Editing Mockney

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'''Mockney''' (a [[portmanteau]] of "[[:wiktionary:mock|mock]]" and "[[cockney]]") is an affected accent and form of speech in imitation of cockney or [[working class|working-class]] London speech, or a person with such an accent.  A stereotypical mockney speaker comes from an upper-[[middle class|middle-class]] background.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogalinski.com.pl/jezyki-obce/british-accents-cockney-and-mockney/ |title=British accents: Cockney and mockney &#124; |first=Paweł |last=Rogaliński |work=Rogalinski.com.pl |date=2 March 2011 |accessdate=29 December 2014}}</ref>

A person speaking with a mockney accent might adopt cockney pronunciation but retain standard grammatical forms, whereas the genuine cockney speaker uses non-standard forms (e.g. [[negative concord]]).

==Details==
The first published use of the word according to the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] was in 1967.<ref name="OED">{{cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/245968 |title=mockney, n. and adj.|publisher=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |date= |accessdate=23 June 2014}}</ref>

It is an affectation sometimes adopted for aesthetic or theatrical purposes, and at other times just to sound "cool", to generate [[street cred]]ibility, or to give the false impression that the speaker rose from humble beginnings and became prominent through hard work and some innate talent rather than the education, contacts and other advantages that a privileged background tends to bring. [[Britpop]] band  [[Blur (band)|Blur]] was said to have a "mockney, down-the-dogs blokey charm".<ref name="OED"/> [[Mick Jagger]] is often accused of being the first celebrity in modern times to overplay his regional accent in order to boost his street credibility.<ref>{{cite news|last=Redmond |first=Camilla |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/jun/03/radio-mick-jagger-charlie-brooker |title=Radio catchup: Jagger's Jukebox, Adam Buxton's breakup tips and the power of Charlie Brooker |work=The Guardian |date=4 June 2010 |accessdate=28 November 2013 |location=London}}</ref>

One explanation of [[dialect]] adoption given in [[social linguistics]] is the desire for [[Prestige dialect|prestige]], that a person is likely to adopt speech patterns (including accent, vocabulary, dialect or even language) which they perceive to be prestigious.

The concept of [[Communication Accommodation Theory|communication accommodation]], either upwards or downwards in [[idiolect]], can be seen in many social interactions. One can put someone at ease by speaking in a familiar tone or intonation, or one can intimidate or alienate someone by speaking more formally. For example, in a [[courtroom]], a more formal voice [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]] with technical [[legal jargon]] can be used to intimidate a defendant. In contrast, mockney seeks to lower the perceived socio-economic class of the speaker.

==Notable people described as using mockney speech==
*[[Lily Allen]]<ref>{{cite news|first=Caroline |last=Sullivan |url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1773979,00.html |title=Lily Allen, Notting Hill Arts Club, London |work=The Guardian |date=12 May 2006 |accessdate=28 November 2013}}</ref>
*[[Russell Brand]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SejQRhDK26Q|title=Jeremy Paxman: 'If you didn't vote, you're a moron'|website=[[YouTube]]|date=7 May 2015 }}</ref>
*[[Nigel Kennedy]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Zuckermann |author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann |first=Ghil'ad |year=2003 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232 |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-1403917232}} P. 110: "British violinist Nigel Kennedy [...] speaks 'Mockney', i.e. fake Cockney, to improve his street-credibility".</ref>
*[[Kate Nash]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/bernadettemcnulty/3563310/Lets-hear-it-for-the-British-pop-babes.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911065033/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/bernadettemcnulty/3563310/Lets-hear-it-for-the-British-pop-babes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 September 2012 |title=Let's hear it for the British pop babes |publisher=The Telegraph |date=17 November 2008 |accessdate=28 November 2013 |location=London |first=Bernadette |last=McNulty}}</ref>
*[[Jamie Oliver]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/13/jamie_oliver_malware/|title = Telly chef Jamie Oliver in embarrassing infection double shocker|website = [[The Register]]}}</ref>
*[[Tim Roth]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tim-roth.com/index.php?id=skymay95|title = Tim Roth: Press}}</ref>
*[[Joe Strummer]]<ref>{{cite news|first=Mary|last=Wakefield|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2007/05/the-thinking-mans-punk/|title=The thinking man's punk|publisher=The Spectator|date=9 May 2007|accessdate=13 December 2019|location=London}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Class tourism]]
*[[Estuary English]]
*[[Mid-Atlantic accent (disambiguation)|Mid-Atlantic accent]]
*[[Mock language]]
*[[Mummerset]]
*[[Received Pronunciation]]
*[[Sociolinguistics]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3620204/Mockneys-glottal-stopping-strains-are-endemic-even-at-Highgrove.html |title=Mockney's glottal-stopping strains are endemic, even at Highgrove |first=Quentin |last=Letts |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=8 October 2005 |location=[[London, UK|London]] |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |accessdate=29 December 2014}}
* {{cite web |url= http://wn.com/mockney |title=Mockney |work=WorldNews (WN) Network |year=2014 |accessdate=29 December 2014}}
* [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/thestreets.html Wot’s He Sayin’? British pop reclaims its accent].{{what|date=December 2024}}

[[Category:English language in England]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
[[Category:English language in London]]