Cockney

Cockney is a traditional dialect and accent spoken by working-class Londoners, especially those from the East End of London. It’s famous for its unique way of speaking and for something called Cockney rhyming slang.

In Cockney rhyming slang, a common word is replaced by a phrase that rhymes with it. For example, “stairs” becomes “apples and pears”, and “phone” becomes “dog and bone”. Often, the second rhyming word is dropped, so people might say “I’m going up the apples” (meaning: I’m going up the stairs).

The classic Cockney accent includes dropping H’s (like saying “’ello” instead of “hello”) and using glottal stops (like pronouncing “bottle” as “bo’le”).

Though it’s not as common today as it once was, Cockney remains an important and colorful part of London’s cultural history.