Jennifer Worth - Call The Midwife - A True Story Of The East End In The 1950S

Backslang has largely disappeared from the vernacular. It used to be the language of the Costers, and was used between themselves for trading and bargaining, e.g yennep (penny). The street coster lingered almost to the end of the twentieth century, but has just about disappeared now.

The slang I heard in the 1950s was rich, varied, colourful, obscene, racy, and widely used. It has been said that rhyming Cockney slang was originally developed to outwit authority and nosy parkers. If this was the case, it was entirely successful, because no one but the initiated could follow it. Whatever the origins of this closed language, the humour of it is too good to be missed.

The following is taken from Jack Jones’s Rhyming Cockney Slang , published by Abson Books in 1971:

This evocative and often elusive language was widely used until the 1970s, but with the closure of the docks and the disintegration of family life, Cockney speech is changing, and this fascinating heritage of rhyming slang is falling into disuse. It was once a vital, living, idiomatic form of speech, but I predict that during the first quarter of the twenty-first century it will become a mere relic, found only in dictionaries to be studied and reproduced in soap operas for the amusement of the masses.

The following books can be recommended:

The Muvver Tongue , by Robert Balthrop and Jim Woolveridge,

The Journeyman Press, 1980

The Cockney , by Julian Franklyn, Andre Deutsch, 1953

Dictionary of Rhyming Slang , by Julian Franklyn, Routledge, 1975

An unrivalled record of Cockney speech is to be found in Mayhew’s London and the other following books can be recommended:

Balthrop, Robert and Jim Woolveridge, The Muvver Tongue (The Journeyman Press, London, 1980).

Franklyn, Julian, The Cockney (Andre Deutsch, 1953).

Franklyn, Julian, Dictionary of Rhyming Slang (Andre Deutsch,1961).

Harris, Charles, Three Ha’Pence to the Angel (Phoenix House, London, 1950).

Jones, Jack, Rhyming Cockney Slang (Abson Books, London, 1971).

Lewey, F., Cockney Campaign (Heffer, 1944).

Matthews, Professor William, Cockney Past and Present (Routledge, London, 1940).

O’London, Jack (Wilfred Whitten), London Stories (TC & EC Jack Ltd, Bristol, 1948).

Quennell, Peter, ed., Mayhew’s London (Hamlyn, London, 1969).

Robbins, G., Fleet Street Blitzkrieg Diary (Ernest Benn Ltd, London, 1942).

Upton, Clive and David Parry, The Dictionary of English Grammar: Survey of English Dialects (Routledge, London, 1994).

albumenuria: Now called proteinuria. Testing of urine for the presence of protein is still a part of normal antenatal care. Urine is no longer boiled to diagnose the presence of protein in urine. The midwife now dips a strip of reactive paper into a sample of urine. The resulting colour of the strip gives an indication of the amount of protein present in the urine. amniotic fluid: The fluid that surrounds and protects the baby in the womb. Amniotic fluid is also known as the “waters”. antenatal: Before birth. anterior presentation: The back of the baby’s head in labour will normally be in the front or anterior part of the mother’s pelvis. This anterior presentation is the most favourable for the baby to adopt for a normal delivery. asphyxia: Insufficient oxygen supply to the vital organs, particularly the brain, sometimes resulting in death or permanent damage.

bd: Medical shorthand used as an instruction on prescriptions to mean twice a day. BP: Medical shorthand for blood pressure. breech: A baby that is positioned bottom down rather than the usual head down. breech delivery: The description of the breech delivery has changed little over the decades though breech delivery at home is now a very unusual occurrence. A breech delivery is slower than a head-first delivery as the baby’s body negotiates the pelvis first and the widest diameter, the head, is delivered last. When the baby’s head enters the pelvis it is maintained in a flexed position by the weight of its own body hanging down outside the mother’s body. This ensures that the head is delivered slowly and safely.

Caesarean section: An operation to deliver a baby through an incision in the mother’s abdomen. cervix: The neck of the womb. chancre: The initial lesion of a syphilis infection. chloral hydrate: A mild sedative and analgesic used in the early stages of labour. The drug was given as a drink with either water and glucose or fruit juice. Chloral hydrate is an irritant to the stomach which often causes vomiting so is no longer used. colostrum: The first breast milk. Mature breast milk is produced from the third or fourth day after the birth of the baby. contraction: The intermittent tightening of the muscles of the uterus (womb), which are painful during labour. cord: The umbilical cord attaches the baby to the placenta before birth. crown: The crown refers to the top of the baby’s head, usually the first part of the baby’s head to emerge. When it emerges it is said to “crown”. cystitis: Inflammation or infection of the bladder.

D and C: Dilatation and curettage (D and C) is an operation to remove any pieces of placenta or membrane from the uterus after delivery to prevent further bleeding or infection. delivery techniques: Placing the heel of the hand behind the anus is no longer undertaken as part of delivery. It is now considered to be unnecessary and invasive.

eclampsia: A rare and severe consequence of pre-eclampsia which is characterised by convulsions. Eclampsia is an infrequent cause of death of a mother and unborn baby. The old term used for eclampsia was toxaemia. enema: A preparation used to empty the lower bowel. It used to be given to all women at the start of labour, administered in the belief that it would stimulate contractions and make space for the baby to descend. Research has shown that an enema is not a labour stimulant and is no longer used.

episiotomy: A cut made to enlarge the opening of the vagina during delivery.

ergometrine: An oxytocic drug which makes the muscle of the uterus contract after delivery. The oxytocic drugs of choice now are either syntometrine or syntocinon.

Fehlings solution: A chemical used for testing for the presence of sugar in urine. The chemical is now used in a tablet form (clinitest), added to 5 drops urine and 10 of water. The colour of resulting solution is compared to a chart for a result.

first stage of labour: From the start of regular painful contractions until the cervix (neck of the womb) is fully open.

forceps delivery: If a baby becomes stuck in the mother’s pelvis during labour then forceps would be used to assist the delivery. Forceps are applied in two halves, one either side of the baby’s head, and the operator pulls gently on the forceps to deliver the baby. A low forceps delivery refers to the baby being low in the mother’s pelvis.

full term: The duration of a pregnancy is (nine months) forty weeks. Full term is considered to be between thirty-eight and forty-two weeks of pregnancy. fundus: The top of the uterus.