The word snoop - Ursula Dubosarsky 2009
Rhyming slang
Who likes playing games?
You may never have heard of rhyming slang, but I’m sure you can use your down the drain and work it out. (Hint: What rhymes with “drain”?)
The rule of rhyming slang is that instead of a word, you say another word or name or phrase that rhymes with it. So instead of saying money, you say bread and honey,instead of mate, you say china plate,instead of a pie with tomato sauce, you say a dog’s eye with dead moss. (Erk, no thanks!)
It’s like a code. That’s how rhyming slang is supposed to have started, actually, over a hundred years ago amongst people known as Cockneys from the East End of London in England. They are said to have invented it to keep things secret. This was particularly useful if you were a tea leaf on the run from the police, and you didn’t want to spend time in ginger ale. (Hint: What rhymes with “leaf ” and “ale”?)
Rhyming slang quickly became popular in many other places in the world, and it’s still used today, with new rhymes being made up all the time. Have a Captain Cook at the dialog on the opposite page and see if you can work out what Mr. and Mrs. Rimer are really saying to each other.
First to finish is the chicken dinner!
Mr. and Mrs. Rimer at breakfast
Mr. R: Good morning, treacle tart. How are you?
Mrs. R: I had a terrible sleep, turtle dove.I was
banging my head on the weeping willow all night.
Mr. R:Tsk, tsk, that’s no good. I’ll put a bit of Uncle
Fred in the roller coaster for you.
Mrs. R: Hmm, thanks. Any lady in silk left in the
Brooklyn Bridge?
(There’s a noise outside)
Mr. R: Excuse me a moment, my dear, I just heard
a Highland fling at the door.
(He goes out and returns with a set of keys.)
Mrs. R: Who was that? One of the local dustbin lids?
Mr. R:No, it was someone who found my macaroni
and cheese on the field of wheat.
Mrs. R:Well, isn’t that rubber ducky!
Mr. R: Yes, so finish up your molten toffee and
I’ll take you out for a nice spin in the jam jar.
Hey there, clever Word Snoops. Another day, another code . . . See if you can work out the next part to my message. (Hint: Think rebus.)
URA
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Answers
PIG LATIN
Today is my birthday. Can you come
to my party?
Hmm. Maybe. I’ll think about it.
THE REBUS
I wonder if you can guess what a rebus
might be?
The Word Snoop saw somebody eating
a nice piece of cake.