Posted Apr 6, 2000 by Wand'rin star
"Raspberry" as insult comes from Cocknet rhyming slang "raspberry tart" = "fart" which is what a properly produced one is supposed to sound like
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Posted Apr 6, 2000 by Abi
I had always wondered.....
but it took h2g2 to enlighten me!
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Posted Apr 6, 2000 by Seven Crocodile Rain
Since we are kind of on the subject, what does cockney mean?
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Posted Apr 7, 2000 by She Who Gratifies Gravity
I couldn't find cockney, but the Webster's dictionary does have cockade. 
Cockade:a knot of ribbon or something similar worn on a hat as a badge.
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Posted Apr 7, 2000 by Wand'rin star
In Chaucer's time cockney was a term of contempt for an uneducated Londoner, possible derived from"cock's egg" or a useless thing, connected with cock-eyed. Before the Second World War it meant anyone born within the sound of Bow Bells of the church of St mary le Bow in the East End of London. But bombing and slum clearance dispersed most of these formerly tight-knit families. Now cockney means anyone born in east London. The accent is very similar, therefore, to Essex. Perhaps it's a dialect. Anyway, there's a lot of local vocabulary, some of which was originally market men's slang or thieves cant or Yiddish (big immigrant area ) with odd bits of Hindi (!) from returned soldiers in the nineteenth century. The most famous bits are rhyming slang(eg "apples and pears" means stairs, except that I've never heard anyone say that). These have become more difficult as the rhyming word is now usually left off
so that hair is Barnet(fair), a suit is a whistle (and flute) a look at something is a butcher's (hook) and a rasberry (tart) is a fart. On the other hand, they've also become easier as they have been spread on films (think Michael Caine) and TV (Eastenders). You didn't really want to know all that, did you? That'll teach you to flag down a teacher's hobby horse.
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Posted Apr 8, 2000 by Seven Crocodile Rain
Wow, thanks a lot
Alex v2.4
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Posted May 20, 2000 by Swampy
I've met one of them. I tell you, its quite a shock when you're just picking your way through some fine red rasberries and one of them suddenly leaps out and say, "Cheer up guvner! Shine your shoes for a penny?"
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