| Although the East End
is rapidly changing it is one of the few parts of London
which has the most trouble shaking off the images of
the past. This may be a hindrance to the new breed of
Eastenders but it’s a credit to the enduring spirit
of the East End.
Probably the most well know East London character is the Cockney. On the whole they are perceived
to come in two working class varieties… for men
- the cheeky chappy or the hard man, and for women a combination
of tough girl and slapper.
However despite the wide spread knowledge of these cockney
caricatures, they are only loosely based on truth. Firstly
not everyone in East London is a cockney. The traditional
definition of a cockney, is a person born within
the sound of bow bells, which are the bells of
the Bow church. Secondly, not every cockney is working
class. The sound of the bells reaches across parts of
the City, Stepney, Shoreditch, Whitechapel and Bethnal Green - although many of these areas may be thought of as working
class the people that live there (especially now) cover
the whole social spectrum.
Another defining feature of the cockney is the use of cockney rabbit, or rhyming slang as it is
more commonly known. This subset of the English language
was actually developed in the East End pubs by those planning
unlawful activities. The language was used as code to
hide their plans from the police and police spies who
might overhear them talking. This is probably where the
hard man image of cockneys grew from, but over the years
as common phrases worked their way into everyday language
this became known as the language of the East End. But
today it is used less and less by true cockneys.
How the cockney caricature managed to gain such an international
cult following probably has something to do with their
on screen presence in films like Snatch, but this
has also given rise to the phenomenon of the mockney.
Mockneys are wannabe cockneys who are from nowhere near
the working class environment of the East End, but try
to use the attitude and the language in an attempt to
acquire some the cockney ‘cool’. On the
whole mockneys are not received well by true cockneys
who will either find them highly amusing or highly offensive,
but if you fancy trying it in the safety of your own
home or with your friends, then here’s what to
do…
If you can drop your h’s and use an ‘F’
where a ‘th’ should be (but NEVER the other
way round) then you’re well on your way. All you
need to complete your transformation into a mockney
geezer is to master some choice rhyming slang –
preferably with a modern twist (i.e. You must be having
a Steffi, mate!" Steffi Graff - laugh). and you
should be able to graduate from mockney class in no
time!
The other well-known East End characters are the Pearly
Kings and Queens. Dressed from head to toe in mother
of pearl buttons you will usually see these characters
on high days and holidays and in the touristy parts of
town. The tradition was started by Henry Croft,
a young orphan boy who had the same birthday as Queen
Victoria. Wanting to make the most of his connection to
royalty he collected the shiny pearl buttons he found
in the street and sewed them onto his cap, to imitate
the finery royalty wore. He then continued until his whole
suit was covered and this is how the tradition started.
When the trend took off in Victorian times, the Pearly
Kings and Queens were mainly costermongers,
fruit and veg sellers elected by their peers to protect
their interests from rivals. Today however most just dress
up to raise money for charity or simply for the fun of
it.
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