Big Ben’s famous ockclay orkway
leads the countdown with a bong,
the signal for the ewnay earyay,
lit up brightly with irefay orkways –
until it all goes Pete Tong:
Big Ben’s creaking eargays
and revellers’ drunken fumbles.
You wake up in the orningmay
with a hangover and belly rumbles –
and nothing’s really changed.
Kim M. Russell, 30th December 2018
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads: Dorogroy droogs, come clockwork the orange
Björn is hosting the final prompt of 2018 this weekend and he tells us he’s been reading Anthony Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Orange, which was written in an invented slang called Nadsat, a mixture of English, anglicised Russian and Cockney rhyming slang.
Björn’s prompt is to write a poem in slang: we can use slang we know well or create it from another language (or several) we know, include some rhyming slang, or even write a poem in Nadsat, making sure it’s written in such a way that it can be understood from the context of the poem.
I decided to write mine with some back-slang, which we used to speak at school and thought the teachers didn’t understand. I had to laugh to myself when I was a teacher and some children tried to use it in my classroom; their faces were priceless when I joined in fluently! If you don’t know how to use back-slang, just take a word, move the first consonant sound(s), ‘w’, to the end and add ‘ay’ to make ordway. See if you can work out what ‘to go Pete Tong’ means in Cockney rhyming slang!
New Years Eve is a noisy affair here also. But we have no Big Ben but plenty of fireworks. I too thought of Pog Latin, I’m glad you had the nerve. It worked out good for you.
APPYHAY EWNAY EARYAY, IMKAY !!!
..
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Anday ouyay, immjay!
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What fun you had with the prompt!!
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It’s a fun prompt, Annell!
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Go to bed with fireworks and a bang, get up with a hangover and a whimper. 😀
Really playful take on the prompt.
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Thank you, Tommy. 😁
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I’ve always been intrigued by the use of back-slang, syllable-replacement, and pretty much any type of modified coding… especially when done by children. They learn it so fast. I love the magic of it.
From your poem, I absolutely adore “irefay”. The images in conjures. Something like a really angry fairy creature, which is a fantastic description of fire. I also like the last line, not just because it’s true, but because it goes perfectly well with your note and it made me chuckle.
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Oh yes, Magaly, I love angry faeries! I’m pleased the last line made you chuckle. 😁
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I learned another version of back slang… (the language of p) you double every vowel and put a p between… so sun would be supun, I actually grew “fluent” in that one.
New years eve is so special with all the hopes and parties, until you wake with a hangover and all is the same (except you have less on your bank account)
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I’ve given up on parties, especially as we live a long way from any night life. A nice quiet night reading or possibly a film will be lovely. 😔
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We will have overnight guests… their children needs their house for their party. 🙂
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A wise move, leaving the partying to the kids. Not sure about letting them take over the house, depending, of course, on how old they are.
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they are old enough to be responsible 18 and 21.
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happy New Year
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And you, Livinia!
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And you, Livinia!
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Love your poem. We called it Pig Latin. Fantabulous annyo to you and hubs. Viddies and chupper for me and hubs. Hugs.
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I also know it as pig Latin. Thank you, Toni, and New Year hugs to you both too!
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This made me smile.
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😊
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I worked out quite early that welcoming in the new year was not a profitable exercise. Having never been kissed by a crush of nubile maidens at the strike of midnight. Luckily when married my wife was more interested in bed that rowdy goings on!
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🙂
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