Rhyming slang and toad" (the main road) and "apples and pears (stairs), as well as many more obscure examples, e.g. "Battle of the Nile" (a tile, a vulgar term for a hat), "Duke of York" (take a walk), and "Top of Rom" (home). It remains a matter of speculation whether rhyming slang was a linguistic accident, a game, or a cryptolect developed intentionally to confuse non-locals. If deliberate, it may also have been used to maintain a sense of community, or to allow traders to talk amongst themselves in marketplaces in order to facilitate collusion, without customers knowing what they were saying,
British slang many, they almost become mainstream. While some slang words and phrases are used throughout Britain (e.g. "knackered", meaning "exhausted"), others are restricted to smaller regions, even to small geographical areas. The nations of the United Kingdom, which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all have their own slang words, as does London. London slang has many varieties, the best known of which is rhyming slang. English-speaking nations of the former British Empire may also use this slang to a certain extent, but also incorporate their own slang words to reflect their different cultures. Not only is the slang used