Cockney

St. Mary-le-Bow

The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End. Linguistically, it refers to the form of English spoken by this group. Cockneys can also, informally and as a derogatory term of reference, can be described as "Fannies" particularly by those who reside in the north of England.

Etymology

A costume associated with Cockneys is that of the pearly King (or pearly Queen) worn by London costermongers who sew thousands of pearl buttons onto their clothing in elaborate and creative patterns.

The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in The vision of William concerning Piers Plowman by William Langland and it is used to mean a small, misshapen egg, from Middle English coken (of cocks) and ey (egg) so literally 'a cock's egg'.^[1] In the Reeve's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1386) it appears as "cokenay",^[2] and the meaning is "a child tenderly brought up, an effeminate fellow, a milksop".^[1][3][4] By 1521 it was in use by country people as a derogatory reference for the effeminate town-dwellers.^[1][5] The term could also be used for a young male prostitute; in this the progression exactly mirrors that of punk and gunsel in America. The term was used to describe those born within earshot of the Bow Bells in 1600, when Samuel Rowlands, in his satire The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine, referred to 'a Bowe-bell Cockney'.^[6] Traveler and writer Fynes Moryson stated in his work An Itinerary that "Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bells, are in reproach called Cockneys."^[7] John Minsheu (or Minshew) was the first lexicographer to define the word in this sense, in his Ductor in Linguas (1617), where he referred to 'A Cockney or Cockny, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London'.^[8] However, the etymologies he gave (from 'cock' and 'neigh', or from Latin incoctus, raw) were incorrect. Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) derives the term from the following story:

A citizen of London, being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, Lord! how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him that noise was called Neighing, the next morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the Cock Neighs?^[9][10]

Given the earlier meanings above, this story is probably apocryphal.

Cockaigne

An alternative derivation is from the word Cockaigne, a term for a mythical luxurious country, first recorded in 1362.^[11] This was then used humorously to refer to London, and over time had a number of spellings: Cocagne, Cockayne, Cocknay and Cockney. The latter two spellings could be used to refer to both pampered children, and residents of London, as to pamper or spoil a child was 'to cocker' him.^[12]

Cockney area

The region in which "Cockneys" are thought to reside is not clearly defined. A common belief is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells. However, the church of St Mary-le-Bow was destroyed in 1666 by the Great Fire of London and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. After the bells were destroyed again in 1941 in The Blitz of World War II, and before they were replaced in 1961, there was a period when by this definition no 'Bow-bell' Cockneys could be born.^[13] The use of such a literal definition produces other problems, since the area around the church is no longer residential and the noise of the area makes it unlikely that many people would be born within earshot of the bells anymore.^[14] A study was carried out by the city in 2000 to see how far the Bow Bells could be heard, and it was estimated that the bells would have been heard six miles to the east, five miles to the north, three miles to the south, and four miles to the west. According to the legend of Dick Whittington the bells could once be heard from as far away as Highgate.^[15] The association with Cockney and the East End in the public imagination may be due to many people assuming that Bow Bells are to be found in the district of Bow, rather than the lesser known St Mary-le-Bow church. Thus while all East Enders are Cockneys, not all Cockneys are East Enders. The traditional core districts of the East End are Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Stepney, Wapping, Limehouse, Poplar, Millwall, Hackney, Hoxton, Shoreditch, Bow and Mile End. "The Borough" to the south of Waterloo, London and Tower Bridge were also considered Cockney before redevelopment all but extinguished the local working class areas, and now Bermondsey is the only Cockney area south of the Thames, although Pearly Kings and Queens can be found as far out as Peckham and Penge. The area north of the Thames gradually expanded to include East Ham, Stratford, West Ham and Plaistow as more land was built upon. Migration of Cockneys has also led to migration of the dialect. Ever since the building of the Becontree housing estate, the Barking & Dagenham area has spoken Cockney. As Chatham Dockyard expanded during the 18th century, large numbers of workers were moved from the dockland areas of London, bringing with them a "Cockney" accent and vocabulary. Within a short period this famously distinguished Chatham from the neighbouring areas, including the City of Rochester, which had a Kentish accent. In Essex, towns that mostly grew up from post-war migration out of London (e.g. Basildon and Harlow) often have a strong Cockney influence on local speech. However, the early dialect researcher Alexander John Ellis believed that Cockney developed due to the influence of Essex dialect on London speech.^[16] In recent years, there has been a move away from Cockney in the inner-city areas of London towards Multicultural London English whereas the eastern outskirts of Greater London have more speakers of Cockney dialect.Today cockney areas are situated in Dagenham, Barking, Romford, Chigwell, Harlow, Tottenham, Enfield, Cheshunt, Brimsdown and the most popular of all Chingford.^[17]

