Cockney slang dying out, British poll shows

People walk the streets of Deventer in period costumes during the 2007 Dickens Festival, portraying characters from the novels of the famous English writer Charles Dickens. Portrayals of Cockney Londoners from Dickens novels helped popularize London Cockney.

/ VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images

(CBS News) Rest in peace, Cockney rhyming slang. Apparently Britons no longer know the "dickie birds" (words).

According to a new poll, the whimsical dialect associated with London's working class is dying out - replaced by non-rhyming expressions inspired by youthful jargon and text message shorthand.

The Museum of London surveyed 2,000 people, including 1,000 from the capital, and found many people did not know the meaning of once-popular phrases like "pig's ear" (beer), "bacon and eggs" (legs) and "bricks and mortar" (daughter).

Instead words like "OMG," "epic fail" and "wicked" currently rule the London lexicon.

"The origins of Cockney slang reflects the diverse, immigrant community of London's East End in the 19th century," said Alex Werner, Head of History Collections at the museum, "so perhaps it's no surprise that other forms of slang are taking over as the cultural influences on the city change."

According to the survey, "apples and pears" (stairs) was the most well-known Cockney phrase (78 percent) but only 9 percent of respondents said they used it in the last six months. "Porky pies" (lies) ranked as the most commonly used expression - but only 13 percent said it had come out of their "north and south" (mouth) recently.

Werner said that Cockney slang, popularized in everything from Dickens novels to the BBC soap EastEnders, evolved in the 19th century partially as a means to speak in code. Street traders used the slang to alert coworkers and confuse customers and police.

Eventually, Cockney rhyming slang became ubiquitous in London - but apparently no longer.

The new survey found that 40 percent are convinced that it's just a matter of "donkey's ears" (years) before Cockney rhyming slang is "brown bread" (dead).

[micmac666]

OMG! What next? Ebonics? Sumbitch.

[micmac666]

Whuck?

[Hounslowboy]

Of course the old style cockney is dying out. The London accent has always changed assimilating the people that live there. At the beginning of the 1900's, as Jews from eastern Europe became the most numerous community within the cockney speaking area the cockney accent changed to incorporate yiddish words and expressions. For the last couple of decades the London accent, used by youths of all races, has been a mixture of old style cockney, Jamaican patois and Punjabi (India). Its still cockney, just not the cockney the old timers recognise. But thats the same all over the world isn't it ?

[zimmerbaby]

Bloody Brits say what the Man wants them to say. They have a tarriff boundry around their mock economic society. Brits have traditionaly gotten rich from other countries (like stealing diamonds from Africa and leave the earth suface unearthed, with recompense to Africa), and their society is nothing but well kept slaves with bad dental care (the government standards will not pay for that!).

[Springtoola]

Bad dental care? Are you an idiot? Do you ever leave your house, let alone America?

[Transatlantique]

I recently hear the term "brown bread" used in the series "The Only Way is Essex." I was caught off guard and thought about its use in the context, and realised it meant dead. Ten years ago there was a contest on BBC America's website that had the participant match Cockney rhyming slang with its meaning. Of course it will fade away because of the adoption of the western, mindless text message nonsense of today. I have never sent a text message, and choose to type in full sentences. I am an advocate for the preservation of past culture and the Queen's English, which will also die if we keep on this "OMG" trend. Americans have forgotten how to spell and speak correct English in the tradition of England, so what's the big story here? If we choose, make a conscious effort, to keep it alive, we can.

[t-botz]

pfft. get with the times. you're living in the past, man.