Appendix:Costermongers' back slang
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Back slang is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by costermongers (market sellers) to have private conversations behind their customers' backs and pass off lower quality goods to less observant customers. The first published reference to it was in 1851, in Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor.
These words are generally not attested in print, outside of specialist slang dictionaries.
Glossary of back slang
General terms
- birk — A house (from "crib")
- cool — To look
- cool him — Look at him (often to warn of approaching police)
- dab — Bad
- dabheno — A bad market (from "one bad")
- dab tros — A bad sort
- dab or deb — A bed
- dee-aitch — Head
- deloc or dee-lock — Cold
- dillo-namo or dillo namow — An old woman
- dlog — Gold
- doog — Good
- doogheno — A good market (from "one good")
- doogheno hit — A good profit or selling everything (from "one good hit")
- eelacs — Scales
- e-fink — A knife
- ekame — A swindle (from "make")
- ekat — To take
- ekom — A donkey (from "moke")
- elrig — A girl
- enif — Fine
- erie — Fire
- erth-pu — Three up (a street game)
- esclop or slop — The police
- es-roph or es-roch — A horse
- evatch or vatch — To have
- fi-heath — A thief
- flatch — Half
- flatch-kennurd — Half drunk
- genol — Long
- hel-bat — A table
- kacab genals — Back slang
- kennetseeno — Stinking
- kennurd — Drunk
- kew — A week (plural: kews or skew)
- kirb — A brick
- klat — Talk
- kool — To look
- lawt — Tall
- mottab — Bottom
- mur — Rum
- nale or neal — Lean
- nam — A man
- namer or namus — A woman (plural: namers)
- namesclop — A policeman
- namow or nammow — A woman (plural: namows or nammows)
- nettor — Rotten
- new — When
- nire — Rain
- nig — Gin
- ni-ogot takram — Going to market
- nol — Long
- noom — The moon
- nosrap or nos-rap — A parson
- occabot — Tobacco
- on — No
- on doog — No good
- pac — A cap
- pot — top
- reeb — Beer
- rev-lis — Silver
- rouf-efil — Life imprisonment (from "for life")
- sap — To pass
- see-otches — Shoes
- sey — Yes (pronounced /siː/, like see)
- sith-nom — A month
- slaoc — Coals
- slop — A policeman
- soush — A house
- sres-wort or reswort — Trousers
- stoob — Boots
- tach — A hat
- taf or taffy — Fat
- tekram — Market
- tenip — A pint
- tib — A bit or a piece
- toac-tisaw — A wasitcoat
- tol — A lot, stock, or share
- top o' reeb — A pot of beer
- top-yob — A pot boy
- totch — Hot
- track or trag — A quart
- trosseno — Something bad (from "one sort")
- tuck — Cut
- war-rab — A barrow
- wedge — A Jew
- yad — A day
- yadnab — Brandy
- yap-poo — Pay up
- yeknod or jerk-nod — A donkey
- yennep-a-time — Penny each time (a betting term)
- yob — A boy
- zeb — Best
Numbers
- eno
- owt, oat
- erth, earth
- rouf
- evif, ewif
- exes, exis
- neves, nevis
- teaich, theg
- enin
- net
- nevele, nevel, leven
- evlenet
- neetrith
- neetrouf (“ten-four”)
- neetewif (“ten-five”)
- neetexis, netexis (“ten-six”)
- netnevis (“ten-seven”)
- net-theg (“ten-eight”)
- netenin (“ten-nine”)
Money
- Coins
- dunop — A pound
- flatch — A halfpenny
- generalise or gen — A shilling (twelvepence)
- genitraf — A farthing
- nitraph — A farthing
- yennep, yenep or yannop — A penny
- yenom — Money
- yenork — A crown
Hence, owt yenneps is twopence and owt gen is two shillings, and so forth.
- Odd cases
- flatch-yennep — A halfpenny
- flatch-yenork — A halfcrown
- gen-net or net-gens — Ten shillings
- teaich-guy — Eight shillings
- yennep-flatch — Threepence
- exis-evif yenneps — Either elevenpence (literally, "sixpence and fivepence") or thirty pence (from "six times five")
Produce
- bee-mal — Lamb
- da-erb — Bread
- dee-ribs — Poultry (from "birds")
- edgabac — A cabbage
- edgenaro — An orange
- feeb — Beef
- gel — Leg (cut of meat)
- helpa — An apple
- kay-rop — Pork
- lur-ac-ham — Mackerel
- neergs — Vegetables (literally "greens")
- pinurt pots — Turnips tops
- potches — Chops (cuts of meat)
- rape — A pear
- rutat, ruttat or rattat — A potato (from "tater")
- selopas — Apples
- shif — Fish
- sirretch or sirretches — Cherries
- sneerg — Vegetables (literally "greens")
- spinsrap — Parsnips
- starps — Sprats
- storrac — Carrots
- stun — Nuts
- stunlaws — Walnuts
- swret-sio — Oysters
- tee-serb — Breast (cut of meat)
- torrac — A carrot
- yellib — Belly (cut of meat)
References
- Mayhew, Henry (1851) “Language of Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, pages 23–24
- Hotten, John Camden (1859) A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, London: John Camden Hotten
- Partridge, Eric (2015) Words, Words Words! (Routledge Revivals), Routledge, →ISBN
- Sullivan, Dick (2007 January 23) “Earth Yenneps”, in The Victorian Web, retrieved 2017-06-02
- Vande Putte, Elizabeth (2017 January 4) “Our secret language”, in Butchr, retrieved 2017-06-02