[Dixielandjazz] Emma Chissit

[John Farrell]

I have heard Henry's Emma Chissit quotation several times in several guises,
most of them claiming that the accent is Australian, not Cockney. In fact on
the last occasion I believe that my old Aussie mate Bill Haesler told it to
me when he tried (failing miserably!) to get me drunk in a Sydney night
club.

The story is almost certainly an urban legend devoid of truth.

Another point in Henry's post requires minor correction. London does not
have an East Side, it has an East End.

John Farrell
stridepiano@tesco.net
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry B. Stinson" <HenryStinson@earthlink.net>
To: "DJML" <DixielandJazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 5:35 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Not JAZZ -- Mondegreens


> There's a true story a fellow tells on himself.  He was and is
> the self proclaimed worlds greatest expert on some of the
> manifestations of Cockney accent & language, and on the use
> of odd word substitutions to form secret symbols of things
> people who are at odds with the law (or in prison) use to
> communicate in the presence of police or others of the upper
> classes they don't want to know what they're saying.  There's
> a whole different subject there that I won't go into.  In this story,
> he's signing his new book (about these subjects) in a bookstore,
> in Australia or in London's East Side,  when a woman in the line
> gets to him, hands him a copy of his book, and says "Emma Chissit".
> He starts signing her book "Emma Chissit", when she says, "Naw,
> Naw, ew much is the book?"  (Add Cockney accent as your
> imagination allows.)
>
> Non-jazz content:  "Emma Chissat Doggy in the Window?"
> Jazz Content: "I Could Write a Book".