Migration and evolution

Today, certain elements of Cockney English are declining in usage within the area it is most associated with, displaced by a Jamaican Creole-influenced variety popular among young Londoners (sometimes referred to as "Jafaican"), particularly, though far from exclusively, those of Afro-Caribbean descent.^[18] Nevertheless, the glottal stop, double negatives, and the vocalization of the dark L (and other features of Cockney speech), along with some rhyming slang terms are still in common usage. As cockneys have moved out of London, they have often taken their dialect with them. There are actually more speakers of the Cockney dialect in Essex and parts of Hertfordshire that border Greater London than in Whitechapel, even though the former is not in the traditional Cockney area.

“Cockney to Disappear From London Within 30 Years”

“A July 2010 report by Paul Kerswill, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University, called Multicultural London English: the emergence, acquisition and diffusion of a new variety, claimed that ‘multi-culturalism’ will see the Cockney accent disappear from London's streets within 30 years.^[18] […] The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, said the accent ,which has been around for more than 500 years, is being replaced in London by a new hybrid language. ‘Cockney in the East End is now transforming itself into Multicultural London English, a new, melting-pot mixture of all those people living here who learnt English as a second language,’ Prof Kerswill said. ^[18]

Cockney speech

Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and frequently use rhyming slang. The Survey of English Dialects took a recording from a long-time resident of Hackney and the BBC made another recording in 1999 which showed how the accent had changed.^[19][20]

John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary of 1859 makes reference to "their use of a peculiar slang language" when describing the costermongers of London's East End. In terms of other slang, there are also several borrowings from Yiddish, including kosher (originally Hebrew, via Yiddish, meaning legitimate) and stumm (/ʃtʊm/ originally German, via Yiddish, meaning quiet),^[21] as well as Romany, for example wonga (meaning money, from the Romany "wanga" meaning coal),^[22] and cushty (from the Romany kushtipen, meaning good). A fake Cockney accent is sometimes called 'Mockney'.

