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#206928 - 08/31/12 11:53 AM Word origin...Cockney
Joined: Aug 2012
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stranger![]()
stranger
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 1
New York USA I've had no luck so far find the origin of the word "Cockney". I know what it means...a Londoner born within the sound of St. Mary-le-Bow's bells but not the derivation of the word itself. Help?
#206929 - 08/31/12 12:23 PM Re: Word origin...Cockney [Re: 1969]
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Posts: 13,803 Faldage![]()
Carpal Tunnel![]()
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 One of the more popular etymologies is that it is from the Middle English coken eye, literally "cock's egg", originally applied to a small, misshapen egg, later used as a term of derision by rural people to refer to city dwellers. It later became specifically applied to Londoners and eventually to one group of Londoners.
#206934 - 08/31/12 04:53 PM Re: Word origin...Cockney [Re: Faldage]
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Carpal Tunnel![]()
Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water Most interesting, thanks.
----please, draw me a sheep----
#206936 - 08/31/12 07:26 PM Re: Word origin...Cockney [Re: LukeJavan8]
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old hand![]()
old hand
Joined: Nov 2011
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Lancaster, UK As a Londoner myself, although not, technically a cockney, I agree with Faldo's etymology. There seems, also, to be some conection with "the land of Cockayne," but I'm not too sure just what that involves. However, it woukd appear to be a place of ease and plenty, significantly a land where there is no shortage of food - a very important motivation for the poor of London. An absence of people overlooking and regulating your life and no restirctions o your "liberty" seem to fiogure large in tale of this fabled land.
I'm immortal until proven otherwise
#206941 - 09/01/12 03:35 AM Re: Word origin...Cockney [Re: 1969]
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Pooh-Bah![]()
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
down under Ah...if only such a place existed.
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