Cockney Rhyming Slang

Why is a Bronx cheer called a "raspberry"?

A Bronx cheer sounds like a fart.
"Fart" in Cockney rhyming slang is "raspberry tart,"
which is shortened to "raspberry."

Why do you "put up your Dukes" to fight?

In Cockney slang, a hand is a "fork" (the fingers look like the tines).
"Fork" in Cockney rhyming slang is "Duke of York,"
which is shortened to "Duke."

Why is money referred to as "bread" by gangsters?

"Money" in Cockney rhyming slang is "bread and honey,"
which is shortened to "bread."

Why do you get "creamed" when you're beaten?

"Beaten" or "exhausted" in British slang is "knackered."
"Knackered" in Cockney rhyming slang is "cream crackered,"
which is shortened to "creamed."

Source

Examples of Cockney rhyming slang, or phrases inspired by it, are:

A

Adam and Eve = believe = as in "would you Adam and Eve it?"

Almonds = Almond Rocks = socks

Apples = Apples and pears = stairs

April = April in Paris = Aris = Aristotle = Bottle = Bottle & Glass = Arse

Aris = Aristotle = Bottle = Bottle & Glass = Arse

Artful Dodger = lodger

Ascot Races = braces (called suspenders in the U.S.)

Aunt Joanna = piano (or just Joanna)

B

Baked Bean = queen

Ball of Chalk = walk

Band of Hope = soap

Barnaby Rudge = judge

Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair

Beezun = Bees and honey = money

Billy = Billy Bunter = punter (i.e. customer or mark)

Billy Hunt = cunt

Billy Lid = kid

Biscuit Drum or Crumb = Bum (Rear end, Buttocks)

Bluebottle = Bottle and stopper = Copper = Policeman.

Boat = Boat Race = face

Bob Hope = soap

Boracic (freq. contracted to brassic) = boracic lint = skint (i.e. penniless)

Brahms = Brahms and Liszt (classical composers) = pissed (i.e. drunk)

Brass Tacks = facts ("facks")

Bread = Bread and Honey = money

Bricks and Mortar = daughter

Bristol (or Bristols) = Bristol City (UK football club) = titty (i.e. breast)

Britney Spears = beers

Brown bread = dead

Bubble = Bubble and squeak = Greek

Butcher's = butcher's hook = look

C

Cain and Abel = table

Chalfonts = Chalfont St Giles = piles (i.e. haemorrhoids)

China = china plate = mate

Cock and Hen = ten

Creamed = cream crackered = knackered (i.e. exhausted or beaten)

Currant bun = sun or The Sun newspaper

D-E

Daisies = Daisy Roots = boots

Dame Judy = Judy Dench = stench

Dead 'orse = sauce, as in a dog's eye and dead 'orse = a meat pie and sauce

Derby Kell = Derby Kelly = belly (see Music Hall song Boiled beef and Carrots)

Desmond = Desmond Tutu = 2.2 (lower second class degree)

Dicky = dicky dirt = shirt

Dicky or Dickie = Dickie Bird = word = as in "not a dickie", or even "not a dickie bird"

Dog = dog and bone = phone

Dog's eye = pie, as in a "dog's eye and dead 'orse" = a meat pie and sauce

Donald Ducked = fucked (as in broken, not working)

Doris Day = Gay

Duck and Dive = skive

Ducks and Geese = police ("pleece")

Duke of Kent = rent, also bent

Dukes = Duke[s] of York = fork, i.e. hand, now chiefly when balled into a fist

Dustbin Lid = kid

East and west = breast(s)

Eighty-sixed = nixed (as in kicked- or thrown-out) [American rhyming slang from the 1930s]

Elephants = Elephant's Trunk = Drunk

F-G

Farmers = Farmer Giles = piles (slang for haemorrhoids)

Fatboy Slim = gym

Fireman's Hose = nose

Flowery Dell = (prison) cell

Four-by = Four by Two (A common size of timber) = Jew

Fox = fox and weasel = diesel

Frog = frog & toad = road

Gay 'n' hearty = party

George Raft = draught

Germans = German bands = hands

Ginger = ginger beer = queer

Gregory = Gregory Peck = neck, or cheque

Grim 'n' gory = story

Gypsy's = Gypsy's kiss = piss

H-J

Half-inch = pinch (i.e. steal)

Half ounce of baccy (i.e. tobacco) = paki (Pakistani)

Hampsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth

Hank = Hank Marvin (singer with Hank Marvin and the Drifters) = starvin'

Honky tonk = plonk (cheap wine)

