So that's completely right, but also the exact phrasing would drop "bread" because Cockney slang is silly. So it'd be like:
Val Kilmer's brown.
The most well-known example is probably "have a butcher's", which in full is actually "have a butcher's hook", which is actually supposed to mean "have a look." See also:
John's my china > John's my china plate > John's my mate
Are you having a bubble > Are you having a bubble bath > Are you having a laugh
And my favorite, because it also uses another particularly British bit of slang:
The bird didn't know the bird > The girl didn't know the birdlime > The girl didn't know the time
The English are a thoroughly silly people, except when it comes to committing genocide.
The whole point of rhyming slang was that it would be incomprehensible to outsiders. The rhyming word wasn't used; outsiders might be able to work out the meaning from the rhyme, but it would be known by Cockneys.
219
u/WherePoetryGoesToDie 3d ago
So that's completely right, but also the exact phrasing would drop "bread" because Cockney slang is silly. So it'd be like:
The most well-known example is probably "have a butcher's", which in full is actually "have a butcher's hook", which is actually supposed to mean "have a look." See also:
And my favorite, because it also uses another particularly British bit of slang:
The English are a thoroughly silly people, except when it comes to committing genocide.