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Columbine (Offline)
Busier Than Shinjuku Station
 
Posts: 1,466
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Re: A question - 11-06-2010, 11:52 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro View Post
Hi.
I didn’t know there were so many kinds of English in England.
Then, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the people, even if I learned English.
How different between Cockney and Standard English?

I admit that Japan has the same trouble, and many people around Tokyo don’t understand the language in the East-north part of Japan.
Recently I heard one of them speak in TV. He said “12”. It’s “jyuhni” in Japanese, but he said “zuhnu”.
Cockney English has a lot of different sounds. It's more from the front of the mouth than the throat, and breathier. They drop sounds a lot too:

They becomes 'dey'
Brother becomes 'bruvver'
Maths becomes 'maffs'
Path becomes 'parf'
Happy become 'appy'
Clapham (a place name) becomes 'Cla'am'
Jumped up becomes 'jampt'ap'

Grammar differences include using 'me' instead of 'my', and 'a'int' instead of isn't. "Nah, dat ain't right," would be "No, that isn't right" in standard English.

And of course, the rhyming slang. Rhyming slang is calling something by a phrase that rhymes with it.
So:
Dog and bone = telephone
Plates of meat = feet
Apples and pears= stairs

But sometimes they drop part of the phrase, so you'd hear people say "ooh, me plates 'urt." for 'ooh, my feet hurt!', or "Just 'ead on ap dose apples" for "just head on up those stairs"
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