'me old cocker'

[maisie]

I thoght this was an old leicester slang word as my dad always called it me...
I work in a residential home for the elderly and the other day a lady said "All square and correct according to me old cocker!"

I was thrown aback, as I hadn't heard this for over 10yrs..When I asked what she meant by the saying, she enlightening me by explaining.."my husband used to say it eveynight when he came home from work."

He was a builder and his 'old cocker' was his reliable measuring device..apparantly it is more acurate than any other instrument for measuring.
I have searched the internet finding various definitions..anyone throw any light on this?????

Maisie

[uksearch]

I may be wrong but I don't think it was anything to do with a measure. We certainly used the phrase here...me old cocker was good a friend or best mate. I think this was probably taken from the CRS "me old cock sparra".

UK

[peter nicholl]

One possible explanation is that it comes from "Cockney"; itself probably from a Cock's Egg, ie mis-shapen. It refers to the poorly nourished in the East End and the birds associated with London, sparrows. Hence "Cock Sparrow", or Sparra. Cockney Rhyming Slang can be quite convoluted, eg "A*se" becomes "Bottle and Glass", gets reduced to "Bottle", gets re-rhymed to "Aristotle" and again reduced to "Aris" and, I understand, that too became either "April in Paris", reduced to "April", or "Plaster of Paris" reduced to "Plaster". So words get lengthened as well as shortened and "Cock Sparrow" gets reduced to "Cock" and then becomes "Cocker".

Peter

[Mythology]

(How I ended up here in this ancient thread, I don't know, but never mind)

I think he may have dreamed them up himself (he was very good at crosswords and usually beat me at Scrabble) but I used to love some of the ones my stepfather came out with which I hadn't previously encountered.
For example, returning from popping out to get the morning paper...
"There's a flying Jap out there this morning"
(A Nip in the air)
Or, on watching a government spokesman dishing out spin on the telly...
"Bah! The usual load of Meltons!"
(Melton Mowbray, famous for pork pies = Lies)

:)

[uksearch]

(How I ended up here in this ancient thread, I don't know, but never mind)

I think he may have dreamed them up himself (he was very good at crosswords and usually beat me at Scrabble) but I used to love some of the ones my stepfather came out with which I hadn't previously encountered.
For example, returning from popping out to get the morning paper...
"There's a flying Jap out there this morning"
(A Nip in the air)
Or, on watching a government spokesman dishing out spin on the telly...
"Bah! The usual load of Meltons!"
(Melton Mowbray, famous for pork pies = Lies)

:)
I bet you were creamed after typing that;) .

UK

[Ken Blackhurst]

"According to Cocker" - actually according to Edward Cocker 1631-1676, the famous mathematician
- reputed English author of Cocker's Arithmetic, a famous textbook, the popularity of which gave rise to the phrase “according to Cocker,” meaning “quite correct.”

Hope this helps

Ken