Cockney Rhyming sland X 2

Posted by Gary on December 05, 2001

In Reply to: Cockney Rhyming sland X 2 posted by Paul Taylor on December 05, 2001

: Does anyone know the origin of the Cockney term "Drum" as in "Im going back to my drum", flat or house. In addition to this, I d also like to know where the Hippy slang Pad came from. This also means flat or house.

Drum isn't rhyming slang. It originates from the 18th century name for a riotous party at a private house - the name relating to the noisiness. The party at the house and the house itself later became synonymous.

Don't know about pad, although it is pre-hippy. Beatniks used it commonly in the 1950s. In William Brohaugh's English Through the Ages he lists it as meaning 'bed or residence' by 1720.

Gary

• Crash at your pad Bruce Kahl 12/05/01