Hello. Catherine here from BBC Learning（学习） English. Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English Archive（档案馆）. It was originally（ 最初） broadcast（广播） in November 2006 on our website. We hope you enjoy it. Hello.

  I'm Callum Robertson and this is London Life. In the programme today we take a brief（简短的） look（看） at rhyming（ 押韵） slang, an interesting form of vocabulary（词汇） where an expression（表现） which rhymes（ 押韵） with the word you mean is used. For example, the phrase 'boat race（比赛）'. The boat race is a famous sporting event held（拿住） in London, but the phrase 'boat race' is also rhyming slang（俚语） for 'face'. Race rhymes with face. One of the features（特征） of rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语） is that often the word that rhymes（ 押韵） is not actually said.

  So, for example, 'boat race' is shortened（缩短） to just 'boat'. 'She's got a pretty boat' means（意味） she's got a pretty face. It's not unusual（ 不平常的） to hear rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语） expressions（表现） all over the country, but perhaps（也许） it's best known as 'cockney' rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语）. A cockney is someone who comes from a particular（特殊的） part of East London. But what is rhyming slang and how did it come about? Here's a true cockney, Larry Barnes, to explain.

  What does he say the word 'slang' stands for and where does he say rhyming slang comes from? Rhyming slang was originally, well, 'es-lang', secret（秘密的） language. But I was always taught as a youngster（年轻人）, it was the secret language of the markets, so that if a stall（货摊） holder（持有人） wanted to talk to a stall（货摊） holder（持有人） on the opposite side of the street without the punters in the middle knowing what he was talking about, he'd use rhyming slang. He says that slang stands for 'es-lang', a short form of secret language, and that rhyming slang came from the markets. The people who work on a market are the stall holders and if they wanted to talk to each other without the customer's understanding（谅解）, they would use rhyming slang. Now, notice（注意） he doesn't say the word 'customers', he says the word 'punters', which is another common slang expression for a customer, a punter.

  Listen again. Rhyming slang was originally, well, 'es-lang', secret language. Well, I was always taught as a youngster, it was the secret language of the markets, so that if a stall holder wanted to talk to a stall holder on the opposite side（方面） of the street without the punters in the middle（中部） knowing what he was talking about, he'd use rhyming slang. He goes on to give an example of a sentence using traditional（ 传统的） rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语）. First, he gives the sentence in regular（规则的） English and then he gives the sentence in rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语）. Have a listen, see if you can catch（捉住） any of it.

  He wouldn't say to your fancy（想象） you walk down the road to the pub（酒馆） for a quick pint（品脱） of beer. He'd say to your fancy you bow（ 鞠躬） down the frog（蛙） to the rubber（ 橡皮） for a quick pint（品脱） of wallop. Hmm, I think maybe that needs a little translation（翻译）. First, let's hear the normal（正常的） English sentence again. To your fancy you walk down the road to the pub for a quick pint of beer. Do you fancy a walk down the road to the pub for a quick pint of beer?

  Now, what about the rhyming slang version（版本）? Do you fancy a bow down the frog to the rubber for a quick pint of wallop? Do you fancy a ball down the frog to the rubber for a quick pint of wallop? Well, let's translate（ 翻译） that now. Do you fancy, would you like, a ball? Ball is the shortened form of the expression ball of chalk, which is Cockney rhyming slang for walk.

  Next, we go down the frog. Frog is the shortened form of frog and toad（蟾蜍）, which is rhyming slang for road. Then we have a quick pint of wallop. Wallop isn't rhyming slang, but it is an old slang word for beer. So putting that all together, we have do you fancy a ball down the frog for a quick pint of wallop? bbclearningenglish.com A feature of rhyming slang is that it changes and develops（发展）.

  A new book has just been published（公布）, which updates（更新） rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语）. It's called Shame（ 遗憾的事） About the Boat Race（比赛）, and Duncan Black works for its publisher（出版者） Collins. He explains how celebrities（名声） and characters（性格） from television have become part of rhyming（ 押韵） slang（俚语）, and he mentions（提到） a number of celebrities（名声）. Britney Spears is one of them. What's her name rhyming slang for? Well, generally（一般地）, new slang（俚语） terms（术语） tend to focus around pop culture and celebrities（名声）.

  My personal favourites are Britney's for Britney Spears, beers, Basil as in Basil Faulty（有错误的）, or Billy Piper as in Windscreen（汽车挡风玻璃） Wiper. Britney Spears, beers. So now you can say you go down to the pub for a few Britneys. He also mentions some names from British television, Basil Faulty, rhyming slang for the Indian（印度人） food, Balti, and Billy Piper slang for Windscreen Wiper, part of your car. Making new rhyming slang is very easy and egalitarian（平等主义的）. Egalitarian means anyone can do it.

  It's not something that only specialists（专家） and experts（专家） can do. Duncan Black explains how. And it's very easy to use. It's egalitarian. Anyone can have a go（去）. You just need a name or something or someone which rhymes with something.

  Anyone can have a go, he says. Anyone can try it. You just need a name which rhymes with something. So why not have a go yourself? Try and make a sentence in which you replace（取代） the name of an object with the name of a celebrity（名声） which rhymes（ 押韵）. Well, that's all for today.

  I'm off to the Indian for a Basil and some Britneys. BBC learning（学习） English.com.