To have only just learned that when you call someone a Berk, you're actually calling them a

[Fontsnob]

cunt! Genius. Never realised it was rhyming slang, was I being very thick!?

Good lord.

What do they teach in schools these days?

Did you lot really not know this?

You berks

Definitely should be added to the curriculum

Well, as a teacher, I shall start a one woman mission to get it into as many lesson plans as I can.

This might be a load of old bollocks, but I remember being told that 'arris', as in 'move your bleedin arris' was short for Aristotle

... which, in turn rhymes with Glass and Bottle

... which when reversed gives Bottle and Glass

... which rhymes with Arse.

All seems very contrived, but a big part of me wants to believe it.

Doesn't everyone use a bit of rhyming slang, possibly without even realising. "Use your loaf", "He's a bit of a tea leaf", etc etc

I use 'use your loaf' but not sure of it's meaning just it's context.

witch that's why I don't google things!! That and I'm trying to be less gullible and not be tempted to believe everything I'm told.

complex - you beat me to Arris - that's what I was told too...

youarekidding

Use your loaf = loaf of bread = head.

DH uses cockney slang all the time, although he has never lived in London in all his years.

I had to explain this to a friend of mine recently - she used to call people 'berk' without realising what it meant. She's not used the term since!

I am struggling to believe the one about your Arris, and the treacle one only started with Pete Beale. Nobody has ever used treacle as a term of endearment in my memory and my Mum is properly cock-er-ney .
My Grandad could have been Arthur Mullard, he used rhyming slang all the time.

According to wiki berkely is pronounced Burk in cockney and american! I wonder why?

Oh shit, I called someone a berk today and ds said "Is that a swear word?" "No, it's just like calling someone a numpty," I said. I look like a right berk now.

This thread is a really good example of why you should find out what things mean before you say them! :)

BTW, we sometimes call DD "treacle" but, I hasten to add, in a jokey way. I certainly wouldn't try to sound cockernee outside these four walls lest someone punch me in the face (we don't live in a particularly salubrious area).