Dictionary of Contemporary Slang

those imitating lewd invitations in broken English.

jigger n

the penis. An 18th-century word which is still heard, albeit rarely, mainly in the north of England.

jiggered adj

a.British exhausted

b.nonplussed, astonished. The usual form of words employed is ‘I’ll be jiggered!’ as an exclamation of surprise on the pattern of ‘I’ll be blowed!’ or ‘I’ll be damned!’.

Jiggered in both the above senses probably originated as a 19th-century euphemism for buggered.

jiggy adj

happy, contented. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

jill n British

a policewoman. A term used predominantly in the north of England, particularly in the Liverpool area. It is coined by analogy with jack; a policeman (itself usually in the plural form).

jillion n American

an almost inexpressibly large number or amount. A teenagers’ coinage referring to uncountable figures in excess of millions and billions. Other similar terms are ‘trillion’ (in fact a real number), squillion and zillion.

jillock n British

a foolish person, buffoon. A variant form of pillock, heard since the late 1970s.

Jim Benner n British

a £10 note or the sum of ten pounds

jim-dandy adj American

excellent, fine. An elaboration of the popular American colloquialism, dandy (jim-, like johnand jack-, was a widespread prefix conferring familiarity). This expression is often used ironically in modern speech.

jim-jams n pl

1. pyjamas. A nursery word, especially popular in Britain and Australia.

‘A coat that can double as a dressinggown, nice stripy jim-jams – such are the staples of male Anglo-Saxon sartoria.’

(Tatler, November 1985)

2. an attack of nerves, the ‘heebie-jee- bies’. This expression has been applied to delirium tremens (the D.T.s) and to drug-induced terror, as well as more

mundane jitters. It was first recorded in the mid-19th century.

‘When the smack begins to flow/ I really don’t care any more/ About all the jimjams in this town/ And all the politicians making crazy sounds.’

(‘Heroin’, written by Lou Reed and recorded by the Velvet Underground, 1967)

jimmies, the n pl Australian

1.an attack of nerves; a variant form of the second sense of jim-jams

2.an attack of diarrhoea; a variant form of the Jimmy Brits

jimmy n British

1.an injection of a narcotic, especially heroin. A word from the lexicon of prison inmates and drug addicts.

2.a shortening of Jimmy Riddle

‘Hang on to me pint for a minute, I’ve got to go for a jimmy.’

(Recorded, young drinker, London, 1987)

Jimmy Brits, the Jimmy Brits n pl Australian

an attack of diarrhoea. Australian rhyming slang for the shits, inspired by the name of a British boxer who toured Australia in 1918. (The surname is sometimes spelt Britt.)

Jimmy Durante(s) n pl Scottish

female underwear. The name of the jazz pianist of the 1940s has been borrowed as a rhyme for panties.

Compare big jimmies

jimmy-hat n

a condom. The term, common in the USA since the 1970s, also occurs in the form ‘jim-hat’ and was used by the black comedian Lenny Henry in a televised monologue in November 1993.

Jimmy Hill(s) n British

pill(s). The term borrows the name of a TV sports commentator to refer to tablets of illicit narcotics.

Jimmy Riddle n British

an act of urination. A childish and jocular term derived from rhyming slang for piddle.

Jim Raki n British

a Pakistani. The term was in use among London teenagers in 2001.

jingle n

1. British cash, money, coins. A term used in raffish circles since the 1930s, if

not earlier. It has also been recorded in Australian speech.

I’m a bit short of jingle.

2. American a telephone call. An American version of the British bell or tinkle, as in ‘give me a jingle’.

jissom, jiss, jizz, jism, jissum, gism n semen. A word of unknown origin, dating from the 19th century in the USA and by the early 1970s in use all over the English-speaking world.

jitter n, adj British

(something or someone) unpleasant, obnoxious. In playground usage since the 1990s.

jive1 n

1. deceitful or pretentious talk or behaviour, nonsense.

See also jive talk

2. a style of fast dancing to accompany swing music or rock ’n’ roll

Both senses of the term originate in black American slang of unknown etymology (it may be from jibe in the sense of change tack, manoeuvre – in conversation or dance – but is more probably derived from a West African dialect term).

