Much more recently (thanks G Hudson) logically since the pound coin was introduced in the UK in the 1990s with the pound note's withdrawal, nugget seems to have appeared as a specific term for a pound coin, presumably because the pound coin is golden (actually more brassy than gold) and 'nuggety' in feel. 21. Also perhaps a connection with a plumb-bob, made of lead and used to mark a vertical position in certain trades, notably masons. According to Cassells chip meaning a shilling is from horse-racing and betting. Silver threepenny coins were first introduced in the mid-1500s but were not popular nor minted in any serious quantity for general circulation until around 1760, because people preferred the fourpenny groat. This has confusing and convoluted origins, from as early as the late 1800s: It seems originally to have been a slang term for a three month prison sentence, based on the following: that 'carpet bag' was cockney rhyming slang for a 'drag', which was generally used to describe a three month sentence; also that in the prison workshops it supposedly took ninety days to produce a certain regulation-size piece of carpet; and there is also a belief that prisoners used to be awarded the luxury of a piece of carpet for their cell after three year's incarceration. Barmy: crazy, insane; always derogatory. Fuzz - old, derogatory slang for the police. Dont believe us?Watch this! McGarret refers cunningly and amusingly to the popular US TV crime series Hawaii Five-0 and its fictional head detective Steve McGarrett, played by Jack Lord. Backslang reverses the phonetic (sound of the) word, not the spelling, which can produce some strange interpretations, and was popular among market traders, butchers and greengrocers. Normally refers to notes and a reasonable amount of spending money. Much of it derives from the designs on the notes - five pounds, ten pounds, twenty pounds. deaner/dena/denar/dener = a shilling (1/-), from the mid-1800s, derived from association with the many European dinar coins and similar, and derived in turn and associated with the Roman denarius coin which formed the basis of many European currencies and their names. handful = five pounds (5), 20th century, derived simply by association to the five digits on a hand. Precise origin of the word ned is uncertain although it is connected indirectly (by Chambers and Cassells for example) with a straightforward rhyming slang for the word head (conventional ockney rhyming slang is slightly more complex than this), which seems plausible given that the monarch's head appeared on guinea coins. The similar German and Austrian coin was the 'Groschen', equivalent to 10 'Pfennigs'. As in "We threw everything except the kitchen sink at the problem.". I'll be a monkey's uncle. Piece - piece of bread, sandwich (Glaswegian). Bro: just like "mate" in the UK, "bro" means friend . 23. "You should watch the mens team play cricket. Moola - Also spelled moolah, the origin of this word is unknown. Origins are not certain. Interestingly mill is also a non-slang technical term for a tenth of a USA cent, or one-thousandth of a dollar, which is an accounts term only - there is no coinage for such an amount. Spanish is spoken natively in over 20 countries and even has more first language speakers than English, making it an incredibly diverse language with many different slang words and phrases. seymour = salary of 100,000 a year - media industry slang - named after Geoff Seymour (1947-2009) the advertising copywriter said to have been the first in his profession to command such a wage. We have a complete dictionary of London money slang .A Cockney knows all about moneyCos its what make his world go aroundBut he doesn't say money, he says Bees and Honey When talking about pennies and pounds. 5. Dosh appears to have originated in this form in the US in the 19th century, and then re-emerged in more popular use in the UK in the mid-20th century. NEET - Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Commonly used in speech as 'some silver' or 'any silver', for example: "Have you got any silver for the car-park?" In every country there are slang terms for money. A final claim is that pony might derive from the Latin words legem pone, which means, payment of money, cash down which begins on the March 25, a quarter day in the old financial calendar, when payments and debts came due. Perhaps based on jack meaning a small thing, although there are many possible different sources. Z-Cars - 1960s and 70s TV police drama set in Liverpool. Cheeky monkey is an expression we use when someone is being mischievous and playful. Tanner - 6d or sixpence. In their natural habitat, monkeys are incredibly compassionate and carrying. The official