Faithful followers will remember our London Talks stall at last year’s Festival of Communities at Queen Mary University, where we handed out hundreds of tiny badges with London slang words. As we were observing how much people enjoyed those words, discussed and rated them, and came up with more iconic dialect words and expressions CaitlinContinue reading “Get ready for REAL TALK East London merchandise!”
Category Archives: Rhyming slang
‘Actually quite a cool family tradition’
It’s a sunny October Sunday, when I meet a bunch of Pearly Kings and Queens on the steps of St. Martins-in-the-Field off Trafalgar Square, where the Pearly Association have gathered for their annual Harvest Festival. The Pearly Kings and Queens are traditionally associated with East End Cockneys, so I was interested to hear from youngerContinue reading “‘Actually quite a cool family tradition’”
‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’
Anna and Mark are both artists based in St. John’s Wood. Anna grew up in King’s Cross and Finchley. She is a playwright and actor who is ‘very good at accents’ and uses them in her performances. Mark is from Greenwich, works in advertising and has often cast actors with accents for the TV commercialsContinue reading “‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’”
LONDON TALKS and the Tower Hamlets community
Over the last months, I have interviewed 60 Londoners about their knowledge of and experience with London dialects to find out more about how London dialects are ‘enregistered’, i.e., socially and culturally constructed, for individuals. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see hundreds of East Londoners react to the project at the QMUL FestivalContinue reading “LONDON TALKS and the Tower Hamlets community”
‘DelBoy I.’ at the Cockney Museum
Last week, I finally visited the Cockney Museum, which had been closed for refurbishment over the winter. It’s just outside Southwest London in Stoneleigh, on the trainline from Waterloo to Dorking. George Major, the Pearly King of Peckham, opened it in 2020, having collected exhibits for his dream of a Cockney museum all his life.Continue reading “‘DelBoy I.’ at the Cockney Museum”
Chas’n Dave – the ‘Cockney ambassadors’
I met with Kate Garner at the beautiful Brasserie Zédel off Piccadilly Circus. Kate is not only a composer and musician in the London music hall tradition who often performs at Zédel’s, but also comes from a very musical North London family: she is the daughter of Chas Hodges from Chas’n Dave, the iconic CockneyContinue reading “Chas’n Dave – the ‘Cockney ambassadors’”
Decoding different ways of speaking
I talked to Lanny in a coffeeshop in Lewisham. Lanny came to the UK from Jamaica as a teenager. He lives in Greenwich but works as a coach and swim teacher all over South London. Even though he says Cockney can be heard in South London, ‘Bermondsey’ for example, to him it is ‘more ofContinue reading “Decoding different ways of speaking”
Audience with the Pearly Queen of Clapton
Teresa is the Pearly Queen of Clapton and a true Cockney, ‘born within the sound of Bow Bells’. She grew up in Leyton, East London, and now lives in Loughton, just outside of London in Essex, but her family is from all over East London, ‘so that is where our heart is’. Teresa comes fromContinue reading “Audience with the Pearly Queen of Clapton”
A London accent versus ‘lazy speech’
Like Andy, Eileen has been a resident of Cressingham Gardens in Tulse Hill for many years. She grew up in Camberwell and has always lived in Southeast London. Eileen draws a clear distinction between an accent, such as her ‘South London’ one, and what she calls ‘lazy speech’: ‘A lot of people would say thatContinue reading “A London accent versus ‘lazy speech’”
LONDON TALKS 