scant probability of any borrowings from the American-the whole tide runs the other way, via Australia. Thus, where Mr. Maurer is in doubt of the origin of a particular word, it will be pertinent if my Cockney riflemen used that word habitually thirty years ago; the word will almost surely be English in origin. Similarly, if Mr. Maurer puts forward a rhyming expression as probably American in origin, and my men used a different rhyme to convey the same word, his assumption of American origin is almost certainly correct. To give one example. Mr. Maurer has RED HOT CINDER, 'a winder (window),' noted as origin uncertain, either American or English. Now my Cockneys in those old days would not have dreamed of using anything but POLLY FLINDERS (incidentally the name of the heroine of the English Christmas pantomime of Robinson Crusoe; note how many rhyming slang words are derived from the theatre) for window, so I contend that of Mr. Maurerls two possibilities, RED HOT CINDER iS probably of American origin. It must, however, be conceded that my case is weakened to the extent that rhyming slang in England glories in synonyms, and that probably half the words in its simple vocabulary have alternative rhyming equivalents. My notes are set out alphabetically below, Mr. Maurer's suggested origin being in the parentheses immediately following the word.