Urban Dictionary API is used to show the hover-definitions. knicker = distortion of 'nicker', meaning 1. Follow our writing guidelines and make your words COUNT! Odds and sods - this and that; bits and pieces. half a crown = two shillings and sixpence (2/6), and more specifically the 2/6 coin. Probably from Romany gypsy 'wanga' meaning coal. Changes in coin composition necessarily have to stay ahead of economic attractions offered by the scrap metal trade. (Thanks R Maguire for prompting more detail for this one.). Folding green is more American than UK slang. People commonly use this emoji to express embarrassment in an amusing way or to emphasize that they made a funny mistake. From the late 20th century. By some it has been suggested that in the 18th century 25 was the typical price paid for a small horse, although historians have contested this is not accurate and far too much money. Others have suggested that an Indian twenty-five rupee banknote featured a pony. Even if you never actually get anywhere near the sound of Bow bells, it is handy pub quiz knowledge to have in your locker. This coincides with the view that Hume re-introduced the groat to counter the cab drivers' scam. I just threw in an extra slang term for free. Cock and hen - also cockerel and hen - has carried the rhyming slang meaning for the number ten for longer. Monkey: British slang for 500 pounds sterling; originates from soldiers returning from India, where the 500 rupee note had a picture of a monkey on it. 20 is sometimes referred to as a score, although strictly this is not a slang term for money, as score is a normal word for twenty. noun. An 'oxford' was cockney rhyming slang for five shillings (5/-) based on the dollar rhyming slang: 'oxford scholar'. Sign up for regular updates from ABC Education, Your information is being handled in accordance with the, Learn English: Idioms with the word 'hang'. And 59 per cent don't understand what . Do A "do" is also a slang word for "party" in British English. The . Essex girl - brash, materialistic young woman supposedly common in Essex and the Home Counties. Gobsmacked. (British English, slang) if you say that it is brass monkeys or brass monkey weather, you mean that it is very cold weather; get a monkey off your back A clodhopper is old slang for a farmer or bumpkin or lout, and was also a derogatory term used by the cavalry for infantry foot soldiers. Bice could also occur in conjunction with other shilling slang, where the word bice assumes the meaning 'two', as in 'a bice of deaners', pronounced 'bicerdeaners', and with other money slang, for example bice of tenners, pronounced 'bicertenners', meaning twenty pounds. It's the best sound in the world to somethe cash register completing a sale. As India was under the rule of the British Empire, the term made it over to London, despite the fact there were no monkeys on British currency. Pint - unit of beer drunk in pubs (0.568 liters). Dib was also US slang meaning $1 (one dollar), which presumably extended to more than one when pluralised. Porkies - lies, from the Cockney rhyming slang "pork pies" = lies. 22. From cockney rhyming slang, bread and honey = money, and which gave rise to the secondary rhyming slang 'poppy', from poppy red = bread. He was referring to the fact that the groat's production ceased from 1662 and then restarted in 1835, (or 1836 according to other sources). Much variation in meaning is found in the US. Gobsmacked - slang for totally surprised, shocked. Meaning: used to describe a person who is mischievous or silly. Logically, it follows that you'd have 240 pence to a pound. ned = a guinea. You are listening to our fourth and final episode specialising on slang and money! Scouser - native of Liverpool (colloquial). Jack is much used in a wide variety of slang expressions. The slang money expression 'quid' seems first to have appeared in late 1600s England, derived from Latin (quid meaning 'what', as in 'quid pro quo' - 'something for something else'). . Posh - port out, starboard home; elegant, stylish, or upper class. The 'tanner' slang was later reinforced (Ack L Bamford) via jocular reference to a biblical extract about St Peter lodging with Simon, a tanner (of hides). It works." It works." Examples include . Though familiar to many Londoners, the term "monkey" is actually Indian slang for a 500 rupee note, which used to have a monkey on it. Many are now obsolete; typically words which relate to pre-decimalisation coins, although some have re-emerged and continue to do so. Zebra Crossing - black and white pedestrian crossing. An old term, probably more common in London than elsewhere, used before UK decimalisation in 1971, and before the ha'penny was withdrawn in the 