General
el-rig
What does el-rig mean?
Used among traders to flag a young customer or a sweetheart without naming her openly.
"He's only minding that pitch to be near a certain el-rig."
Origin
Cockney costermonger back-slang of the 1840s ('girl' reversed and adapted for pronunciation), among the people-terms documented by Mayhew (1851) and Hotten (1859); the el-/le- prefix shows how back-slang reshaped awkward reversals into sayable words.
Frequently asked questions
What does el-rig mean?
It means a girl — 'girl' reversed in Cockney back-slang, softened to 'el-rig' so it can actually be said.
Why isn't it just 'lrig'?
A pure reversal of 'girl' is unpronounceable, so back-slang added a vowel and split it, a common move when the strict reversal won't fit the tongue.
How does el-rig pair with nammow?
El-rig is a girl, nammow a woman — the back-slang pair for younger and older females, just as dunop and yennep pair the coins.
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