Typical features

• As with many accents of England, Cockney is non-rhotic. A final -er is pronounced [ə] or lowered [ɐ] in broad Cockney. As with all or nearly all non-rhotic accents, the lexical sets commA and lettER are merged. Thus, the last syllable of words like cheetah can be pronounced [ɐ] as well in broad Cockney.^[23][24][25]
• Broad /ɑː/ is used when the letter a precedes /f/, /s/, /θ/ and sometimes /nd/ (in words such as bath, path, demand, etc.). This originated in London but has now spread across the south-east and into Received Pronunciation. However, there are exceptions to this rule; for example, the word maths or masculine.^[26] See Trap-bath split for more information.
• T-glottalisation: Use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various positions,^[27][28] including after a stressed syllable. Glottal stops also occur, albeit less frequently for /k/ and /p/, and occasionally for mid-word consonants. For example, Richard Whiteing spelt "Hyde Park" as Hy' Par' . Like and light can be homophones. "Clapham" can be said as Cla'am.^[26] /t/ may also be flapped intervocalically. London /p, t, k/ are often aspirated in intervocalic and final environments, e.g., upper, utter, rocker, up, out, rock, where RP is traditionally described as having the unaspirated variants. Also, in broad Cockney at least, the degree of aspiration is typically greater than in RP, and may often also involve some degree of affrication. Affrication may be encountered in initial, intervocalic, and final position.^[29][30]
  • This feature results in Cockney being often mentioned in textbooks about Semitic languages while explaining how to pronounce the glottal stop.
• Th-fronting:^[31]
  • /θ/ can become [f] in any environment. [mɛfs] "maths".
  • /ð/ can become [v] in any environment except word-initially when it can be [ð, ð̞, d, l, ʔ, Ø]. [bɒvə] "bother," [dæɪ] "they."^[32][33]
• H-dropping. Sivertsen considers that [h] is to some extent a stylistic marker of emphasis in Cockney.^[34][35]
• Diphthong alterations:^[36]
  • /iː/ → [əi~ɐi]:^[37][38] [bəiʔ] "beet"
  • /eɪ/ → [æɪ~aɪ]:^[39] [bæɪʔ] "bait"
  • /aɪ/ → [ɑɪ] or even [ɒɪ] in "vigorous, dialectal" Cockney. The second element may be reduced or absent (with compensatory lengthening of the first element), so that there are variants like [ɑ̟ə~ɑ̟ː]. This means that pairs such as laugh-life, Barton-biting may become homophones: [lɑːf], [bɑːʔn̩]. But this neutralisation is an optional, recoverable one.:^[40] [bɑɪʔ] "bite"
  • /ɔɪ/ → [ɔ˔ɪ~oɪ]:^[41] [tʃoɪs] "choice"
  • /uː/ → [əʉ] or a monophthongal [ʉː], perhaps with little lip rounding, [ɨː] or [ʊː]:^[37][42] [bʉːʔ] "boot"
  • /əʊ/ → this diphthong typically starts in the area of the London /ʌ/, [æ ̠~ɐ]. The endpoint may be [ʊ], but more commonly it is rather opener and/or lacking any lip rounding, thus being a kind of centralized [ɤ¨]. The broadest Cockney variant approaches [aʊ].:^[43] [kʰɐɤ¨ʔ] "coat"
  • /aʊ/ may be [æə] or a monophthongal [æː~aː]:^[44] [tʰæən] "town"
• Other vowel differences include
  • /æ/ may be [ɛ] or [ɛɪ], with the latter occurring before voiced consonants, particularly before /d/:^[25][45] [bɛk] "back", [bɛːɪd] "bad"
  • /ɛ/ may be [eə], [eɪ], or [ɛɪ] before certain voiced consonants, particularly before /d/:^{[25][46][47][48]} [beɪd] "bed"
  • /ɒ/ may be a somewhat less open [ɔ]:^[25] [kɔʔ] "cot"
  • /ɑː/ has a fully back variant, qualitatively equivalent to cardinal 5, which Beaken (1971) claims characterizes "vigorous, informal" Cockney.^[25]
  • /ɜː/ is on occasion somewhat fronted and/or lightly rounded, giving Cockney variants such as [ɜ ̟ː], [œ¨ː].^[25]
  • /ʌ/ → [ɐ̟] or a quality like that of cardinal 4, [a]:^[25][49] [dʒamʔˈtˢapʰ] "jumped up"
  • /ɔː/ → [oː] or a closing diphthong of the type [oʊ~ɔo] when in non-final position, with the latter variants being more common in broad Cockney:^[50][51] [soʊs] "sauce"-"source", [loʊd] "lord", [ˈwoʊʔə] "water"
  • /ɔː/ → [ɔː] or a centring diphthong of the type [ɔə~ɔwə] when in final position, with the latter variants being more common in broad Cockney; thus [sɔə] "saw"-"sore"-"soar", [lɔə] "law"-"lore", [wɔə] "war"-"wore". The diphthong is retained before inflectional endings, so that board and pause can contrast with bored [bɔəd] and paws [pɔəz]^[51]
  • /əʊ/ becomes something around [ɒʊ~ɔo] or even [aɤ] in broad Cockney before dark l. These variants are retained when the addition of a suffix turns the dark l clear. Thus a phonemic split has occurred in London English, exemplified by the minimal pair wholly [ˈhɒʊli] vs. holy [ˈhɐɤ¨li]. The development of L-vocalisation (see next section) leads to further pairs such as sole-soul [sɒʊ] vs. so-sew [sɐɤ¨], bowl [bɒʊ] vs. Bow [bɐɤ¨], shoulder [ˈʃɒʊdə] vs. odour [ˈɐɤ¨də], while associated vowel neutralisations may make doll a homophone of dole, compare dough [dɐɤ¨]. All this reinforces the phonemic nature of the opposition and increases its functional load. It is now well-established in all kinds of London-flavoured accents, from broad Cockney to near-RP.^[52]