3. American marihuana. A now obsolete usage.

jive2 vb

1. to deceive, tease, browbeat. A black American term from the early 20th century which enjoyed a vogue among black and white speakers in the late 1980s. For the possible origins of the word, see the noun form.

‘It was always about the man, how they were going to jive the man into giving them a million dollars.’

(The Switch, Elmore Leonard, 1978)

2. to dance in a fast energetic style which corresponded in the 1940s to swing music and from the 1950s to rock ’n’ roll

jive-ass adj American

deceitful, pretentious, worthless. A black expression combining jive (worthless or deceitful talk or behaviour) and the suffix

-ass.

I don’t want no jive-ass honky lawyer jerkin’ me around.

jive talk n

a style of speech using black musicians’ slang and picturesque rhythmic phraseology, originally developed to accompany swing music of the 1930s and 1940s. The vocabulary and cadences of jive talk were adopted by American teenagers in

the early 1950s. Jive talk was combined with bop talk to influence much of the vocabulary of the later hipsters and beatniks.

jizz-ball n American

an obnoxious, repellent, despicable person. A teenage insult based on the variant form of jissom and coined by analogy with earlier terms such as scuzzball.

JLD adj

‘just like dad’ in medical shorthand, sometimes added after FLK, e.g., on a patient’s notes

joanie, joany adj American old-fashioned, boringly outdated. A term from the Valley Girl lexicon of the 1970s. Its origins are obscure; it may reflect an original antipathy to an individual such as Joan Crawford or Joni Mitchell or may simply be a choice of Joan as a quintessentially older-generation first-name.

joanna n British

a piano. A rhyme on the cockney pronunciation of the instrument.

Give us a tune on the old joanna.

See also Jewish typewriter / piano / pianola / joanna

Joan of Arc n Australian

a shark. A piece of native Australian rhyming slang. An alternative is Noah’s Ark.

job n

1.a crime. This widespread term occurs in expressions such as ‘pull a job’ and in specific forms such as ‘bank-job’, ‘safejob’, etc. The word was first used in this sense in the 17th century, usually in the context of theft.

2.a person, thing or action. An all-pur- pose term for a contraption, specimen or piece of handiwork.

a six-cylinder job

Who’s the little blonde job by the door? job (someone) vb

1.to hit or beat (someone) up. Job is an old dialect variant of jab which has been preserved in this working-class Australianism. The word was used in the same sense in Britain in the 1950s, by street gangs for instance.

2.American to deceive, cheat or ruin (someone). A rare late 1980s usage which is a shortening of ‘do a job on (someone)’.

jobbed adj

framed, fitted-up, informed upon, deceived, victimised or otherwise taken

advantage of. An item from the vocabulary of the underworld.

jobbie n British

1.also jobbies an act of defecation, excrement. A mock nursery word which is used euphemistically by adults, deriving from expressions such as big jobs.

2.an all-purpose word for ‘thing’. This variation of the colloquial job may also be used as a replacement for a forgotten word or name. The term was defined on the Internet by Bodge World in 1997.

Hand me that big jobbie on the top there…

jobbie-jabber n British

a male homosexual. The term was one of many synonyms denoting ‘active’ or ‘predatory’ homosexuality heard since the 1990s. Fudge-nudger and turd burglar are synonyms based on the same supposed association with excrement.

jock n

1a. British a Scot. Since the 19th century this has been the universal nickname for Scottish males, derived from the northern diminutive for John.

1b. British an unnamed male. The word is used, sometimes dismissively, either as a term of address or as a description.

Ask jock over there what he’s drinking.

2.a disc jockey. A piece of American radio jargon adopted in other Englishspeaking areas in the 1970s.

3.American an athlete or sportsman. This campus term can now also apply in some cases to sportswomen, in spite of its origin as a shortening of jock strap. Although it can be said affectionately and is a term used by sportsmen about themselves, the word often has overtones of excessive heartiness, brawn, aggression or lack of intelligence.

‘And the jock shall dwell with the nerd and the cheerleader lie down with the wimp and there will be peace upon the campus.’

