>...
>>>>>>>>>One thing - you often can use a famous person's name to rhyme with something, but not the other way round. So Cherry Pits couldn't represent Sonny Stits.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Example: The "Great White Hope", Joe Baxi, in Liverpool is s taxi. (Sugar dab for cab too).
>>>>>>>>>Lilian Gish for fish.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I find it great fun, and quite civilised, to have the brain whirr into action to figure out a piece of rhyming slang I've never heard before. One I made up is "Stacey" for "the beach", for instance.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I suppose you could also call us the "epileptics" :-)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Oh, wait. I get it now. Brits. I tend to think seizures rather than fits. I'm beginning to realise that the major problem with rhyming slang is that it makes the conversing verrrry slow.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Well it does over thousands of miles of ocean, over the internet, with a reply-gap and over a culture gap. In reality, once you're attuned to it, and have the context, it's quite fast, and many people "get" it anyway, or are used to the rhymes. It's a lot to do with word association. e.g. in a pub:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Q: Where have you put the change from the last round?
>>>>>>>A: It's in my "sky".
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Ok, I'll take a shot.
>>>>>>Pocket (rocket)
>>>>>
>>>>>yes, now how fast did your brain make the word assoc. ?
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Now where would one normally put the change? Many are well-known anyway. An old cockney expression:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Q: How will I recognise ytou in the crowd?
>>>>>>>A: I'll be wearing a bright red "titfer" (as in "tit for tat")
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Hat (tat).
>>>>>
>>>>>Yes, again ...?
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>"He wasn't going fast enough so I gave him a kick up the 'khyber'"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Hmmm....
>>>>>
>>>>>Well I guess this stems from the old colonial rule in India, when the British made forays into Afghanistan. The way was via the norther Khyber Pass. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it, what with all the activities going on in that blighted land.
>>>>
>>>>Oh, I knew the proper answer all right, but I didn't want to write it with dollar signs and I think it might be one of the words you can't say here in plain type. Oh, I just tried it in preview and it was ok. It's just that I always see it around here as A$$, and I didn't want to do that.
>>>
>>>Strange, as the word was created by puritanical founding fathers to avoid saying arse. Yet I can say arse with impunity but if I want to say Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of an "donkey" I can't.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>That brings up another point though, I guess you have to know your audience when you use rhyming slang. There are probably lots of people who would misconstrue, especially if they didn't realise you were using it, "Due to fear of cancer, they removed her Madam's."
>>>
>>>Well you've got me there - not enough context to go on and I can't think of a common word-associative expression that goes with "Madam's"
>>
>>A literary giant like you? Here's a hint: Gustave Flaubert. Really, I didn't think it was an obscure reference, just an easily misunderstood one.
>
>Me, a literary giant? I never claimed even to be well read. I do read a hell of a lot ("The Shipping News" AND a science fantasy quadrilogy at the mo) but not necessarily the "required" texts. Alors, I've never read any Flaubert. Now I get it: ovaries. Excellent :-)
>
>Trouble is I was looking for a word that is a possession of a madame, eg Madame's Maid (note you missed the "e" which might have been a better clue - although one wouldn't hear that in speech :-)
>
>Just "Madames", without the "'", would have been the word to use.
>
>But now, by George I think you've got it!
>
>Here's one:
>
>"my Lambretta's crashed" (just made that up)

Computer (scooter). Hmmm... that might be reaching just a bit, but I guess, as they say, all's fair in Isaac and apple.

>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Ok, I guess it does work better when things are in context. Although I can see how some of this might well create problems when you aren't dealing with a fellow countryman.
>>>>>
>>>>>Hence how most of you N. Americans just don't get it :-)