Please settle a dispute :- The phrase "A Richard The Third" or a "Richard" is Cockney Rhyming Slang for - a) A Turd or b) A Bird (girlfriend)?
Which is the correct one and which one has the earliest usage?
My late father was a fluent cockney speaker and it only ever meant turd. Ronnie Barker used this meaning to great effect as a cockney vicar when referring to a small brown Richard The Third that a good samaritan nearly trod on, etc. The payoff was the the RTT eventually recovered and flew away. This would not have been funny (and therefore not used by language expert Barker) if it already had that meaning.