(Observer, 29 May 1988)

jockey vb South African

to help, particularly by a temporary loan of money. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

jocks n pl Australian

underpants, usually male. The word is a shortening of ‘jockey-pants’ or ‘jockeyshorts’.

joe n

1.an ordinary man, chap, bloke. Originally an Americanism, this use of the name spread to other English-speaking areas in World War II.

2.a fool, dupe, victim or weakling. In this sense the word is used by tricksters, prostitutes and prison inmates, among others, and probably derives from the cockney joey, itself short for Joey Hunt, rhyming slang for cunt. (Cunt previously meant a foolish, unfortunate or pitiable person, rather than a despicable one.)

3.American coffee

‘I’m not just some kind of machine you can turn on. I need a cup of joe, a trip to the little boys’ room, a glance at the sports pages. Then we’ll talk.’

(Moonlighting, American TV series, 1988)

Joe Blake n Australian

a snake. An item of native Australian rhyming slang. The eponymous Joe Blake is probably fictitious.

Joe Blakes, the n Australian

the D.T.s (delirium tremens): a fit of uncontrolled trembling as a result of alcoholism. Australian rhyming slang for the shakes.

See also Joe Blake

Joe Blow n

an average man, ordinary person. A rhyming elaboration of joe.

Joe Shmo n American

1.an average man

2.a victim, dupe, a simpleton. This Americanism is a personification of ‘schmo’, which has also been recorded in British usage.

Joe Soap n British

a.an average man, ordinary person. The equivalent of a joe or Joe Blow.

b.a dim-witted male drudge or victim. This is the original sense of the name, which is rhyming slang for dope.

joey n

1.British a fool, dupe, victim or weakling. The word is from London working-class usage, deriving from joe or Joey Hunt, rhyming slang for cunt which, in cockney speech until the 1950s, referred to a foolish or unfortunate, rather than a despicable person. Joey is currently used by teenagers to refer to a timid or unpopular fellow-pupil or gang member.

2.Australian an effeminate man, fop, hermaphrodite or sodomite. It is uncer-

tain whether this usage is derived from the previous sense or the following one. 3a. Australian a young kangaroo. The origin of this term is not the English Christian name but an identical Aboriginal name.

3b. Australian a baby

4. British a package smuggled in or out of a prison, in the jargon of prison inmates

john n

1. a prostitute’s customer. John was a 19th-century term for a male sweetheart which was adopted by prostitutes as an all-purpose form of address and later as a synonym for client.

‘He liked it during the day, the cute ladies sitting around playing music, laughing at things he said. But he didn’t care for the white Johns any, their attitude.’

(The Switch, Elmore Leonard, 1978)

2.the john a toilet. Originally a more genteel American version of the archaic ‘jack’ or ‘jock’ and the almost obsolete jakes, all euphemisms for a privy.

3.British an arrest. A rare example of police and criminal jargon of the 1960s, from the rhyming slang ‘John Bull’: pull.

4.the penis. A fairly rare but recurring usage. Other personifications, such as

John Thomas, willie, peter, percy, etc., are much more common.

5.British a condom. A shortening of ‘johnnie (bag)’ or rubber johnny.

John Brown n British

a £10 note or sum of ten pounds, in street-gang parlance since 2000. The reference is to the colour of the banknote.

John Bull adj Australian

drunk. This witticism is a rhyme on full in its euphemistic sense of intoxicated.

He was totally John Bull by three-thirty in the arvo.

johnnie, johnny n British

a condom, contraceptive sheath. This is the most widespread slang term in British use since the 1940s, although in the 1960s and 1970s it was more usually in the phrases ‘johnnie bag’ or rubber johnny. John or johnny is, among many other appellations, a 19th-century personification of the penis.

Johnny Cash n

1.Australian cannabis. An item of native Australian rhyming slang for hash, appropriating the name of the late American country music star.

2.British a slash

johnson n American

a.the penis

b.the backside, buttocks

‘He can kiss my johnson.’

(The Boss’s Wife, US film, 1986)

Both senses are personifications used humorously or straightforwardly, especially in black speech. They date from the late 19th century and are elaborations of the use of john to designate anything male.

