Costermongers and backslang

 

Costermongers and backslang

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I mentioned backslang in a previous post. The London costermongers of the early 19th century invented it as a private means of communicating with each other. It is still used in prisons today and, bizarrely, by tennis players. In 2010, two English players used it for privacy on foreign courts.

Basically, in English, it is created by taking a word and saying it backwards, thus, boy becomes yob. In Victorian times a yob was not an uncouth youth as is implied now, but simply, a boy. Monosyllabic words are quite easy and not all words are reversed. Some are reversed and have attachments. Sometimes the words would be reversed according to their spelling rather than their sound, so knife, which might be expected to become ‘fine’, was actually ‘eefink’. You can read more about it here.

Costermongers were working the streets in London from the 1400s but the name first appeared in the 1500s. The word costermonger comes from ‘costard’, an apple from mediaeval times, and ‘monger’, a trader. The term ‘Costermonger’ eventually developed to cover anyone in the street trading in fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and meat, flowers and herbs, brooms, mats, coal, matches and many other commodities from barrows, wheelbarrows, carts and baskets. There is more information here though it's quite dated.

There were many attempts to clear the streets of the costermongers during the reigns of Elizabeth I, Charles I and Victoria. They all failed. They were a loud and colourful part of life, in large cities across Europe as well as London. They cried their wares . . . ‘Two bunches a penny, primroses, Two bunches a penny!’, ‘Rabbit, rabbit! Nice fat rabbit!’, ‘Strawberries. All ripe! All ripe!’

They looked after their own and each other, worked hard and showed no political or religious allegiance. It was a hard life and every penny was hard-earned. With the advent of high street retailers, the costermongers’ presence declined. Now they are represented by the Pearly Kings and Queens and applauded for their charitable work.