• Vocalisation of dark L, hence [mɪowɔː] for Millwall. The actual realization of a vocalized /l/ is influenced by surrounding vowels and it may be realized as [u], [ʊ], [o] or [ɤ]. It is also transcribed as a semivowel [w] by some linguists, e.g., Coggle and Rosewarne.^[53] Relatedly, there are many possible vowel neutralisations and absorptions in the context of a following "dark L" ([ɫ]) or its vocalised version; these include:^[54]
  • In broad Cockney, and to some extent in general popular London speech, a vocalised /l/ is entirely absorbed by a preceding /ɔː/: i.e., salt and sort become homophones (although the contemporary pronunciation of salt /sɒlt/ ^[55] would prevent this from happening), and likewise fault-fought-fort, pause-Paul's, Morden-Malden, water-Walter. Sometimes such pairs are kept apart, in more deliberate speech at least, by a kind of length difference: [ˈmɔʊdn̩] Morden vs. [ˈmɔʊːdn̩] Malden.
  • A preceding /ə/ is also fully absorbed into vocalised /l/. The reflexes of earlier /əl/ and earlier /ɔː(l)/ are thus phonetically similar or identical; speakers are usually ready to treat them as the same phoneme. Thus awful can best be regarded as containing two occurrences of the same vowel, /ˈɔːfɔː/. The difference between musical and music-hall, in an H-dropping broad Cockney, is thus nothing more than a matter of stress and perhaps syllable boundaries.
  • With the remaining vowels a vocalised /l/ is not absorbed, but remains phonetically present as a back vocoid in such a way that /Vl/ and /V/ are kept distinct.
  • The clearest and best-established neutralisations are those of /ɪ~iː~ɪə/ and /ʊ~uː~ʊə/. Thus rill, reel and real fall together in Cockney as [rɪɤ]; while full and fool are [foʊ~fʊu] and may rhyme with cruel [krʊu]. Before clear (i.e., prevocalic) /l/ the neutralisations do not usually apply, thus [ˈsɪli] silly but [ˈsɪilɪn] ceiling-sealing, [ˈfʊli] fully but [ˈfʊulɪn] fooling.
  • In some broader types of Cockney, the neutralisation of /ʊ~uː~ʊə/ before non-prevocalic /l/ may also involve /ɔː/, so that fall becomes homophonous with full and fool [fɔo].
  • The other pre-/l/ neutralisation which all investigators agree on is that of /æ~eɪ~aʊ/. Thus, Sal and sale can be merged as [sæɤ], fail and fowl as [fæɤ], and Val, vale-veil and vowel as [væɤ]. The typical pronunciation of railway is [ˈræʊwæɪ].
  • According to Siversten, /ɑː/ and /aɪ/ can also join in this neutralisation. They may on the one hand neutralise with respect to one another, so that snarl and smile rhyme, both ending [-ɑɤ], and Child's Hill is in danger of being mistaken for Charles Hill; or they may go further into a fivefold neutralisation with the one just mentioned, so that pal, pale, foul, snarl and pile all end in [-æɤ]. But these developments are evidently restricted to broad Cockney, not being found in London speech in general.
  • A neutralisation discussed by Beaken (1971) and Bowyer (1973), but ignored by Siversten (1960), is that of /ɒ~əʊ~ʌ/. It leads to the possibility of doll, dole and dull becoming homophonous as [dɒʊ] or [da̱ɤ]. Wells' impression is that the doll-dole neutralisation is rather widespread in London, but that involving dull less so.
  • One further possible neutralisation in the environment of a following non-prevocalic /l/ is that of /ɛ/ and /ɜː/, so that well and whirl become homophonous as [wɛʊ].
• Cockney has been occasionally described as replacing /r/ with /w/. For example, thwee instead of three, fwasty instead of frosty. Peter Wright, a Survey of English Dialects fieldworker, concluded that this was not a universal feature of Cockneys but that it was more common to hear this in the London area than anywhere else in Britain.^[56] This description may also be a result of mishearing the labiodental R as /w/, when it is still a distinct phoneme in Cockney.
• An unstressed final -ow may be pronounced [ə]. In broad Cockney this can be lowered to [ɐ].^[24][25] This is common to most traditional, Southern English dialects except for those in the West Country.^[57]
• Grammatical features:^[34]
  • Use of me instead of my, for example, "At's me book you got 'ere ". Cannot be used when "my" is emphasised (i.e., "At's my book you got 'ere" (and not "his")).
  • Use of ain't instead of isn't, am not, are not, has not, and have not
• Use of double negatives, for example "I didn't see nothing."^[58]