John Thomas n British

the penis. A hearty and/or affectionate personification in use since the mid19th century. It was used by D. H. Lawrence in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, written in 1928 and first published in an unabridged edition in Britain in 1959. The phrase now seems to be used particularly by women.

joint n

1. a marihuana cigarette or a cigarette containing a mix of hashish and tobacco. Joint supplanted reefer as the universal term for a cannabis cigarette in the early 1960s. The precise dating and etymology of the word are obscure.

‘Several large joints passed along the room before someone suggested it was time to go outside and play with the Kalashnikovs.’

(Tatler, April 1990)

2.the joint American prison. A specialisation of the colloquial sense of ‘joint’ as a place, building or premises.

3.American the penis. A metaphor based on images of meat and (an imaginary) bone.

4.American any object or person

joker n

a.a foolish, irritating or unfortunate person

b.any unnamed individual

jollies n pl

gratification. The expression can cover indulgences ranging from innocent enjoyment, through thrills, to more sinister and/or sexual stimulation. The word usually occurs in the phrase get one’s jollies.

jolly d. adj British

‘jolly decent’. A public-school or upperclass term of approbation, often used ironically or sarcastically. It is usually an interjection, rather than a description.

jonah n Australian

a shark. This is not a reference to the whale but a contracted form of the rhyming slang Joan of Arc.

jones n American

1.the penis. Now predominantly a term used by black speakers and their imitators. It may derive from a 19th-century personification of the male member as ‘Mr Jones’.

2.a drug habit

They said they had to knock over a couple of stores for money to support their scag jones.

jooky jam vb

to have sex. A phrase originating in black usage: jook is said to derive from an African word for jab or poke, used since at least the 19th century in the USA as a euphemism for sex. Jam is a slang synonym in its own right.

Jordan n American

an attractive male. The use of the term either refers to Michael Jordan, a US sports star, or to a first name thought to typify a rugged, glamorous male.

josser n British

a foolish or obnoxious person. Used as a less offensive version of tosser, the term was heard particularly in the north of England in the 1980s. The word, in fact, has had a separate existence since the 19th century, during which time it has designated a simpleton, a codger, a fop and a parasite, among other senses. Its ultimate origins are obscure, although joss is said to have been a dialect term for bump or jostle.

journo n Australian

a journalist. A characteristic Australian shortening which has been heard among British speakers.

jousting n British

having sex. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000. A synonym is lancing.

joy pop vb

a.to take illicit drugs on an infrequent and casual, rather than habitual, basis

b.to inject a drug intramuscularly, to skin-pop

joystick n

1. the penis. A pun on the name of the steering control column of aeroplanes, although some authorities claim that the slang euphemism for the male member actually preceded the aeronautical usage

(which may in fact derive ultimately from ‘joist’).

2. a cannabis cigarette, a joint. A fairly rare euphemism.

jub n British

a menial or junior worker, a gofer. The word, of uncertain origin, was used in the City of London financial markets from the late 1990s to refer, often dismissively, to messengers and ‘back-office’ underlings.

Get a jub to do it.

jubbies n pl British

female breasts. This childish-sounding term was used by (predominantly mid- dle-class) teenagers and adults from the 1980s and is probably a blend of jugs and bubbies.

jubbly n British

money, wealth. The word is used in London working-class speech, especially in the phrase ‘(lots of) lovely jubbly’. Jubbly was the trade name of an orange drink sold in a triangular carton. Especially when frozen, it was popular with schoolchildren in the 1950s and 1960s. ‘Lovely Jubbly!’ was its advertising slogan.

jubnuts n pl British

a southern English rural term for dags (fragments of dung clinging to the rear of sheep and other shaggy animals)

judy n British

a girl or woman. A very common word in working-class use in the north of England in the 1950s and 1960s. Judy was a popular 19th-century Christian name, seen as typical of common women (as in, e.g., Punch and Judy). The word is also used in Australia as an alternative to Sheila. jug1 n

prison. This term from the beginning of the 19th century is usually part of the phrases ‘in jug’ or ‘in the jug’. It probably derives from 18th-century dialect jougs, meaning stocks or pillory (from the French joug, meaning yoke), rather than from jug as a container of liquid. In modern usage the term is jocular.

jug2 vb

1.also jug up British to imprison. From the noun jug.

