'A Welshman Coming to London and Seeing a Jackanapes…': How Jokes and Slang Differentiated Eighteenth-Century Londoners from the Rest of Britain. (4th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jarrett, Simon
• Is Part Of: London journal. Volume 43:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 120
• Page End: 136
• Publication Date: 2018-05-04
• Subjects: Eighteenth century -- Jokes -- Slang -- Jest books -- Immigration -- Humour -- London-identity; London (England) -- History -- Periodicals; London (England) -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 942.1005
• DOI: 10.1080/03058034.2017.1409486
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-8034

Abstract

Abstract : This article examines the effect of large-scale immigration into London throughout the eighteenth century, mostly from the English provinces, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. As the city expanded and old affiliations to parish and neighbourhood reduced, the question of identity became problematic for those who lived in the Metropolis. It is argued that shared humour expressed through jokes and slang, largely directed at newcomers and visitors to London, played a part in building shared identity for those who lived in the city's disparate and distinct parts. Many of those who indulged in this humour were recent immigrants to the city themselves, who used it to assert their status as embedded inhabitants of London. Disparaging jokes and language about the inhabitants of different regions and nations of the Kingdom outside London could even come from those who originated from the same areas, and were a means of defining their new status as insiders in the city. Jokes and slang played a part in helping the inhabitants of London to see themselves as an in-group against the out-group of the rest of the nation.