Most of the features mentioned above have, in recent years, partly spread into more general south-eastern speech, giving the accent called Estuary English; an Estuary speaker will use some but not all of the Cockney sounds.^[59][60][61] Some of the features may derive from the upper-class pronunciation of late 18th century London, such as the use of "ain't" for "isn't" and the now lost reversal of "v" and "w" (as noted by Dickens regarding Sam Weller/Veller). This element of Cockney as parody is often underestimated, it dates to a time when Cockneys earned much of their income from the rich, who they then derided at home or in the pub.

Changing attitudes towards Cockney English

The Cockney accent has long been looked down upon and thought of as inferior by many. In 1909 these attitudes even received an official recognition thanks to the report of The Conference on the Teaching of English in London Elementary Schools issued by the London County Council, where is stated that "[…] the Cockney mode of speech, with its unpleasant twang, is a modern corruption without legitimate credentials, and is unworthy of being the speech of any person in the capital city of the Empire".^[62] On the other hand, however, there started rising at the same time cries in defence of Cockney as, for example the following one: "The London dialect is really, especially on the South side of the Thames, a perfectly legitimate and responsible child of the old kentish tongue […] the dialect of London North of the Thames has been shown to be one of the many varieties of the Midland or Mercian dialect, flavoured by the East Anglian variety of the same speech […]".^[62] Since then, the Cockney accent has been more accepted as an alternative form of the English Language rather than an 'inferior' one; in the 1950s the only accent to be heard on the BBC was RP, whereas nowadays many different accents, including Cockney or ones heavily influenced by it, can be heard on the BBC.^[63] In a survey of 2000 people conducted by Coolbrands in autumn 2008, Cockney was voted equal fourth coolest accent in Britain with 7% of the votes, while The Queen's English was considered the coolest, with 20% of the votes.^[64] Brummie was voted least popular, receiving just 2%. This shows that although speaking with a Cockney accent is not considered as bad as in the past, preference towards RP still prevails.

Spread of Cockney English

Studies have indicated that the heavy use of South East English accents on television and radio may be the cause of the spread of Cockney English since the 1960s.^{[65][66][67][68]}

Scotland

Studies have indicated that working-class adolescents in areas such as Glasgow have begun to use certain aspects of Cockney and other Anglicisms in their speech,^[69] infiltrating the traditional Glasgow patter.^[70] For example, TH-fronting is commonly found, and typical Scottish features such as the postvocalic /r/ are reduced.^[71] Research suggests the use of English speech characteristics is likely to be a result of the influence of London and South East England accents featuring heavily on television.^{[65][66][67][68]}

England

Th-fronting, L-vocalisation and T-glottalization can now be found in every county of England (with L-vocalisation being largely absent from Northern England),^{[72][73][74][75][76]} whereas before the 1960s the only feature that was common to all of England, except for much of East Anglia and North East England, was H-dropping.^[77][78][79]

Cockney characters in drama, fiction and poetry

A television advertisement for Heineken beer in the 1980s showed a Sloane woman receiving elocution lessons in Cockney, parodying My Fair Lady. In the advert, she was being taught to say "The wa'er in Majorca don' taste like wot it ough' a", but could only manage a rendition in Received Pronunciation of "The water in Majorca doesn't taste quite how it should" (until, of course, she drank the beer).