2.also jug out or jug up American to drink, usually to excess. The phrases are probably influenced by the categorisation ‘jug wine’, denoting cheap wine bought in large containers, e.g. by students and other drinkers of modest means.

jugged adj

1.imprisoned. From the noun jug.

2.drunk. A rare but recurrent term.

jugglin’ bone n

dealing crack. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

jug handles n pl British

the ears, particularly large prominent ears. The term is used by all ages and social classes for poking fun.

jugs n pl

1.female breasts. Originally an Australian vulgarism, inspired by milk jugs and probably influenced by the much older term dugs. This expression has also been used in Britain and the USA.

2.the ears, particularly large prominent ears. The word used in this sense, primarily in Britain, is a shortening of ‘jug-ears’ or jug handles.

juice1 n

1.American alcohol, booze. A pre-World War II American term still in widespread use.

2.American electricity, power

Give it some more juice.

3.American gossip, interesting news. A teenage term of the late 1970s and 1980s which is probably a back-forma- tion from ‘juicy’.

4.semen

juice2, juice it vb

to have sex. A term used, transitively and intransitively, by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

juiced, juiced-up adj

drunk. Unlike other slang terms deriving from juice, this is not exclusively American.

‘Howard you never used to talk to me that way.

I’m just juiced, that’s all.’

(S. Clay Wilson cartoon in Head Comix, 1968)

juicer, juice head/freak n American

an alcoholic, drunkard or habitual heavy drinker. These terms probably originated in black slang of the 1940s.

J.U.L.F. n British

an arrogant and/or presumptuous person. The initials stand for ‘jumped up little fucker’. The phrase was identified by Salman Rushdie, describing the slang used by his Special Branch body-

guards, in the Independent, 11 February 1993.

jumbo n

1.British a fool, a slow, large and/or dimwitted person. A mainly working-class term, used for instance by the CID to refer to uniformed police officers. (Jumbo as applied to elephants derives from the African word jamba, anglicised as a name for P. T. Barnum’s famous animal exhibit.) In this case the image of a slow, ponderous person is probably also influenced by dumbo.

2.British the backside, buttocks

3.crack. This is one of many probably ephemeral nicknames used on the American streets for this powerful drug. Jumbo in this sense was recorded in 1986.

jump1 vb

to have sex with. This term implying male assertion, domination or assault has been in use in English since the 17th century. It is paralleled in many other languages (the French equivalent is sauter). The word is now often used by street-gang members, etc. to refer to indecent assault, influenced by the term’s colloquial meaning of to attack unexpectedly.

jump2 n

an act of sexual intercourse. This old vulgarism has been revived since 2000, and was defined by one user (a London student) as ‘a comedy term for sex used to embarrass mates in innocent situations, i.e. “they’re going for a jump” when they are just going for a walk’.

jump in (someone’s) face vb American to harass, aggress, criticise (someone). The phrase has been recorded in black street parlance since the 1970s. It is probably based on the earlier imperative ‘get out of my face!’.

jump off vb American

a.(of a person) to become aggressive, lose one’s temper

b.(of a situation) to happen or escalate suddenly. The phrase probably arose in black slang where jump was a component in a number of obsolete expressions evoking rapidity and/or violence and the contemporary jump salty. Step off has similar meanings.

jump salty vb American

to become angry. A well-known item of black argot which was included in socalled Ebonics, recognised as a legitimate

language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996. The phrase, which seems to date from preWorld War II jive talk (it was listed in Cal Calloway’s famous Hepster’s lexicon in 1938), became part of street slang in the 1970s. It is now in widespread use and is sometimes heard among younger white speakers describing a key behaviour pattern, also expressed by jump off and step off and the British kick off.

jump someone’s bones vb American

to have sex with someone. The expression, first heard in the 1960s, has rough-and-ready, crass overtones. It invariably refers to the sex act from the male point of view.

I guess she realised I just wanted to jump her bones.

