Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
ripov South Australia:What the hell's a 'Rolling King'? (154* d) RE: What the hell's a 'Rolling King'? 21 Aug 11


Don't know about "Rolling Kings". Maybe a corruption of "Villikins", implying lovestruck youths? (Villikins and his Dinah 1850).

Walloping is interesting, derived from french "galoper" (to gallop) in its g>w form. Also meaning "boiling", as in "poultice-wallopers" (medical orderlies), this use appears to cease after wwII. Strange it should suddenly recur in the late 60's.
But "galloping round the Horn" - sounds reasonable, especially on those white horses (not six of them I hope!)
There is a related meaning of painting, particularly large surfaces, with whitewash, so perhaps the paint-roller allusion has some basis!

As to the "v" and "w" interchange in Cockney, the community has changed now, but from well before Dickens' period until about 1970 the population of the East End good description here contained many seamen, and traders, perhaps from countries whose languages (eg Polish), have no "v" sound, so they just did their best to pronounce it. (My friend's father owned a "Wauxhall" car) The "w" pronounced "v" is from those of German origin (Think "Bay-eM-Vay as J.S.Bach's musical catalogue numbers).(Or Villikins = Willikins = Little Willie).


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.
   * Click on the linked number with * to view the thread split into pages (click "d" for chronologically descending).

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.