Q 01/05

Blowing a raspberry, the rude noise made with tongue and lips, is named after Cockney rhyming slang for what?

A) A burp

B) A fart

C) A sneeze

D) A snore

Answer · why

B) A fart

A fart is what 'raspberry tart' stood for before speakers dropped the rhyming half. Americans shortened the word again and got 'razz'.

Q 02/05

The advice to 'use your loaf', common in Britain since the 1930s, clips a Cockney rhyme for which body part?

A) Head

B) Hands

C) Ears

D) Legs

Answer · why

A) Head

Head is the missing rhyme: the full phrase is 'loaf of bread'. It dates from the late nineteenth century, but only the first word made it into everyda...

Q 03/05

A Cockney who spent all morning 'on the dog', clipped from a rhyme about what dogs chew, was doing what?

A) Betting on greyhounds

B) Walking round the park

C) Making a phone call

D) Working at the docks

Answer · why

C) Making a phone call

Making a phone call is the meaning, because the full phrase is 'dog and bone'. Speakers who say only the first word hide the rhyme from outsiders.

Q 04/05

A Briton accused of 'telling porkies', a clipped Cockney rhyme on a savoury pastry, has been doing what?

A) Boasting

B) Gossiping

C) Cheating

D) Lying

Answer · why

D) Lying

Lying is the charge, because 'porkies' are pork pies, a rhyme for lies. The longer form 'porky pies' is just as common.

Q 05/05

In the Cockney exclamation 'Would you Adam and Eve it?', the first couple of Genesis replace which verb?

A) Believe

B) Leave

C) Receive

D) Achieve

Answer · why

A) Believe

Believe is the word, so the phrase is a cry of astonishment. It is unusual among rhyming slang in standing for a verb, since most rhymes replace nouns...