Aristocratic Non-Rhyming Slang

Thanks to my great friend, Nautilus Beanfeast, Professor of Quantum Antiques at the University of Westphalia, for introducing me to the intellectual playground of Aristocratic Non-Rhyming Slang, which pre-dates Cockerney Rhyming slang by some seven centuries.

Below are some commonly used examples of ANRS. The meanings are somewhat shrouded in mystery, so I haven’t given them.

Nouns:

 “working class”

soda-syphon

brown shoes

that man

“smoking” class

Timothy Teapot

yesterday’s shed

Verbs:

to sell another Reubens

to Roger de Floor

imitating the Germans

shooting rabbits with Aunt Dahlia

to leave the back door open for Reginald

to “Australia” Mrs Hatpin

irritating the ffrench

Adjectives:

scrumbly

bunty-m’a-cnunty

fribberish

torque de lammity

walletty

candleabry

If you want to fit in with the chinless Nigels of this world, then being au fait with the above is a must, even if you don’t know what they mean.