Mockney credentials: a primer in financial rhyming slang for George Osborne

Having a giraffe: George Osborne (Getty Images)

Chancellor George Osborne’s accent in Tuesday’s speech about welfare was roundly derided for its mockney burr.

As much as we’d like to paint this as the action’s of an elite politician trying to identify with the common man by makin’ iz voice sarnd a bit normel, London’s financial scene has long been a bustling hub of cockney (or mockney) language formulation, he’s just fitting in.

Traders have been known to argue over a Lady Godiva (a fiver) or an Aryton (Senna, tenner). Barrow boys who made it to the stock exchange managed to make terms like a “yard” (a billion, rhymed with the French milliard) part of the lingua franca of the stock exchange floor. If George wants to really prove his mockney credentials he ought to start littering his speeches with some rhyming slang of his own.

We’ve created a brief starter guide:

“Rowdy manc” – World Bank

“Panty hose” – CDOs

“Fruity blonde” – junk bond

“Dodgy peach” – Budget speech

“Sinking ship” – double dip

“Broken plate” – welfare state

“Tuna sarnie” – Mark Carney