Cockney slang picks up Bangladeshi flavor

[Kire]

I want to hear this.

Would you 'Adam and Eve' it? Cockney slang turns Bangladeshi

Mon Aug 22,11:13 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Cor blimey! The traditional Cockney London English is becoming tinged with Bangladeshi twang, according to research for a BBC project.

The working class accent and dialect from the poorer east of the capital, featuring rhyming slang for common words -- with for instance "believe" becoming "Adam and Eve" -- is picking up a Bangladeshi bent among youngsters, researchers told the BBC's Voices series, which begins Monday.

The East End of London, is home to a sizeable Bangladeshi community.

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Similar phenomenae are happening with other urban accents as migrants from south Asia and the Middle East bring their own words and sounds to Britain's cities, experts said.

Sue Fox, from the University of London, said a new blend of Cockney and Bangladeshi had emerged. She studied youngsters at a youth club in the East End's Tower Hamlets district.

"The majority of young people of school age are of Bangladeshi origin and this has had tremendous impact on the dialect spoken in the area," she said.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050822/lf_afp/afplifestylebritainlanguage_050822151358

[miss_kitty]

1. That makes at least two of us!

[tjwmason]

2. I think that the major change is the absorbtion of new vocabulary

This isn't so much of a new phenomenon - bungalow and verandah both originate in the Indian sub-continent. During the time of the British Empire folks living out in the colonies would pick up certain local terms and use them as slang (memsahib for wife, wallah for person &c.).

Personally I'm delighted to hear this - it suggests a living vibrancy about English, most of the time we're concerned about growing Americanism imported through the mass-media, this is a far more natural development and greatly to be applauded.

[Kire]

3. bungalow, really?

that makes a lot of sense out of Ben Kingsley's character in "The House of Sand and Fog"