My husband told me about these, but it's not something you'd here around the city or much at all lately, but it is a bit interesting. Australias' national penchant for rhyming slang is shared by Londons' Cockneys, and no doubt goes right back to their convict origins. They may have borrowed some commonly used expressions directly from their English forebearers, but many others, such as Dad 'n' Dave and Ned Kelly are true blue Aussie.They used rhyming slang if they didn't want others, particularly the authorities, to understand what they were talking about.
Basically, rhyming slang is the use of usually two or more words, the last of which rhymes with the intended word. But there are variations.The easiest examples of rhyming slang are straight-out rhymes. Thus plates of meat are feet. And rubbity-dub is pub; depending on context, it could also mean tub as in bath tub.So ava Captain Cook, for instance, at Captain Cook.
Ava isn’t rhyming slang but simply how some Aussies pronounce Have a as in avagoodweegend (Have a good weekend).
But Captain Cook is definitely rhyming slang and means look.
So ava Captain Cook, for instance, at Captain Cook.
The most common variation is to drop the rhyming word altogether. So you could simply ava captains (have a look) at this example. Sometimes when the rhyming word is dropped, the remaining word takes on a plural form for no logical reason.
A third step is to abbreviate (or corrupt) the first word, so that not only is the rhyming word gone but the first word in the phrase is corrupted. Hence, seppo for American.
The original phrase is septic tank for Yank and septic is corrupted into seppo. (Don’t ask me why Americans are called Yanks even if they come from the American South.) Another term used is tin tank.When rhyming slang is flying thick and fast, it’s best to know what some of them mean.
Here are some rhyming slang examples:
After dark - shark, bag of fruit - suit, Adrians. Drunk. This comes from the name of noted tennis player Adrian Quist. Quist rhymes with pissed, which means drunk. You could also use the full name Adrian Quist. With today’s generation, the more apt word could be Olivers, from the musical Oliver about Oliver Twist.
Al Capone. Phone. Also dog and bone (shortened to dog) and eau de Cologne (shortened to eau).
Apples and pears - Stairs. Bat and ball - Stall (your car). Cat's hiss - to take a piss. If you're having a Dad n' Dave, your having a shave. There are so many examples of rhyming slang that I couldn't possibly write all of them, so I have attached 2 links to pages that have more listing of rhyming slang. One warning, Aussies are not PC, so they may or may not be things in those lists that may or may not offend some people.
http://www.dagree.net/aussieslang/slang_rhyming.html
http://www.wanowandthen.com/slang.html