1960s. Dough . Also expressed in cockney rhying slang as 'macaroni'. Danno (Detective Danny Williams, played by James MacArthur) was McGarrett's unfailingly loyal junior partner. In spoken use 'a garden' is eight pounds. Shop - report someone to the police or higher authorities. As the label suggests, speakers of MLE come from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and live in diverse neighbourhoods. Copyright 2023. I am also informed (ack Sue Batch, Nov 2007) that spruce also referred to lemonade, which is perhaps another source of the bottle rhyming slang: " around Northants, particularly the Rushden area, Spruce is in fact lemonade it has died out nowadays - I was brought up in the 50s and 60s and it was an everyday word around my area back then. Intriguingly I've been informed (thanks P Burns, 8 Dec 2008) that the slang 'coal', seemingly referring to money - although I've seen a suggestion of it being a euphemism for coke (cocaine) - appears in the lyrics of the song Oxford Comma by the band Vampire weekend: "Why would you lie about how much coal you have? Origin is not known for sure. We use this expression a lot. Berk - idiot from Cockney rhyming slang Berkeley Hunt = c*nt. Expand your U.K. slang vocabulary by learning some key British slang words and what they mean. hog = confusingly a shilling (1/-) or a sixpence (6d) or a half-crown (2/6), dating back to the 1600s in relation to shilling. Bags (to make a bags of something) Bang on. 6. I can hear you asking me- Louisa why are we now talking about a baby horse? Less common variations on the same theme: wamba, wanga, or womba. A 'double-finnif' (or double-fin, etc) means ten pounds; 'half-a-fin' (half-a-finnip, etc) would have been two pounds ten shillings (equal to 2.50). Origin unknown, although I received an interesting suggestion (thanks Giles Simmons, March 2007) of a possible connection with Jack Horner's plum in the nursery rhyme. These terms have something for everyone, from the silly to the sincere, and even some insults. Our 10-click quote form is specifically designed so that even the busiest client can upload a document in their 3-minute coffee break. Copper (term to describe the one and two pence coins). Cockney rhyming slang from the late 1800s. Some think the root might be from Proto-Germanic 'skeld', meaning shield. MONKEY. "No more monkeying around! Nugget: Referencing gold, but a general term for money of any kind. I am grateful also (thanks Paul, Apr 2007) for a further suggestion that 'biscuit' means 1,000 in the casino trade, which apparently is due to the larger size of the 1,000 chip. boodle = money. When pocket watches first became fashionable, they were held against the body by use of a small chain. bob = shilling (1/-), although in recent times now means a pound or a dollar in certain regions. Verb. Goblin mode - describes "unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy" behaviour. cock and hen = ten pounds (thanks N Shipperley). sprat/spratt = sixpence (6d). 3. Plural uses singular form, eg., 'Fifteen quid is all I want for it..', or 'I won five hundred quid on the horses yesterday..'. One pound is subdivided into 100 pence, the singular of which is one penny. In the same way a ton is also slang for 100 runs in cricket, or a speed of 100 miles per hour. Not used in the singular for in this sense, for example a five pound note would be called a 'jacks'. I've spent all morning chundering it back out.". live, learn and work. An obscure point of nostalgic trivia about the tanner is apparently (thanks J Veitch) a rhyme, from around the mid-1900s, sung to the tune of Rule Britannia: "Rule Brittania, two tanners make a bob, three make eighteen pence and four two bob" My limited research suggests this rhyme was not from London. I can find no other references to meanings or origins for the money term 'biscuit'. A more obscure British term, 'brass monkeys' is used to refer to extremely cold weather. How many medals has Great Britain won at the Winter Olympics? tony benn - ten pounds (10), or a ten pound note - cockney rhyming slang derived from the Labour MP and government minister Anthony Wedgwood Benn, popularly known as Tony Benn. Nick Ratnieks suggests the tanner was named after a Master of the Mint of that name. Britain-Visitor.com also offers information on British culture including British cuisine, history and the arts. If you think we've missed anything let us know by commenting below. Scran - food (originally Scottish), especially that of an inferior quality compare grub. 