Saturday, November 20, 2010

Am I a Cockney (Yes I am :-)

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head
!


There are several determinants that can provide evidence of 'cockney'.

  1. First is to be born within the sound of Bow bellsSt Mary-le-Bow
  2. The rest are all linguistic markers. In no order of importance. 
  3. Glottal stop (?), I call this the silent "t" in Mar(t)in
  4. Double negatives
  5. "h" dropping 
  6. Rhyming slang
  7. dark 'L'
  8. "th" = f
  9. illiterate (Eileen has confirmed this due to what she thinks is the lack of puctuation)
So was I (1) born within the sound of bow bells. My birth took place in the upstairs bedroom of 80 Bernwell road Chingford. Now in London E.4. 6HY. According to google maps that 8.77 miles or 14.114 kms from St Mary-le-bow.
How far would the sound travel. The bells could have been anywhere from 60 to 80 decibels. Sound travels different distances due to air temperature and ambient sound levels. And we haven't even factored in the bells not sounding from 1945 to 1961  The current bells were cast in 1956 at the Whitechapel bell factory a further 1.5 miles east of St Mary le Bow and thats significant. The bells would have been tested before they were transported and I contest that they were tested at 08:00 on the 2nd of November 1956 which just happens to be my birthday.
Dr Malcolm Hough of the Meteorological Office in 1994 when he demonstrated that in the
days before the motor car, the bells would have been audible all over London!

In "good" conditions a 110 dB sound could easily be heard 10 or 20 km away. In "poor" conditions with a lot of background noise it might not be heard at all from 100 meters away.

Gay go up and gay go down, To ring the bells of London town.
Oranges and lemons, Say the of St. Clements. 
 Bull's eyes and targets,  Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's. 
 Brickbats and tiles,  Say the bells of St. Giles'. 
 Halfpence and farthings,  Say the bells of St. Martin's.
 Pancakes and fritters,  Say the bells of St. Peter's.
 Two sticks and an apple,  Say the bells of Whitechapel. 
 Pokers and tongs,  Say the bells of St. John's.
 Kettles and pans,  Say the bells of St. Ann's. 
 Old Father Baldpate,  Say the slow bells of Aldgate. 
 You owe me ten shillings,  Say the bells of St. Helen's. 
 When will you pay me?  Say the bells of Old Bailey. 
 When I grow rich,  Say the bells of Shoreditch. 
 Pray when will that be?  Say the bells of Stepney. 
 I do not know,  Says the great bell of Bow. 
 Here comes a candle to light you to bed, 
 Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
 Chop chop chop chop.  The last man's dead!


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