More recently, the Geico automobile insurance company has used a gecko lizard in its television advertising campaign that speaks in a Cockney accent. The character is voiced by Jake Wood.

• The Hitcher (pronounced "The 'itcher") from The Mighty Boosh on BBC Three
• Spike, or William the Bloody in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• The Crow Brothers from the Cosgrove Hall animated series, Count Duckula
• The cast of the movie Human Traffic (1999)
• The character Fowlson in the Libba Bray novels Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing
• Kent Paul in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Albert and Harold Steptoe in BBCs Steptoe and Son
• Terry Tibbs, the used-car salesman in Fonejacker
• Sam Weller from Charles Dickens's serialized novel The Pickwick Papers
• The Artful Dodger from the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist
• The children in the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks
• Bert in the movie Mary Poppins
• Characters in A Clockwork Orange
• Steve in Severance
• Colleen the London collie dog on the cartoon Road Rovers
• Pinky, a lab mouse from the Emmy Award-winning series Animaniacs and its spinoff Pinky and the Brain
• Miss Shirley Brahms (Wendy Richard) and Mr. Harman (Arthur English) from the comedy series Are You Being Served?
• Rudyard Kipling's "The Widow at Windsor". Also, the character Ortheris, one of the "Soldiers Three": Ortheris, Mulvaney and Learoyd (Mulvaney is Irish and Learoyd is from Yorkshire).
• Jerry Cruncher in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities
• Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (see also My Fair Lady)
• Gavroche Thenardier in English productions of the musical of Les Miserables (as an equivalent of Paris criminal Argot), as well as M. and Mme. Thenardier in some productions
• Fevvers in Angela Carter's novel Nights at the Circus
• William Somerset Maugham's novel Liza of Lambeth
• "The Lambeth Walk" song and associated dance
• Me and My Girl (musical)
• EastEnders soap opera
• Wayne Winston Norris, the chirpy Cockney carpenter in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
• Private Joe Walker, the infamous Cockney spiv from Dad's Army
• Guy Ritchie films, such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• Eliza Pinchley in Family Guy's spoof of My Fair Lady
• Mrs. Lovett, Tobias Ragg and the Beggar Woman in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (original Broadway version, in the 2007 film adaptation, virtually everybody speaks with one, excepting, of course, Pirelli, Beadle, and Turpin)
• Basher Tarr in the movie Ocean's Eleven
• Danny Blue in the BBC TV series Hustle
• Wilson in the movie The Limey
• In the children's television series TUGS, Ten Cents speaks with a Cockney accent.
• In the video game Fable, many of the townsfolk and characters speak with a Cockney accent.
• Most characters in the musical and movie-musical Oliver!
• The characters in the Thames Television show Minder made liberal use of Cockney slang, and the show brought terms such as porkies into common use
• Sid, the caretaker in the hit British comedy series Mind Your Language
• Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, in Doctor Who
• Mickey Smith, played by Noel Clarke, in Doctor Who
• Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, in Doctor Who
• Jackie Tyler, played by Camille Coduri, in Doctor Who
• Allan-a-Dale, played by Joe Armstrong in Robin Hood
• Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer in T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats
• Most characters in the movie Green Street Hooligans
• Lucy Harris in the musical Jekyll & Hyde
• Leo Matlock, captain of Athletico Warwick FC
• Nigel Wilson, 'Nigey Noise' DJ on RAW radio station.
• Most characters in the movie To Sir, with Love
• Most characters in Harold Pinter's early plays
• Most characters in the plays and fiction of Philip Ridley
• Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Yangus in Dragon Quest VIII
• The Orks and Imperial Guard in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (and in the Dawn of War, RTS game series)
• The Landlady and her Boarders in Lucky Stiff, a musical comedy
• Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals in Irregular Webcomic!
• Corporal Peter Newkirk (played by Richard Dawson) in Hogan's Heroes
• Sadie in National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
• Roman in Armed and Dangerous
• Pim Scutney and Rog Gobshire of Team Britain in the movie Beerfest
• Almost all characters in Nick Love's films The Football Factory and The Business
• Mordor Orcs in Peter Jackson's film trilogy The Lord of the Rings
• Sam, Mary, and other minor characters in John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman
• Mingy, Oprah Winfrey's sentient vagina, in the South Park episode "A Million Little Fibers".
• Leehom Wang's song, "Cockney Girl"
• Badger, from the television series Firefly
• Jacky Faber in the book series Bloody Jack.
• Spitfire, in the English dub of the anime Air Gear.
• Most characters in the BBC's Only Fools and Horses.
• Rodney Skinner in the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Sergeant Dale Smith ('Smithy') from The Bill
• The peasants in the Warcraft video game universe
• Mortimer in the Fantasticks
• Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
• Baldrick from the BlackAdder series
• Tim-Tom Moppet from The Venture Bros.
• Cheapside in the Doctor Dolittle books
• Characters in the episode "Elementary, My Dear Stacy" in Phineas and Ferb
• The three trolls in 'Roast Mutton', the second chapter of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
• Mudge the otter from Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series.
• Most characters in From Hell.
• Fictional character Gaz in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
• Fictional character Ghost in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
• Cocky the Rooster in Wednesday 13's Weirdo A-Go-Go.
• Nick Stone in Andy McNab's Nick Stone novels
• Sergeant Trotter in Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
• The proles in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Famous Cockney people

