London street slang

London slang is a mixture of words and phrases originating in the city and around the globe, commonly spoken in London. It reflects the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup of the city's population.

As London occupies a dominant social, cultural and economic position within the United Kingdom, slang originally unique to the city has spread across the UK. Conversely, slang from outside London has migrated in along with people seeking work in the capital. Cockney rhyming slang and Multicultural London English are the best known forms of London slang.

Slang can infiltrate almost any element of daily life. For instance, London slang about money is believed to have been imported from India by returning servicemen during the nineteenth century. The terms , meaning £500, and , meaning £25, are believed by some to have come from old Indian rupee banknotes, which it is asserted used to feature images of those animals. Banknotes with such denominations were issued by Bank of Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras and some other private banks between 1810 and 1860. However the true origin of these terms is uncertain. Another money slang word, , which means £1, is thought to be connected to the American . , which describes an unspecified amount of money, may come from the Romany word for coal, wanga.

In 2005, Professor Sue Fox from Queen Mary, University of London concluded that Cockney rhyming slang was dying out because children in London are greatly exposed to words and phrases from outside cultures. Teenagers especially are incorporating into their vocabularies new words borrowed from outside the UK. This new slang is also influenced by new technologies, especially mobile phone SMS (short message service) or text messages. While "dat" and "dere" may be of Afro-Caribbean origin along with many other terms, their use in text messages as easier-to-key options to "that" and "there/their" cement them as slang in common usage.

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