Ripple

Since moving over here to New Zealand, we have met and befriended people from all over the world. We are able to hang out with folks from Holland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Israel, and the UK.

Quite a few of the latter are known by several sobriquets, some of which are derogatory. They are called limeys or poms. Pom supposedly stands for Prisoner of her Majesty, but that is unlikely. Either way, I think it is sort of an insult and usually is contained it the phrase "whiny pommie bastard".

These Poms also will talk in a secret language known only to them. It is called Cockney Slang. Those who recall A Clockwork Orange or Snatch or countless other British tough guy films might have noticed that you don't know what the hell the characters are mumbling about...that might be Cockney Slang.

We certainly have not been able to completely wrap our arms around this new language, but one day someone said they were going up the apples and pears. Turns out they were talking about "stairs".

Then they said they had to answer the dog and bone, which means "phone".

OK, so they exchange a simple word for a phrase that rhymes with the word. To make it more confusing, sometimes they just use the first part which doesn't even have the rhyme and everyone knows where they are heading and therefore understands.

For example, a Gypsy's Kiss is a piss. but a guy will be at the table and just say he is going for a gypsy and leave it at that.

A few weeks ago, Kimberly, me Trouble and Strife, and I were to be out with some Pom friends and I went to the web and downloaded 4 pages of slang and decided to play a game. I would say that phrase and Kimberly got the first attempt at its meaning. If she was correct, she got 5 points. When she missed, the Brits could steal for 2 points.

She did remarkably well.

Try these out yourself:

Holy Ghost

Jam Jar

Bo Peep

Brown Bread

China (short for China Plate)

Khyber Pass

Lady Godiva

Mincers (short for Mince Pies)

Porky's (for Porky Pies)

North and South

Plates of Meat

Raspberries (for Raspberry Ripple)

Thrupenny Bits

Whistle and Flute

Battle Cruiser

Bob Hope

Boat Race

There are tons of these and unfortunately, I discovered my usual drink, ginger beer, has a negative translation. Now I need to find a new drink to avoid embarrasment.