Rhyming slang all cases, omitting, from the end of the phrase, the secondary rhyming word (which is thereafter implied), making the origin and meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know. The form that is followed is made clear with the following example. The rhyming phrase "apples and pears" evolved to mean "stairs". Following the pattern of omission, "and pears" is dropped, thus the spoken phrase "I'm going up the apples" means "I'm going up the stairs". The following are further common examples of these phrases: Thus a construction of the following type could conceivably arise: "It nearly knocked
British slang (1937). It was not until the 1950s that slang began to make regular appearances in books and in the relatively new media of motion pictures and television. There are a number of different varieties of British slang, arguably the best known of which is Rhyming slang. Chiefly associated with cockney speech spoken in the East End of London, words are replaced with a phrase which rhymes. For example: "plates of meat" for "feet", or "twist and twirl" for "girl". Often only the first word is used, so "plates" and "twist" by themselves become the colloquialisms for "feet" and "girl". Thieves'