London slang

London slang is a mixture of words and phrases originating in the city and around the globe, commonly spoken in London. It reflects the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup of the city's population.

As London occupies a dominant social, cultural and economic position within the United Kingdom, slang originally unique to the city has spread across the UK. Conversely, slang from outside London has migrated in along with people seeking work in the capital. Cockney rhyming slang and Multicultural London English are the best known forms of London slang.

Origins

Slang can infiltrate almost any element of daily life. For instance, London slang about money is believed to have been imported from India by returning servicemen during the nineteenth century. The terms monkey, meaning £500, and pony, meaning £25, are believed by some to have come from old Indian rupee banknotes, which it is asserted used to feature images of those animals. Banknotes with such denominations were issued by Bank of Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras and some other private banks between 1810 and 1860.

It is more likely that the term Pony originates from the Latin "Legem Pone" from Psalm 119 which was always sung at Matins on the 25th of the month. The 25th March was also the date on which debts were traditionally settled, on which date one would have to "pony up" or "pony out". It is easy to see how slang for a payment on the 25th could develop into a payment of 25 pounds^[1]

The term "monkey" originally meant a mortgage in working class slang across large parts of the UK. A "monkey on the house" or simply a "monkey" was a mortgage.^[2]

At that time 500 pounds was a huge sum of money to the poor people who predominantly used such slang and the only way to raise that amount of money would have been to mortgage the house. 500 pounds would have been about the average value of a London house at the time the term originated in the early 20th century^[3] according to the CPBS mortgage registers 1919-1922.

However the true origin^[4] of these terms is uncertain. Another money slang word, nicker, which means £1, is thought to be connected to the American nickel. Wonga, which describes an unspecified amount of money, may come from the Romany word for coal, wanga.^[5]

Modern influences

In 2005, Professor Sue Fox from Queen Mary, University of London concluded that Cockney rhyming slang was dying out because children in London are greatly exposed to words and phrases from outside cultures.^[6] Teenagers especially are incorporating into their vocabularies new words borrowed from outside the UK. This new slang is also influenced by new technologies, especially mobile phone SMS (short message service) or text messages. While "dat" and "dere" may be of Afro-Caribbean origin along with many other terms, their use in text messages as easier-to-key options to "that" and "there/their" cement them as slang in common usage.

The large number of immigrant communities and relatively high level of ethnic integration mean that various pronunciations, words and phrases have been fused from a variety of sources to create modern London slang. The emerging dialect draws influences from diaspora communities present in London, such as Caribbean speech.^[7] This form of slang is mainly spoken in Inner London,^[7][8] and most areas of Outer London. Although the slang has been highly influenced by black caribbean communities, youth of all ethnicities in London have adopted it.^[9] Popular slang words include:

Adjectives

• "Bait" (obvious or well known)
• "Bare" (a lot of)
• "Batty" (homosexual)
• "Bookey" (appalling in nature)
• "Buff" (attractive)
  • "Buffting" (attractive person)
• "Butters" (ugly)
• "Clapped" (ugly or nasty)
• "Dead" (insignificant)
• "Dry" (dull or boring)
• "Gassed" (to be overwhelmed by yourself or overwhelmed because of something else (connected to the word "gas" because it means you are full of gas))
• "Grimey" (related or similar to Grime (music genre) (not to be confused with "grimy", referring to "grime" (dirt)))
• "Peak" (serious or unfortunate)
• "Peng" (attractive)
  • "Pengting" (attractive person)
• "Piff" (attractive)
  • "Piffting" (attractive person)
• "Popping" (active or popular)
• "Road" (urban or rough in nature)
• "Wassy" (bullshit)
• "Washed" (lame)
• "Waste" (useless)

Interjections

• "Ahh" (generalised exclamation)
• "Ayy" (expression of approval)
• "Calm" (
• "Dun Know" ("of course", also an expression of approval)
• "Inni'" or "Innit" ("isn't it?")
• "Nah" (exclamation of disbelief at the enormity of someone's action or statement)
• "Oh my days!" (generalised exclamation)
• "Safe" (expression of approval and also used as a parting phrase)
• "Wagwan" (a greeting (originated from Jamaican Patois))
• "Yana" ("you know")
• "You get me?" ("do you understand me?")

