LL-L 'Rhyming slang' 2006.08.15 (06) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 14 August 2006 * Volume 06
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From: 'Hugo Zweep' [Zweep at bigpond.com]
Subject: LL-L 'Names' 2006.08.15 (02) [E]

Gabriele

It is, in rhyming slang, Welcome Home China - Plate - Mate. So it is simply
Welcome Home Mate.

Hugo Zweep

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From: 'Global Moose Translations' [globalmoose at t-online.de]
Subject: LLL-L 'Names' 2006.08.15 (03) [E]

Paul wrote:
>China Plate - rhyming slang for "mate"

But that's quite far-fetched and not even funny! Sigh...

Gabriele Kahn

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Rhyming slang

Oh, Gabriele, Gabriele!

It's a case of "You had to be there" and of what in the USA you might react to
with "Go figure ..."  

This type of rhyming slang, probably originating in or around London in the 18th
or 19th century, might have started off as being supposed to be funny, but it
soon took on a life of it's own.  You end up speaking in riddles in a three-phase
process: 

(1) rhyme: mate -> plate
(2) extension: plate -> China plate
(3) shortening, "de-rhyming," "mystification": China plate -> China 

It would be more transparent with the following: 

(1) wife -> strife
(2) strife -> trouble and strife
(3) trouble and strife -> trouble 

E.g., "Didya see me trouble and tins havin' a ball?"
tin  < tin lid < kid = child
ball < ball of chalk < walk

The "fun" part is "talking in riddles" or "talking in code."

It may well have begun with taboo word replacement (e.g., "berk" < "Berkeley
Hunt" < [a certain body part], "cobblers" < "cobbler's awls" < "balls",
"raspberry" < "raspberry tart" < "fart," hence "to give someone a raspberry" as a
gesture of contempt).

There are other rhyming slang traditions besides the Cockney and Australian ones,
for instance the Scottish, Irish and Northern Irish ones.  

A Scottish (Scots) example: "chorus" < "chorus an verse [vErs]" < "arse" [Ers].

Reinhard/Ron

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