London slang is a mixture of words and phrases from many sources, reflecting the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup of the city's population. Cockney rhyming slang is the best known form of London slang. One problem identifying London slang is that London occupies a dominant cultural position in the United Kingdom causing slang that was originally specific to the city to often be distributed across the UK through the British media.
Sources of London slang
Many older London slang words and phrases are believed to have been imported from Indian languages by servicemen in the 19th century. Words for money such as "monkey" (£500) and "pony" (£25) are believed to have come from the Indian rupee banknotes, which used to feature pictures of such animals. Another money slang word, "nicker" (£1) is hypothesised to be connected to the U.S. "nickel". Conversely, "wonga" is believed to have come from Romany. For a Londoner the terms Monkey, Pony, Carpet in regards to terms of money come from the tick tak signs for the amount of money being placed on a bet.
In 21st century London, Jamaican patois is the source of words such as "dat" and "dere".
Modern urban slang in London
In 2005, Professor Sue Fox from Queen Mary, University of London concluded that Cockney rhyming slang was dying out. She says that young children in London are being influenced by words and phrases brought in from outside cultures.[1] Teenagers especially are incorporating new words into their vocabularies, many of which are borrowed from outside the UK. Words evolve too from the use of new technologies, especially mobile phone sms (short message service) or text messages. While "dat" an "dere" may be of Jamaican origin, their use in sms messages as easier-to-key options to "that" and "there/their" cement them as slang in common usage.
The large number of migrant communities and relatively high level of ethnic integration mean that various pronunciations, words and phrases have been fused from a variety of sources to create modern London slang. The emerging dialect has been given the name Jafaican, and it draws influences from Jamaican English, Pakistani and West African speech.[2]
This form of slang was born, and is mainly spoken in Inner London[2][3] and has been popularised by Grime[4][5], a sub-genre of rap music that began in the estates of that area. Although the slang has been highly influenced by immigrant communities, a large number of teenagers of all ethnicities in London have adopted it.[5]
References
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