Do cockneys still exist?

Are they mythical?

You may be confusing cockneys with chimney sweeps. There is some overlap there, of course.

could lj or someone break down the british ilxors accents, i find the whole estuary english thing fascinating

<3 this thread already

Bare fake cockneys in London, innit. Seen.

I was drunk when I started this and I am still drunk but it's a SERIOUS question

Ok, seriously, as a (still drunk) Londoner: Yes. Yes they do.

could lj or someone break down the british ilxors accents, i find the whole estuary english thing fascinating

Some handy links here for proper phonetic breakdowns:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicultural_London_English

Where I live (in east London) is full of cockneys, but it seems that everyone under the age of 25 has that 'Multicultural London English' accent instead. I grew up not far from here, in a town full of cockneys that had escaped London, but don't have a cockney accent. I do do all the things listed under Estuary English though (except pronouncing 'th' as 'f' or 'v').

The Multicultural London English page has an ... interesting ... discussion page. Has anyone heard that term outside of Wikipedia? It seems kind of clunky.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-the-mouths-of-teens-422688.html

At the back of a London bus, two teenagers are engaged in animated conversation. "Safe, man," says one. "Dis my yard. It's, laahhhk, nang, innit? What endz you from? You're looking buff in them low batties."

"Wasteman," responds the first, with alacrity. "You just begging now."

I can't seem to find anything mentioning it without citing this 'Sue Fox' who coined it: it doesn't seem to be widely accepted just yet.

Yeah I'm pretty sure cockneys don't actually exist anymore.

blaytant!

uh, they do (xp)

they all moved to essex and kent. Pretty hard to be born within the sound of bow bells nowadays.

but there is probably a cut-off point for people who consider themselves as Cockneys (maybe no-one under 45 is bothered) e.g. hang out in a Bethnal Green greasy spoon late morning and you'll still hear older people talking like Bob Hoskins. no idea how common the rhyming slang still is tho (Guy Richie's efforts in vain?).

at my last work there was a lot of rhyming slang still used, the cockney still exists in the broadest sense (West Londoners aren't Cockneys, but to us Northerners etc they are I suppose). My southern cousins are all proper cockneys (my aunt worked at the Royal London), but now they live in Sutton, Southampton and Bracknell. But there are plenty still around, yes.

Pretty hard to be born within the sound of bow bells nowadays.

but not impossible

the guys who work at the italian deli near me are amazing, in that they greet their customers from the homeland in note-perfect italian, switching instead to a similarly note-perfect cockney if they guess you are an english. they are like linguistic Transformers.

pellici's or nico's in bethnal green are v cockney, even if they're italian/greek owned. eg you pay in nicos and they're like "thanks my lad" etc

bow bells: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary-le-Bow

lol

anyway cockneys still exist, you just have to go to unfashionable places outside zone 2 to see them, which ilx london tourists won't

Possibly slightly too far away from Bow Bells to count (past the Hackney Marshes which according to that wiki link is as far as the bells reached) but if you go down Walthamstow market cockneys still exist.

if a cockney mates with a real human, is its spawn sterile??

gertcha

Self-identified cockney:

http://www.eurweb.com/images/articles/200901/idris_elba_stern.jpg

they all moved to essex and kent.

Most of my relatives moved to Herts. Stevenage used to be full of cockneys (and other assorted Londoners). We moved to Essex though.

mythical...
but lovable and cheeky with it!

I thought they were like Leprechauns.

http://www.stuckinthe70s.com/images/tbspec1271wild.jpg

i was cracking myself up last week remembering that i started this thread

I like this sequence:

Do cockneys still exist? Are they mythical?
― congratulations (n/a), Saturday, May 23, 2009 11:32 PM

(discussion)

I was drunk when I started this and I am still drunk but it's a SERIOUS question
― congratulations (n/a), Sunday, May 24, 2009 12:39 AM

(more discussion)

Yeah I'm pretty sure cockneys don't actually exist anymore.
― congratulations (n/a), Sunday, May 24, 2009 7:33 AM

they exist in all of our hearts

ASKED AND ANSWERED. xp

shortly before i did an interview at brixton academy a few weeks back, the Pearly King of Croydon visited the venue for some bizarre reason, and i got to meet him and shake his hand. he was super chipper! i don't think he was there for the mastodon show.