Yiddish is a language spoken by Eastern and Central European Jews since about 1000 AD. Yiddish is a Germanic language with elements of Hebrew-Aramaic, Slavic, Old French and Old Italian. Before the Second World War, Yiddish was the most widely spoken Jewish language with over 11 million speakers. In the 1990s there were about 4 million speakers mainly in North America, South America, Israel and Russia. Research Yiddish
London Cockney slang is mainly comprised of: 1) Words from Romany, such as 'chavvy' a child, and 'mush' a friend. 2) Words from Yiddish such as 'gazump'. 3) Minced oaths and euphemisms, such as 'Blimey' from God blind me. 4) Armed forces slang picked up in Asia and consisting of Arabic and Hindu words such as 'bint' which is Arabic for a girl. 5) Abbreviations sometimes with 'o' appended, such as 'aggro' aggravation. 6) Back slang, such as 'yob' a boy. 7) Run together phrases such as 'wotcha' originally the greeting 'watch cheer!'. The origins of Cockney rhyming slang are unknown, the general rumour is of a thieves' code, but no evidence exists of such a code and it is more likely to find its origins in early 20th century word play so popular in London during the 1930s. Research Cockney Slang
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