June-July vb South African

to tremble or express fear. The European midsummer months occur in midwinter in the southern hemisphere, hence their association with shivering. The expression was recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

jungle n South African

a large knife. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

jungle bunny n

a negro or other dark-skinned person. A racist epithet which is usually applied to Afro-Caribbeans, and is also used by Australians to refer to Aboriginals and South Sea Islanders. It has been heard from at least the 1950s.

jungly, jungli adj South Asian uncultured, uncouth, unsophisticated. An old expression (from ‘jungle’) in Indian English which is now used by Asians in the UK as part of so-called

‘Hinglish’ (a variety combining English with words from Hindi and other languages).

junk n

narcotics, hard drugs. The word (originally a Middle English term for nautical paraphernalia and detritus) was applied to opium in American underworld argot in the late 19th century. It was used to designate heroin by the first decade of the 20th century and has remained one of the most widespread synonyms for this and other addictive drugs.

‘Fuzz against junk.’

(Title of book by the pseudonymous Akbar del Piombo, 1965)

junker n American

1.a dilapidated car, banger

2.an alternative (and rarer) version of junkie

junkie, junky n

a drug addict, a habitual user of ‘hard’ drugs such as heroin or morphine. The term, derived from the word junk, became popular in the USA in the 1920s and spread to Britain and Australia in the 1950s.

‘When we think of a junkie we picture the reckless youth, squatting in the rubble of his life, a hypodermic in his hand.’

(Independent, 17 July 1989)

jupe, juped adj British

shamed, humiliated. One of many terms in the lexicon of teenage gangs which refers to respect or the lack/loss of it. The origin of the term is obscure, but it may be a deformation of the standard ‘dupe’, ‘duped’. It can also be used as an exclamation of triumph or derision. The term was recorded in use among North London schoolboys from the early 1990s.

You’re juped!

K n

1. one thousand. This abbreviation existed in limited slang usage in the 1970s (based on the k of kilo), but it was its use in computer jargon (to mean a storage capacity of 1,024 bytes) which was first transposed to express sums of money when discussing fees or salaries. It then entered general colloquial use in the 1980s.

He’s on 60K a year.

2. British a knighthood, from the initial letter, or that of KBE, KCMG, etc.

‘Brenda has now let it be known to Downing Street that Milne should be given a “K” in the birthday honours list. Surprisingly enough Thatcher seems to approve.’

(Private Eye magazine, April 1989)

kaffir n

a black person. A racist term used initially (and still) in South Africa to refer to indigenous blacks. (Kaffir was one 19th-century name for Bantu-speaking South African tribespeople, originating in the Arabic kafir: infidel.) The word is sometimes used, mainly by middleaged or elderly speakers, in other Eng- lish-speaking areas.

kahsi n British

an alternative spelling of khazi

kaifa n British

an alternative spelling of kife

kalied adj British

drunk. A fairly popular word in the north of England (usually pronounced ‘kaylide’) which has been used in the longrunning TV soap opera Coronation Street. Some authorities claim that kayis a dialect prefix meaning askew or awry; Paul Beale, in Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, derives kalied from ‘kali’, a children’s sherbet dip.

and all he could do was go out and get kalied

kangaroo (it) vb Australian

to squat, particularly in order to defecate; from the kangaroo’s habit of sitting back on its rear legs, supported by its tail

‘Not wanting to contract any trendy venereal fauna, I kangaroo-ed it.’

(Kathy Lette, Girls’ Night Out, 1989)

kangaroos in the top paddock adj Australian

crazy, eccentric or deranged. A picturesque coinage, probably based on the colloquial ‘bats in the belfry’.

kaplonker n British

a crowbar, in the late 1980s jargon of the London Flying Squad. The word is probably in origin a nursery term for any unnamed heavy object.

‘Another funny moment came during a Sweeney raid. The cops use an iron bar nicknamed a “kaplonker” to lever open doors.’

(News of the World, 5 February 1987)

kark adj British

suffering a ‘hangover’ after smoking marihuana. It is not clear whether the word as used by teenagers from the mid-1990s is related to the Australian cark recorded in the previous decade.

kark (it) vb Australian

an alternative spelling of cark it karma n

a.one’s personal destiny, fate

b.an aura, impression or influence, vibes.

