A bit of rabbit about current London slang. What do these mean?

A person of what nationality is known as a 'septic'?

And what does a Londoner mean by "Don't get me wrong. I'm not Listerine"

And a Londoner would be annoyed if they got "a rubber gregory". Why?

Note: 'To rabbit' means to talk. It's believed to be from 'rabbit and pork', once the cheapest meats for Londoners,the only ones that ordinary people could buy, rhyming with 'talk'. A common expression for a talkative person is " They've got more rabbit than Sainsbury's !" Sainsbury's is a grocer and butcher. Years ago it would have row upon row of rabbits hanging outside the shop.

Ok, Fred..as if WE talk like this.

So, septic is short for septic tank = a Yank, or
an American.

And, if you were Listerine, you'd be anti-septic, so therefore anti-American.

A rubber gregory is a bounced cheque (check).
Gregory Peck = Cheque.

See, it's easy
I love rhyming slang, and miss East Enders.

Swipe me, dg! That takes the biscuit!

I was hoping you'd make a dog's dinner but, straight up, it was a doddle wasn't it ?

How about:

Blimey, it's Pearl Harbor out there! [Hint: it refers to the weather]?

If you find the explanation easy, you have been watching too much East Enders, in secret !

They cancelled East Enders on PBS here, so I had to look it up.
I think it's something to do with there being a nasty nip in the air. I'll leave it to you to explain .

quote:

Originally posted by dg:
I think it's something to do with there being a nasty nip in the air. I'll leave it to you to explain .

We don't now render it as nasty nip,simply 'nip', seeing as how there's a Toyota factory in Sunderland and some Londoners have Sony TVs

"Nip in the air" a sudden unexpected chill, a frosty air, " It's bit nippy outside".

Nippon: Japan. Nipponese: Japanese. Hence 'Nip' a loving and affectionate British term in World War Two for any one of "those nice people who brought you Pearl Harbor" and who , unfortunately, were unable to find food for British prisoners of war whilst inviting them to build bridges in the jungle etc.

In the attack at Pearl Harbor there was many a Nip in the air. Boom ! Boom!........(oops, sorry).

East Enders has little London about it. The accents are London, some of them being of the eastern side of London but others from 'Sarf' (South) London and it's set in a mythical East End.You'd find that 'East End' South of the River, somewhere like Millwall or Bermondsey, if at all. The language used is a very simplified impression of London speech.It does have a typical London pub though ! Coronation Street has language which is typically Mancunian ( I'm told the accents cover a wide area of the North West) and the characters are far more Mancunian in their ways than the Londoners in East Enders are London.

Unfortunately,much of London speech is never going to be understood by foreigners because the rhymes are specific to British culture. Outsiders won't understand " a melvyn" because they won't know either the man of letters Melvyn Bragg or the word its rhymed with (a melvyn is a fag, a cigarette). Some has reference to Americans and not just film stars:"on me tod" (alone) refers to Tod Sloan, an American jockey

I hadn't realised how many ordinary words and sayings like scarper (run away), dipstick (for a fool),gander ( a look at something or a look around: have a gander= have a butcher's), Hobson's (alone) and char (tea) aren't known to anglophones abroad.

Try this, dg,it's typical of London thinking :

"Beer scooter" as in "I think I took the beer scooter".[It's said after a night out and it's not rhyming ]

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:

Try this, dg,it's typical of London thinking :

"Beer scooter" as in "I think I took the beer scooter".[It's said after a night out and it's not rhyming ]

This is fun, but I'm going to let someone else have a turn.

OK dg,enough is enough. The beer scooter is a side- effect (?) of amnesia brought on by drinking. When the person can't remember how they got home or how they ended up waking wherever they did, their response would be " Don't know. Must have taken the beer scooter"

quote:

When the person can't remember how they got home or how they ended up waking wherever they did,

He must have been full of courage to do that.

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:

quote:

When the person can't remember how they got home or how they ended up waking wherever they did,

He must have been full of courage to do that.

The spirit is willing....

I imagine he was also 'ale 'n' 'earty.

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:
I imagine he was also 'ale 'n' 'earty.

'earty? Yes, stout 'earted, not mild and bitter.