• Jonathan Ross (media personality) as well as his accent, ross has an unusual rhotisism that can leady to his 'r's to be pronounced as 'w's, eg. 'rose'-'wose'
• Danny Dyer (actor)
• Rusko (musician, producer and disc jockey)
• Alfie Bass (actor, born in Bethnal Green)
• Steven Berkoff (actor, born in Stepney)
• Marc Bolan (singer, musician, born in Hackney)
• Bernard Bresslaw (actor, born in Stepney)
• Eric Bristow (darts player, born in Hackney)
• Max Bygraves (singer, songwriter and comedian, born in Rotherhithe)
• Michael Caine (Hollywood film star, born in Rotherhithe)
• George Carey (archbishop, born in Bow)
• The Cockney Rejects
• Connor Catchpole (actor)
• Charlie Chaplin (Hollywood film star, born in Walworth)
• Phil Collen (guitarist Def Leppard, musician, born in Hackney)
• Dave Courtney (bodyguard/actor, born in Bermondsey)
• Ben Crompton (actor)
• Roger Delgado, (actor, born in Whitechapel)
• Craig Fairbrass (actor, born in Stepney)
• Harry Fielder (actor)
• Bud Flanagan, (actor, comedian and singer, born in Whitechapel)
• Alan Ford, (actor, perhaps most famous for his roles in Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)
• Samantha Fox (model/singer, born in Mile End)
• Steve Harris, (founder, bass player Iron Maiden, born in Leytonstone)
• Gary Holton (actor, musician, born in Hackney)
• Kenney Jones (musician, born in Stepney)
• Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald (gangsters, born in Hoxton)
• Ronnie Lane (musician, born in Bow)
• Joe Lovejoy (sports journalist, born in Bow, London)
• Vera Lynn (singer, born in East Ham)
• Lenny McLean (bare knuckle/unlicensed boxer/actor, born in Hoxton)
• Hoxton Tom McCourt (musician/face, born in Hoxton)
• Danny Murphy, footballer
• Dizzee Rascal (musician/producer, born in Bow)
• Mike Reid (actor/comedian, born in Hackney)
• Philip Ridley (artist, writer, film maker, photographer born in Bethnal Green)
• Roy Shaw (bare knuckle/unlicensed boxer, born in Stepney)
• Terence Stamp (actor, born in Stepney)
• Tommy Steele (singer, musician and actor, born in Bermondsey)
• Alan Sugar (businessman, born in Hackney)
• Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols vocalist and bassist, born in Hackney)
• Barbara Windsor (actress, born in Shoreditch)
• Ray Winstone (actor, born in Hackney)
• Jah Wobble (musician, composer, writer, born in Stepney)
• Colin Wood (writer, born in Stepney)
• Rinkus in the land before time VII The Stone Of Cold Fire

