Origin of "half-inched" - OT

From: Hans B Pufal <hansp_at_aconit.org>
Date: Sun Oct 27 14:14:00 2002

Doc Shipley wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Oct 2002, Hans B Pufal wrote:

>>My explanation, subject to correction, would be cockney rhyming slang :

>> half-inched = pinched = stolen

> Ahh. That makes sense. Sort of. Speaking as a US-born hick, cockney
> might as well be Ancient Greek, for all I can usually decipher it.

I think that was the whole point originally, secret communication. A
quick google threw up this from http://www.aldertons.com

"The origins of Cockney Rhyming Slang are uncertain. It's not really a
language since the words spoken are clearly English; on the other hand,
it's not a dialect either, since the speakers of this slang are also
perfectly capable of not using it! Some stories go that this slang
originated in the market place so that the vendor's could communicate
without the customers knowing what was being said - you wouldn't want
your customers knowing that you were going to lower your prices in ten
minutes so you could go home early. Other stories have it that it
originated in the prisons so that inmates could talk without the guards
listening in. I recently heard from Bob King that "it was born shortly
after Sir Robert Peel introduced and implemented his idea for a Police
force. The criminal fraternity had never been faced with such a
concerted effort to thwart them, so they developed Cockney Slang, the
idea of which being that, two or more criminals could hold open
conversation, within earshot of a "Peeler," without fear that their
plans were being overheard by the police." And Jackie says that many of
the rhymes were invented by the petty thieves to rob people in the
markets, allowing the thieves to talk amongst themselves without anyone
knowing what they were talking about"

  -- hbp
Received on Sun Oct 27 2002 - 14:14:00 GMT

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