Pronouns

• "Man" (first-person singular, third-person singular and general plural)
  • "Mandem" (group of males)
  • "Them Man" ("they" or 'them", in the masculine form)
  • "Us Man" ("we" or "us", in the masculine form)
• "Gyal" (first-person singular, third-person singular and general plural)
  • "Gyaldem" (group of females)
  • "Them Gyal" ("they" or "them", in the feminine form)
  • "Us Gyal" ("we" or "us", in the feminine form)
• "The kid" (first-person singular, oneself, me)

Nouns

• "B" (close friend or brother, often used as a form of address)
• "Badders" (person skilled at sexual acts)
• "Bag" (a lot of money)
• "Bally" (bando)
• "Bando" (drug den)
• "Bars" (rap lyrics)
• "Beef" (intense argument or rivalry)
• "Big ups" (credit to)
• "Bin" (prison)
• "Blicky" (pistol)
• "Blud" (friend, often used as a form of address)
• Br-
  • "Bredrin" (close friend or brother, often used as a form of address)
  • "Bruv" (close friend or brother, often used as a form of address)
  • "Brudda" (close friend or brother, often used as a form of address)
  • "Bredda" (close friend or brother, often used as a form of address)
• "Bread" (money)
• "Brikky" (Brixton in South London)
• "Cake" (a kilo of crack cocaine)
• "Caps" (bullets)
• "Cat" (drug addict)
• "Cheddar" (money)
• "Clart" (synonym of shit or crap)
• "Corn" (ammunition)
• "Cred" (credit)
• "Creps" (shoes)
  • "Crep check" (the inspection of one's shoes)
• "Crumb" (a small amount of money)
• "Cunch" (the countryside or any town outside London)
• "Don" (leader (originated from the 1520s Spanish/Latin word))
• "Ends" (neighbourhood)
• "Fam" (family and/or friends)
• "Feds"(police, originated from "federal officers")
• "'fit" (outfit)
• "Flicky" (flick-knife)
• "Food" (drugs)
• "G" (friend or gangster, often used as a form of address)
• "Gas" (untruth)
• "J-bag" (promiscuous female. Shortened form of Jezebel)
• "Jezzy" (promiscuous female. Shortened form of Jezebel)
• "L" (Something that is unfortunate)
• "Loubs" (Christian Loubouton shoes)
• -man (non-gender specific)
  • "Badman" (person who thinks they are big or intimidating)
  • "Batty boy" (homosexual male (gay))
  • "Batty gyal" (homosexual female (lesbian))
    • "Big batty gyal" (any female with a large behind)
  • "Batty man" (person who is homosexual)
  • "Roadman" (person who spends a lot of time on the streets and smokes marijuana, can also be used as a general slur)
  • "Rudeboy" (male that is explicit)
  • "Rudegyal" (female that is explicit)
  • "Sideman" (irrelevant person)
  • "Skengman" (gunman)
  • "Topboy" (the most significant person of a group of people)
  • "Topman" (the most significant person of a group of people)
  • "Wasteman" (person that is considered useless or low in terms of society, e.g "Man like Declan are pure wasteman")
• "Motive" (an arranged meet-up)
• "Neek" (nerd and/or geek (a portmanteau))
• "Nitty" (a drug fiend)
• "OG" (original/original gangster)
• "Opp" (opposition, gang that you're beefing)
• "OT" (out of town)
• "P" (British pound)
• "Pagan" (a snake or a generally disliked person)
• "Pen" (prison, derived from the word "penitentiary", a synonym for jail)
• "Plug" (someone who supplies drugs to dealers)
• "Po-po" (police)
• "Punani" (vagina)
• "Qwengers" (promiscuous person or gunman, depending on context)
• "Riddim" (rhythm, usually used to refer to a grime track)
• "Shank" (knife)
• "Sistren" (close friend or sister, often used as a form of address)
• "Skeng" (gun – evolved from its original meaning of 'knife')
• "Sket" (a promiscuous female)
• "Ting" (thing)
• "Traphouse" (where cocaine is made)
• "Truss" (trust)
• "Uck" (oral sex)
  • "Uckers badders" (someone skilled at giving oral sex)
• "Waste" (useless)
• "Wifey" (wife)
• "Yard" (house)
• "Younger" (younger sibling, often used as a form of address)
• "Yute" (youth)

Verbs

• ”Beat”(to have sexual intercourse)
• "Blank" (To Ignore)
• "Bun" (to smoke weed or to dismiss something)
• "Buss'" (to bust)
• "Body" (to murder)
• "Chef" (to stab)
• "Dip" (to leave or to stab)
• "Gas" (to lie)
• "Jeet/Skeet" (to ejaculate)
• "Level" (to surpass someone in something)
• "Link" (to meet up with)
• "Merk" (to kill or disrespect)
• "Par" (to shut down a person or group of people)
• "Pepper" (to fuck someone or something up (intensifier))
• "Rate" (to approve or
• "Rinse" (to use fully/overuse)
• "Rush" (to assault)
• "Shank" (to stab)
• "Sheff" (to stab)
• "Shot" (to sell drugs)
• "Spin" (to mess up)
• "Spit" (to rap)
• "Splash" (to stab)
• "Ten toes" (to be on foot)
• "Trap" (to make cocaine)
• "Truss" (to trust)

See also

• Multicultural London English
• British slang terms for money

References

External links

• The London Slang Dictionary Project – A dictionary written by east and west London teenagers. Includes many terms that cannot be substantiated.
• The London Text and MSN Dictionary- A dictionary for mobile phone text messages and instant messaging written by west London teenagers.