"Mince pies" in Cockney rhyming slang--possible insightfromBarry Popik's message

[Towse]

Gerald Cohen wrote:
>
>      Barry's May 12 message on "mince pie" caught my attention because
> I have long wondered if there's any rationale behind Cockney "mince
> pies" (= eyes) besides the rhyme.  Note "apples and pears" (=
> stairs), known to derive both from the rhyme and from the graded
> arrangement of fruit on the fruit stands.
>
>      Note too "pig's ear" (= beer), which I've suggested might derive
> from a 19th century poem. See my article "_Pig's ear 'beer' in
> Cockney rhyming slang:
> possible relevance of a 19th century poem," in: _Studies in Slang, Part VI_,
>   by Gerald Leonard Cohen and Barry A. Popik, Frankfurt am Main: Peter
> Lang, 1999, pp.90-92. The key lines of the poem for the subject at
> hand are:
>         "The greased pig of sophistry catch by the ear
>         And drink to his health in a bumper of beer."
> This reference to a pig's ear very close to mention of beer might
> have been the inspiration for coining "pig's ear" (beer).  This is,
> of course, only a hypothesis.
>
>      Now to "mince pies," particularly the lyrics of the song Barry
> cites at the end of his message:
>
> >_Can she make mince pies, Billy boy, Billy boy?_
> >_Can she make mince pies, Billy boy?_
> >_Yes; she can make mince pies_
> >_Quick's a cat can wink its eyes;_
> >_But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother._
>
>    Note the mention of eyes in these lyrics about mince pies.  Maybe
> this mention of eyes was the inspiration for coining "mince pies"
> (eyes) in Cockney rhyming slang.  Again, this is only a hypothesis,
> and yet perhaps researchers should consider poetry a possible source
> of inspiration for Cockneys who coin new terms.

Could be, although I never knew the mince pie version. The song I
knew included the lyrics:

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
She can bake a cherry pie,
Quick's a cat can wink its eye.
But she's a young thing,
And cannot leave her mother.

Sal
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