Insert Cockney Accent Here

THA’ BO’ULOF WA’AH

My family moved to London in late 1979, when my late father was posted there for work. I was 9 years old. We arrived in the middle of November and although it was our first experience of the winter chill, it was a novelty for my brother and I, being so far away from home for the first time in our lives. Since our parents were also with us, I considered London our second new home back then. 

After settling in and getting over the time difference, I vividly remember our first walk around London with my late father, at Piccadilly Circus on a cold winter evening. The bright lights and buildings of London were just like the touristy postcards I saw at the airport. It was there I entered McDonalds for the very first time in my life. We walked in to get a hot beverage. Remember, this was in 1979 – my only fast food experience back home was A&W and KFC. 

Having a hot drink as a kid was uncommon for me, coming from a hot tropical country. Also, hot chocolate meant only one thing, Ovaltine, this generation’s version of Milo. (Suddenly I feel ancient) In my household, this was usually had when one is not well. On that cold evening, in McDonalds, a hot cup of cocoa seemed ideal. I remember scalding my tongue quite badly. But I didn’t care, I was in London! I couldn’t wait to experience life there, not knowing what to expect, not knowing if a shy Asian 9-year old would fit in.

I was enrolled in school quite soon after. The first person to speak to me in class was a girl called Sheila Hippolyte and believe it or not, I remember what she said to me, “Pass me tha’ bo’ulof wa’ah”. She had to repeat it three times. On the third time, very annoyed, she rolled her eyes and spoke slowly, word for word, so I could lip read. She wanted me to pass that bottle of water. First day at school didn’t go off too well.

I thought that already knowing how to speak and understand English was enough to get by living in England, but no. The cockney accent was something I had to get used to. I did eventually, but I never did master the cockney slang. In fact, when we returned to our homeland in 1985, I was unaware that the cockney accent had rubbed off on my speech. Well, that’s what I was told anyway. Influenced by friends and life in a public school, pretty much the same way my teenage daughter now, who has never been to America, speaks English with a slight American accent, influenced by her penchant for Youtube videos.

The GLOTTAL STOP. It’s a consonantal stop which occurs in words between vowel sounds, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract (or glottis). It’s most familiar in the cockney pronunciation of words like butter – bu’er; bottle – bo’ul; letter – le’er. That’s the cockney accent. The cockney slang is a whole other topic altogether. 

I wouldn’t have imagined at the time when I was 9 years old that forty years later, I would be writing about this observation. The glottal stop occurs in many other languages too like Arabic, German, Chinese, Indonesian, and many more. Even in my own native language, Malay (eg. tidak – the ‘k’ sound is obstructed). 

I’ve lost the cockney accent since coming home, and have naturally evolved into a neutral speech, much like Received Pronunciation (RP English), which seems to go down well for commercial broadcast purposes as well as corporate work. But every time I hear the cockney accent, I smile and can’t help but feel a little nostalgic and fuzzy inside, remembering my impressionable years in London, when my life seemed simpler and care-free. Jana ameen? (Do you know what I mean?)