middle-class rhyming slang: Waxed Jacket: RACKET

- Hello, mate. Sorry to knock on your door like this, but your music’s making a bit of a Waxed and we can hear it through the wall. Look… I’m as liberal as the next bloke. I like a laugh. I ‘spliff up’ occasionally – yeah – I do. But I’m working 50 hours a week, my mortgage is killing me and… we can’t take this waxed any more, you know? I don’t want to have to phone the council. Look: I know what it was like to be your age, but…

- Calm down, Dad. I’ll turn it off.

- Good lad.

What is Middle-Class Rhyming Slang?

Middle-Class Rhyming Slang is a secret language, believed to have developed in the mid-19th century by couples viewing suburban properties. By hiding their communications in rhyming code, prospective buyers could discuss the merits of a property without the estate agent hearing. The slang grew from these humble beginnings to cover other aspects of life such as commuting and going to the garden centre. And just as the users of the more famous Cockney rhyming slang are born within earshot of London’s Bow Bells, a bona fide user of Middle-Class Rhyming Slang must live within earshot of a TV that regularly plays the dada, dada, dada-dada bit of ‘Countdown’. I was fortunate enough to live in Muswell Hill for several years and sometimes heard the language on a daily basis. I have made the decision to record it here as a resource for future generations.

middle-class rhyming slang

Waxed Jacket: RACKET

"Nursery places - GO!"

What is Middle-Class Rhyming Slang?

Slang Loft (just converted!)

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