It’s a mix of known terms and newly invented ones. Obscure cultural references are popular, whether recent or not. My favorite... Jecklls = trousers. Reasoning thusly:
Jeckll from Jeckll and Hyde. Hyde rhymes with stride. Stride is Australian slang for trousers.
I explained this to a linguist at my university and she was beyond ecstatic.
Re:Cockney Rhyming Slang History
by devindotcom on Tuesday October 13, 2020 @12:50PM
(#24767338)
That's excellent. Also normally I wouldn't care but because it's your favorite and you will probably have occasion to write it out again, it's spelled Jekyll. :)
Britney Spears = Beers.
Brad Pitt = Shit.
"Get the Britneys in, I'll be back in a minute - I'm off for quick Brad".
There is 'Sherman' for an American which is Sherman Tank -> Yank. So that can only be WW2 onwards. And 'Ruby' for curry (Ruby Murray) is from the fifties. Those are the most recent I can think of.
Septic is the usual one for Yank. Sherman is too polite to be true. Besides, septics have been around far longer than WWII.
Pete tong.
It’s all gone a bit Pete Tong.
Radio DJ in the 1990s.
For example, what's the newest example in use? For that matter, do people still use it as sort of a "puzzle" for their friends? Or do they mostly use phrases that are known by all already?