"Mince pies" in Cockney rhyming slang--possible insight from Barr...
James A. Landau
JJJRLandau at AOL.COM
Wed May 14 15:32:33 UTC 2003
In a message dated 5/13/2003 9:45:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, gcohen at UMR.EDU
writes:
> >_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.
One problem with this argument is that the first four lines of the song are
strict anapestic:
o-oh WHERE have you BEEN bill-y BOY bill-y BOy
and the word "mince" does not fit. Mr/Ms <A HREF="mailto:self at TOWSE.COM">self at TOWSE.COM</A> gave us more
plausible lyrics
Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
which are proper anapestic. I have never heard "mince" pronounced as two
syllables, although MWCD10 says the word comes from the French verb "mincer"
whose past participle is mince/ with an acute accent over the e, pronounced
/min sei/.
My guess is that Gerald Cohen got hold of a badly-transcribed set of lyrics.
Perhaps the original was either "Can she make min-say pies?" or "Can she make
mincemeat pies?"
- James A. Landau
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