Iron = Iron hoof = poof

Jack = Jack Jones = alone ("On my Jack" = "On my own")

Jack and Jill = restaurant bill or contraceptive pill, depending on context

Jack Horner = corner

Jam jar = car

Jam tart = heart

Jay Kay = Takeaway

Jimmy = Jimmy Riddle (unknown person, not the character killed during the Waco siege)= piddle or widdle (urinate)

Jekyll and Hyde = Snide

Joe Blakes = the shakes = experienced after a heavy night drinking

Joe Blake = a snake

Jugs = jugs of beer = ears

K-N

Khyber = Khyber Pass = arse

Kick and Prance = dance

Lady Godiva = fiver (i.e. five-pound note)

Leo = Leo Sayer = all dayer ("I'm on a Leo" - drinking all day at the pub)

Lionels = Lionel Blairs (English variety performer) = flares (as in flared trousers)

Loaf = loaf of bread = head ("use your loaf")

Loop the loop = soup ("nice cup of loop the loop").

Mickey Mouse(r) = Scouse(r) = person from Liverpool

Minces = mince pies = eyes

Mutton = Mutt and Jeff = deaf = named after Mutt and Jeff, two early 20th century comic strip characters

Nails 'n' screws = news

Nelson = Nelson Mandela = Stella (Stella Artois), a Belgian brand of lager

Nobbies = Nobby Stiles (English footballer) = piles (haemorrhoids)

North and South = mouth

O-P

Oily = Oily rag = fag (i.e. cigarette)

Old Jack Lang = slang

Old King Cole = dole

Optic = optic nerve = perv = to look, usually with a sexual nuance, or a pervert

Orchestras = orchestra stalls = balls ("A kick in the orchestras.") [Coincidentally, "orchi-" is also the Greek root meaning "testicle."]

Oxford = Oxford scholar = dollar (Five shillings in pre-decimal currency)

Peckham Rye = tie (i.e. necktie)

Pen and Ink = stink

Pete Tong = Wrong ("It's all gone Pete Tong")

Pigs ears = beers (Ale)

Plaster = Plaster of Paris = Aris = Aristotle = bottle = bottle and glass = arse [a three-stage rhyme]

Plates = plates of meat = feet

Porky = pork pie = lie, e.g. "He's telling porkies!"

Pony = pony and trap = crap (note: Cockneys also use "pony" to mean £25 - hopefully the meaning is clear from the context)

Pride and joy = boy

R

Rabbit = rabbit and pork = talk, as in "She can rabbit on."

Raspberry = raspberry tart = fart (as in "blowing raspberry/ies" = sound made by blowing air between extended tongue and lips)

Richard = Richard the Third = turd (lump of faeces)

Rock 'n' roll = Dole

Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea e.g. "Have a cup of Rosie"

Round the houses = trousers

Rubbity = Rub-a-dub-dub (or just Rub-a-dub)= pub = public house

Ruby = Ruby Murray (popular singer in the 1950s born in Belfast) = curry

S

Salmon and Trout = snout

Saucepans = Saucepan lids = kids

Scooby Doo = clue, as in "Sorry mate, haven't got a Scooby Doo".

Septic (often "Seppo") = septic tank = Yank (slang for an American)

Sexton Blake = fake

Sherbet = Sherbet Dab (child's sweet with Licorice & Sherbet) = (taxi) cab

Sigourney = Sigourney Weaver = beaver (vagina)

Skin = skin and blister = sister

Sky = sky rocket = pocket

Stoke-on-Trent = bent (gay)

sweaty = sweaty sock = jock = Scottish person

Syrup = syrup of figs = wig(s)

T-V

Taters = Potatoes in the mould = cold (eg "Its bleedin' taters!")

Tea leaf = thief

The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad, a special division of the Metropolitan Police; used as the title of TV series The Sweeney

Thrup'ny (threepenny) Bits = tits (breasts)

Titfer = tit for tat = hat

Tod = Tod Sloane = own (as in "on your tod", meaning "alone")

Tom Dick or Tom and Dick = sick

Tom = Tomfoolery = jewlery (mispronunciation of "jewelry")

Treacle = treacle tart = heart or sweetheart

Trouble = trouble and strife = wife

Two-an =Two-and-eight = state (as in "He was in a right two-and-eight.")

Vera = Vera Lynn (famous British wartime singer)= gin, heroin

W-Z

Wally = Wally Grout = shout (buy a round of drinks), as in "It's your Wally." Also stout or snout depending on context; Whistle = whistle and flute = suit = as in "a nice whistle"; Winona Ryder = Cider
Source