我英國朋友跟我說他小時候，他爸媽如果要哄他睡覺，
就會說 "Up the apples and pears to Bedfordshire"。
他說這在英語裡面叫做 "Cockney Rhyming Slang"。
大家都知道Bed是床的意思，而英國有一個地方叫做Bradford。
而英國基本上由很多郡構成，是英國的一個行政區劃單位。
英國並沒有Bedfordshire這地方，
但是英國人會很可愛地把bed跟某某shire(某某郡)結合在一起，
就變成Bedfordshire。
所以當你要睡覺，可以說你要準備off to bedfordshire，就是準備入夢鄉啦。
有點像是我們常常說我們要去爬枕頭山的概念。
而apples and pears呢? 因為pears跟stairs押韻，
所以講apples and pears，就是暗指爬樓梯啦。
我英國朋友是這麼解釋Cockney Rhyming Slang:
"The way Cockney rhyming slang works is that a word is replaced with
usually a two-word phrase that rhymes with it (the second word rhymes).
For example, stairs become 'apples and pears'.
(When I was a child, when it was time to go to bed, my parents would say it's time
to go 'Up the apples and pears to Bedfordshire'!)
But in some cases, they then use only the first word of the phrase,
which doesn't rhyme with the original word. That means the link
between the slang word and the original is quite obscure. One widely
used example is when you are talking about looking at something, you
can say, 'Have a butcher's'. That's because 'look' rhymes with
'butcher's hook'. So 'butcher's' is rhyming slang for 'look'.
Some bits of Cockney rhyming slang are quite well know, for example
the ones I mentioned such as 'up the apples and pears', or 'let's have
a butcher's'. Some men might refer to their wife as the 'trouble and
strife'; in fact, I believe Basil does so in Fawlty Towers. Some
others on the list seem a bit more obscure, though. Originally,
Cockney rhyming slang was used in certain parts of east London. I
don't know whether people there would use a wider range of
expressions, and more frequently.
Anyway, I certainly think it's important to know a few bits of Cockney
rhyming slang if you want to understand English like a native speaker,
just as you should understand some idioms, because people will
sometimes use them."
英語裡面還有很多其他的Cockney Rhyming Slang。
有些時候，英國人講到Cockney Rhyming Slang的詞，
不見得會講完整的，可能只會只講一兩個字，
但只要他們是母語人士，都懂那是什麼意思。
目前在台灣，討論Cockney Rhyming Slang的篇幅並不多。
剛上網查，倒是看到一篇很實用的文章:
https://blog.cybertranslator.idv.tw/archives/6153
我之前在讀者太太的臉書看到她提過 "off to bedfordshire"，
不過她並沒有列出清單。
總之，這裡有清單，有興趣的人可以參考:
https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/usage/slang_cockney.html
如果你聽得懂Cockney Rhyming Slang，而且如果你也會講的話，
那你的英文肯定就更道地了!
(但我認為應該也只能跟英國人說，我實在不認為美加、紐澳、南非人會懂)
相關文章
詳細Cockney Rhyming Slang清單
https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/usage/slang_cockney.html
The ultimate guide to Cockney rhyming slang
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/09/guide-to-cockney-rhyming-slang
Cockney Rhyming Slang中文解說
https://blog.cybertranslator.idv.tw/archives/6153
在台灣教吳鳳說倫敦押韻俚語 COCKNEY rhyming slang ft.吳鳳!
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