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Hi Malone,

Thanks for that. I see the "apple" part but not why 'loaf', 'bread' or 'bakery' equals B?

I think a loaf of bread = head - so the first letter from bakery.

Ah! Got it - I was only thinking "brown bread" = dead.

Many thanks Malone.

Thanks, Brendan. My initial nudge maybe proved more of a hindrance!

Brendan, I was looking for brown bread = dead, too. I was about to ask my Cockney husband when loaf of bread came to me.

Brendan Cleverjo

So Londoners actually use this slang? I didnt know about loaf of bread. I have heard "use your loaf" of course, but didnt know where it came from

Butchers is quite common up here but none of the others.

Hi Grunger, Hi Jo,

I think cockney rhyming slang is spoken more by "faux" cockneys and in poorly scripted films by the likes of Danny Dyer - rarely have I heard it used by native east enders.

There are exceptions, of course, and I've definitely known of people going for a "ruby" after getting a few "sherbets" down their "gregory" - I've even been one of them:-)

Like you say though, the most commonly used term is probably "butchers" which I've heard used by people of all regions.

I remember when I was a young teenager my friend had a poster on his wall with all the various terms - would have come in useful yesterday when trying to parse 24d.

Thanks Brendan

I have occasionally heard mince pies and pork pies up here, but I never know which is which. The crossword gives me the answer but are they inter-changeable?

I suppose Gregory is neck but what is sherbet? Fountain?

sherbet dab ...cab

Hi Grunger,

"Sherbert" isn't actually cockney rhyming slang, (well it is - as in "sherbert dab" = cab) but it's become a very popular word used to mean "beer" - Google says it's derivation is from a Turkish word for a fruit drink.

I suppose it's a sort of natural evolution of cockney slang, where other words get co-opted into standard cockney phrases.

"Pork pies" or "porkies" is 'lies' - as in "he's been telling porkies" and "mince pies" or "mincers" is 'eyes' - as in "keep your mincers on that while I go for......"