Comments on: Need some linguistic help...

Question: Need some linguistic help...

Cohiba4009 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:23:00 -0800

I friend of mine from London, England had this "way" of coming up with names for people. As an example; he would call me bubbles (wasn't thrilled about that) because you can associate it with "squeak" (the sound bubbles can make when cleaning something, or like squeaky clean), which rhymed with the word "greek" which is my nationality... does anyone know what this is called and what the origin is?

By: Chunder

Chunder — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:24:28 -0800

Cockney Rhyming Slang

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:27:23 -0800

Ditto.

By: steef

steef — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:29:44 -0800

Mmmmm. Bubble & Squeak. It's also sort of a mnemonic.

By: the cuban

the cuban — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:30:00 -0800

Also, bubble and squeak is a foodstuff.

By: the cuban

the cuban — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:30:41 -0800

or ditto what steef says.

By: keijo

keijo — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:32:42 -0800

If you don't know chitty chitty bang bang you must be Saddam Hussein.

Translation available here.

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:36:42 -0800

You've had your answer, but it's important to state that Bubble and Squeak has nothing whatsoever to do with "the sound bubbles can make when cleaning something), and everything to do with the East-End delicacy linked to by the cuban. If you ever repeat the cleaning one again, the Pearly Kings will have you shot. You have been warned.

By: Cohiba4009

Cohiba4009 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:44:33 -0800

LoL... fair enough benzo8

By: reklaw

reklaw — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:45:45 -0800

By: driveler

driveler — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:51:57 -0800

I do this all the time and had never heard of Cockney Rhyming Slang. It's just something my mind does when it's in idle. I do wonder if there's a general term for it though.

By: keijo

keijo — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 08:52:45 -0800

True reklaw, he's taken it a step further. He might be Cohiba4009's Danny Glover.

By: Cohiba4009

Cohiba4009 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:05:44 -0800

ROFL... couldNT resist huh reklaw? Too funny, no he was never my danny glover, just a really good friend.

By: lemur

lemur — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:08:11 -0800

It's not just Cockney rhyming slang, though -- he's used it to come up with an affectionate nickname that I imagine refers only to you. It's somewhat unlikely that he (or any other user of rhyming slang) refers to all Greeks as "bubbles".
posted by reklaw

from the wikipedia article on bubble and squeek:

The name bubble and squeak is used in (at least) South East England - it is also Cockney rhyming slang for "Greek".

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:35:24 -0800

Tangentially, and it's not in the wikipedia article, but I always heard that it was called Bubble and Squeak because the dish gave you gas (which made you "bubble and squeak").

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:40:47 -0800

The reason it's not in the wikipedia article is that it's not true.

By: Aknaton

Aknaton — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:01:21 -0800

The reason it's not in the wikipedia article is that it's not true.

When did they institute that policy?

By: keijo

keijo — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:13:39 -0800

Aknaton, ever since a horse and cart was just a euphemism for a raspberry tart.

By: blag

blag — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:14:22 -0800

Remember Lock Stock? "Nick the Bubble"?

By: penguin pie

penguin pie — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:42:51 -0800

Yeah, I've heard 'Bubble' as slang for 'Greek' before, so it's sadly not tailor made for you.

By: redsparkler

redsparkler — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:26:19 -0800

I want a name. Can he give me a name? Or do I have to find my own Britisher?

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:29:16 -0800

East-End delicacy

Huh? It's not like pie and mash shops or a decent bagel. You get bubble and squeak all over England and Wales (but it never seems to appear on greasy spoon menus up here in Scotland, more's the pity.)

By: Decani

Decani — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:30:04 -0800

Yep, "Bubble" is standard CRS for Greek. Can't expect all these Septics to know that... :-)

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:40:32 -0800

I do wonder if there's a general term for it though.

Um, yeah - if you're not a cockney, it's just plain old rhyming slang. It's used widely in non-cockney forms in Australia, Northern Ireland, Scotland (examples) and in cant like Palare. (I can never get the Scottish ones, since the words don't rhyme in my English accent - eg. 'corned beef' = 'deaf'.)

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:47:10 -0800

I'm not sure if (as a yank) I should be pleased I understood what you meant, Decani, or displeased that I'm spending time on this instead of working.

By: vanoakenfold

vanoakenfold — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:29:22 -0800

wouldn't a Scot pronouncing beef sound somewhat like beff, thus rhyming with deaf?

By: Lanark

Lanark — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:15:53 -0800

wouldn't a Scot pronouncing beef sound somewhat like beff, thus rhyming with deaf?
Not quite, it's more beeeef and deeeef

By: reklaw

reklaw — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:03:29 -0800

By: Aknaton

Aknaton — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:07:28 -0800

Aknaton, ever since a horse and cart was just a euphemism for a raspberry tart.

Incidentally, "razz" and "raspberry" are in common usage in the U.S. for a certain mouth-made fart noise, but it doesn't seem to be commonly known that it's a case of Cockney rhyming slang.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:23:06 -0800

Ah languagehat, but it's in the other link, the esteemed http://www.foodreference.com.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:34:06 -0800

It's still not true. Food writers are as clueless about etymology as regular people. (I've seen some real howlers in respected food references.)

By: blue_wardrobe

blue_wardrobe — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 21:09:05 -0800

When I worked in North London (Harringay), 'Bubbles' was the almost universal term for Greeks, even amongst many Greeks. There were a lot of them around. It's cockney rhyming slang.

By: the_epicurean

the_epicurean — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 03:29:07 -0800

Apparently Wikipedia's proved me wrong...

Still, if you can find me one person who always says "bubble" when they mean Greek, I'll eat my hat. Rhyming slang is fun for tourists and all, but no-one uses it to that extent -- you just don't talk about Greeks that often.
posted by reklaw at 10:03 PM GMT on April 12 [!]

I live in east london, was born within the sound of the bow bells, and I call my greek friends bubble's all the time. I think sir, you should get a little sauce fer yer 'at! It'll make it go down that much easier!

By: reklaw

reklaw — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:55:17 -0800

...

Strange. I guess the Cockneys I know just aren't Cockney enough...

Consider hat eaten.