It's no secret that our behemoth blob cousins on the other side of the Atlantic understand less than they work out when it comes to British humour. So following the limited stateside release of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, the film's US distributors have published a 'Glossary of Cockney Rhyming Slang' to boost their viewer's feeble attempts at understanding the barrage of slang the flick employs. The problem is, Gramercy Pictures - the distributor behind the idea - is obviously itself an integral part of American culture and thus affected by the same misconceptions. And therefore a few problems have arisen, such as the perplexing explanation of 'Butcher's' - known to many a Londoner as Cockney for look (butcher's hook) - explained stateside as: "Butcher's, it's a jackdaw for you from your chinas at Gramercy Pictures" Indeed. Such an example merely goes to show that the glossary is, in fact, nothing more than another way of prising apart the wallets of US Lock, Stock audiences and inveigling them into parting with some hard-earned cash - as if we didn't already know. Even though, perhaps best of all is the CRS list that plants itself at the back of the book, which after stating Christian Slater as 'later' and Mickey Mouse as 'Scouse', diplomatically translates Brad Pitt as "er, also rhymes with 'Pitt'"
US Gets Lock, Stock Glossary
Distributor publishes Cockney glossary for bemused Yanks...
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