'To monkey around' means to behave in a silly or careless way. Mug off - disrespect, make someone appear stupid. ", "The children will get up to monkey business if we do not keep our eye on them.". half, half a bar/half a sheet/half a nicker = ten shillings (10/-), from the 1900s, and to a lesser degree after decimalisation, fifty pence (50p), based on the earlier meanings of bar and sheet for a pound. Popularity of this slang word was increased by comedian Harry Enfield. "Did you just whistle at that old lady? Given that backslang is based on phonetic word sound not spelling, the conversion of shilling to generalize is just about understandable, if somewhat tenuous, and in the absence of other explanation is the only known possible derivation of this odd slang. Cock up: Make a mess of something. Ned was seemingly not pluralised when referring to a number of guineas, eg., 'It'll cost you ten ned..' A half-ned was half a guinea. ", "Why do you want to make a monkey out of me? Mug - stupid, gullible or ignorant person. A person who is easily deceived or victimized: butt, dupe, fool, gull, lamb, pushover, victim. Texas slang words and phrases. Popular Australian slang for money, now being adopted elsewhere. Brewer also references the Laird of Sillabawby, a 16th century mintmaster, as a possible origin. There has been speculation among etymologists that 'simon' meaning sixpence derives from an old play on words which represented biblical text that St Peter "lodged with Simon a tanner.." as a description of a banking transaction, although Partridge's esteemed dictionary refutes this, at the same time conceding that the slang 'tanner' for sixpence might have developed or been reinforced by the old joke. #1. Prang - a (minor) accident involving a motor vehicle. Sic/Sick - Next Level Cool. Also used regularly is a 'score' which is 20, a 'bullseye' is 50, a 'grand' is 1,000 and a 'deep sea diver' which is 5 (a fiver). Were mad about English. US and Canadian slang. Half a dollar - half a crown. The modern form of farthing was first recorded in English around 1280 when it altered from ferthing to farthing. Broke: we all know this one, when you're "skint" (British slang) or poor, you can consider yourself broke. Lairy - loud, brash, flashy or cunning or conceited. Also used regularly is a 'score' which is 20, a 'bullseye' is 50, a 'grand' is 1,000 and a 'deep sea diver' which is 5 (a fiver). I'm convinced these were the principal and most common usages of the Joey coin slang. The term coppers is also slang for a very small amount of money, or a cost of something typically less than a pound, usually referring to a bargain or a sum not worth thinking about, somewhat like saying 'peanuts' or 'a row of beans'. The large Australian 'wonga' pigeon is almost certainly unrelated yennep/yenep/yennap/yennop = a penny (1d particularly, although also means a decimal penny, 1p). An example of erroneous language becoming real actual language through common use. sovs = pounds. The most commonly used slang term for a pound is a, This expression has negative connotations, so, If youre in London you may overhear many other terms for money and many of these will come from, Some of the London slang for money is based on animals thought to have originally appeared on ruppe banknotes. He is just being a cheeky monkey.". Easy-peasy - very straightforward and easy. Wonga Many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys. The Brief: The speak no evil monkey ? Pronunciation emphasises the long 'doo' sound. What does Monkey mean in slang? This is a truly British expression. bar = a pound, from the late 1800s, and earlier a sovereign, probably from Romany gypsy 'bauro' meaning heavy or big, and also influenced by allusion to the iron bars use as trading currency used with Africans, plus a possible reference to the custom of casting of precious metal in bars. Watering hole - this is one of the many British slang words for a pub. It is about money in general terms. Jib - to gain entry without paying usually to a football stadium. Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? Machair - fertile low-lying grassy plain in the Outer Hebrides. Modern slang from London, apparently originating in the USA in the 1930s. A monkey means 500 Bangers and mash - cash Bread and honey - money Pavarotti - he was a famous tenor so a Pavarotti is a tenner (10) If you want to read more about cockney rhyming slang and money, read this BBC article. Shagged out - (or just shagged) tired, exhausted. The solidus and denarius . Cockney rhyming slang for pony. Ned was traditionally used as a generic name for a man around these times, as evidenced by its meaning extending to a thuggish man or youth, or a petty criminal (US), and also a reference (mainly in the US) to the devil, (old Ned, raising merry Ned, etc). It cannot cost a million dollars. thick'un/thick one = a crown (5/-) or a sovereign, from the mid 1800s.