Famous Cockney performances

• Bill Bailey's classic skit about Cockney and classical composers
• Timothy Bateson as The Worm in the film Labyrinth
• Ronnie Barker as 'Fletch' in the TV comedy series Porridge
• James Beck's lovable Cockney spiv Private Joe Walker from war time comedy Dad's Army
• Kathy Burke as 'Linda LaHughes' in comedy series Gimme Gimme Gimme and the film Nil By Mouth
• Michael Caine in The Italian Job (original), The Ipcress File and the Jack the Ripper film. Examples of Cockney slang can be found in his performance with Mike Myers in Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as his signature film, Alfie.
• Phil Daniels narrating on the title track of Blur's Parklife album
• Chas & Dave "Rockney music duo".
• Don Cheadle's performance in Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harold Steptoe in Steptoe and Son
• Arthur English as 'Beverley Harmon' and Wendy Richard as 'Shirley Brahms' in comedy series Are You Being Served?
• Gary Holton as 'Wayne Norris' in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
• Eric Idle in the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (Life of Brian)
• David Jason as Del Boy (or Derek Trotter) in Only Fools and Horses; though he was a South Londoner, he used much Cockney rhyming slang. Nearly all of the other characters in Fools and Horses were Londoners as well.
• Juliet Landau as the vampire Drusilla in TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• Tress MacNeille as Colleen the London collie in the cartoon Road Rovers
• Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part
• Lily Allen is a singer with a Cockney accent, like Kate Nash.
• Dick Van Dyke's attempt at a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins
• Simon Nash as Ten Cents in the children's television series, TUGS (1988)
• Catherine Tate as Joannie "Nan" Taylor in The Catherine Tate Show
• Jessie Wallace as 'Kat Slater' on the soap opera EastEnders
• Dennis Waterman and George Cole in the 1980s TV series Minder
• Ray Winstone in Scum, Sexy Beast, Henry VIII and every other performance he has ever given.
• Jack Wild as Jimmy from HR Pufnstuf, The Artful Dodger in Oliver! and Ornshaw in Melody
• Rita Malone in Flushed Away
• Christian Bale as Alfred Borden in The Prestige
• Summer Glau as River Tam in the Firefly episode Shindig, when she mocks Badger
• Noel Fielding as The Hitcher in The Mighty Boosh
• Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in Broadway's My Fair Lady
• Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady
• The Mutton Brothers
• 2D and Murdoc Niccals in Gorillaz
• Rob Paulsen as Pinky in Pinky and the Brain
• Johnny Depp as Inspector Frederick Abberline and Heather Graham (actress) as Mary J. Kelly in From Hell
• Rob Paulsen as Rinkus in "The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire"
• Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd Helena Bonham-Carter as Mrs Lovett and Sacha Baron-Cohen as Signor Adolfo Pirelli, (Davey Collins.) in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd.
• Megan Smith is a singer with a cockney accent like Lily Allen & Kate Nash.
• Tim Roth as Trevor in Made in Britain and Myron in The Hit.

See also

• British English
• Rhyming slang
• Estuary English
• Languages of the United Kingdom
• London slang
• Mockney
• Jafaican
• L-vocalisation
• Possessive me
• T-glottalisation

References

Bibliography

• Cruttenden, A. (2001). Gimson's Pronunciation of English (6th ed.). London: Arnold. 
• Ellis, Alexander J. (1890). English dialects: Their Sounds and Homes. 
• Hughes, Arthur; Trudgill, Peter (1979). English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of British English. Baltimore: University Park Press. 
• Matthews, William (1938). Cockney, Past and Present: a Short History of the Dialect of London. Detroit: Gale Research Company. 
• Sivertsen, Eva (1960). Cockney Phonology. Oslo: University of Oslo. 
• Wells, J.C. (1982a). Accents of English 1: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• Wells, J.C. (1982b). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• Wright, Peter (1981). Cockney Dialect and Slang. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.. 

External links

• Grose's 1811 dictionary
• Whoohoo Cockney Rhyming Slang translator
• Money slang expressions
• Sounds Familiar? – Listen to examples of London and other regional accents and dialects of the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website