Cochell?

[airbolt]

I have heard several Radio presenters ( usually from London ) refer to a " Cochell " of something - ie a quantity of something. Not sure how it is spelt or if it is rhyming slang. Any clues anyone?

[Clayhead]

Could you have heard "cockle"? This is used as an extension of "****" as in "**** & hen" i.e. Ten. This would fit with your theory of a quantuty.

[Clayhead]

Sorry - words have been censored but you'll get the meaning.

[Quizmonster]

I wondered whether you had misheard 'couple'. Of course, 'couple' strictly means 'two', but it is often used to mean several. One might say: "We had a couple of pints on Saturday"...meaning a few rather than precisely two.

[jocook17]

could it be cache? just the accent makes it sound different

[roystrutt]

Cochell [ not sure of spelling ] is a word I heard a lot in the East end of London where I worked in the 50's.
It is a market saying.

[roystrutt]

Just found the proper spelling.
It's cotchell, see below.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/12/me ssages/913.html

http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/Vocab ulary/vocabulary-C.html

http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/bargeglos sary.html

[AJD10]

My father worked in Stratford Market, East London. Every Saturday he filled sacks with a collection of vegetables and fruit. These sacks were delivered to homes of staff, and widows of men who used to work at the market. It was referred to as a cotchell. I can't say I ever saw the word written so my spelling could be incorrect.

[dunnyboy]

Cotchel, is an old cockney term, that means many, loads, lots...

I still use the term regularly, as do my friends, for a variety of reasons...

Gawd, I must have drunk a cotchel of beer last night... There's a cotchel of food on that table waiting to be eaten... When you go to Billingsgate, make sure you get us lot, a cotchel of cockles & whelks...

Many of us still use terms like cotchel and or jollop... I'll have a great big jollop of that mash on my plate please... No wonder she's drunk She's downed a jollop to booze...

We still use the term "bushell" too. It's a proper measurement but it's just to mean loads of a sackful of spuds, a bag of sand etc.. 

Old habits die hard...

I hope this has helped to answer you out...