Before The Wattmeister was mopping up the Muswell Hill Peloton over 50s ‘B’ team sprint in Regents Park, he spoke the language of the racecourse. Here is a small example of the lingo used by bookmakers and their staff regarding numbers and amounts……also sometimes used to relay the odds of the dogs and horses….although the odds have a different argot.
One pound……………a ‘quid’ or a ‘nicker’.
Two…………………….a ‘bottle’ (most often used as two hundred).. or a ‘bice’.
Three…………………..a ‘carpet’
Four…………………….a ‘rouf’ (pronounced ‘rofe’).
Five……………………..a ‘ching’ or a ‘hand’, or a ‘jacksie’ (fiver)
Six……………………….’half a stretch’ or ‘ex’.
Seven……………………a ‘neves’, (pronounced ‘nevis’).
Eight…………………… a ‘T…H’ (as in Tea Haitch).
Nine……………………..’Enin’ (pronounced ‘eeenin’).
Ten……………………….a Cock & Hen or a cockle.
Eleven……………………’Elef’.
Twelve……………………should be a ‘stretch’ but rarely heard as such.
Twenty……………………a ‘score’ or an ‘apple’… (apple core rhyming slang for score).
Twenty five………………A pony , a macca or a maccaroni.
Thirty three……………..’Double carpet’.
Fifty……………………….a ‘nifty’ or ‘bullseye’.
One hundred…………….a ‘ton’, a ‘oner’ (pronounced ‘wunner’).
Two hundred…………….a ‘bottle’.
Five hundred…………….a ‘monkey’.
One thousand……………a ‘grand’, or its rhyming slang, a ‘bag of sand’.
Nowadays however, The Wattmeister is ‘borassic lint’, which is rhyming slang for ‘skint’.
Happy New Year to all.