See also huntley

Both senses of the word are inaccurate borrowings, dating from the hippy era, from Hindu and Buddhist writings in which the Sanskrit word denotes actions determining one’s future state of incarnation.

karzi n British

an alternative spelling of khazi

Kate Moss n British

since around 2000 the name of the UK supermodel has been borrowed as a rhyme for ‘toss’ in the vulgar expression give a toss

kayf, kafe n British

an alternative rendering of caff (café), imitating the jocular or unwitting mispronunciation of the original French

kaylied adj British

an alternative spelling of kalied

kazi n British

an alternative spelling of khazi

kazoo n American

the backside, buttocks. A word of unknown origin (it is probably unconnected with the musical instrument, the name of which imitates its sound). Other jocular terms using the same median sounds include mazoomas, gazungas, etc. (all synonyms for female breasts).

k.b. vb, n British

(to receive) a rejection. An abbreviation of knockback, in use in the Liverpool area in 2003.

I was k.b.’ed.

She gave me the k.b.

k-cup adj

high on drugs or alcohol. The term is a brand name of a coffee container.

See also lean; buzzin’; cart

kecks n pl British

trousers. This word is the northern English version of the archaic ‘kicks’, heard in other parts of the country from the 17th century until the 1940s, but now obsolete. Liverpool mods of the mid1960s used to refer contemptuously to ‘half-mast kecks’, that is unfashionably short trousers which flap around the lower calves or above the ankles. Strides was the slang synonym usually preferred further south. Underkecks are, of course, underpants, worn by either sex.

keek n British

an alternative form of cack

keen adj

excellent, great. A teenage vogue word in North America in the late 1950s and 1960s. The enthusiastic term now sounds dated but is still heard, usually said by ingenuous and ironic adults, although there are some signs of a revival among younger speakers both as a description and exclamation (‘neatokeeno’ was an elaborated version).

keeno, keener n British

a keen, enthusiastic person. A schoolchildren’s word, usually said scathingly of

aswot or excessively hearty fellow pupil.

‘We just sat at the back and let the keenos volunteer.’

(Recorded, London schoolgirl, 1987)

keep cave vb British

to keep quiet, be wary and/or keep a look out. A schoolboy term of the 1950s from the Latin imperative cave: beware. In English the word is pronounced ‘kayvee’.

‘They asked me to keep cave in case old Goatman came along.’

(Recorded, former grammar-school boy, 1986)

keep on trucking vb

to carry on, keep going. A black dancers’ slogan used as a catchphrase exhortation by American and, later, British hippies from about 1970. ‘Trucking’ has various associated meanings including an exaggerated sauntering stride or simply ‘soldiering on’, all deriving from jitterbug dance contests of the 1930s and 1940s in which trucking was a dance step.

keester n American

an alternative spelling of keister

kegged adj

drunk. A fairly rare word used typically by college and high-school students in the USA and occasionally by their counterparts in Britain. The British usage may be a separate coinage, also from keg beer.

kegger n

1.American a beer party. An adolescents’ term.

2.a snowboarder

kegs n pl British

a variant form of kecks

keister, keester n American

the backside, buttocks, anus. This fairly common term is from Yiddish kiste, in turn deriving from Middle and Old Germanic Kista and from the Latin cista, meaning a chest. The Yiddish word denoted a portable chest and was adapted by English speakers to mean anything used as a travelling container, including a hawker’s display cabinet, a satchel and a trouser pocket. The transition from these senses to a part of the human body is not completely clear; it has been suggested that it became an underworld synonym for the anus as

used to smuggle contraband across borders or into prison. The term is now rather old-fashioned but was used by Ronald Reagan in the late 1980s.

Ken n American

a male dullard, a (clean-cut) bland conformist youth or man. Ken is the name given to the male counterpart of the Barbie Doll.

Kensington Gore n British

artificial blood. This expression, which is an elaboration of the literary ‘gore’, has been in theatrical slang since before World War II and is still heard. It is a pun on the name of the road connecting Kensington and Knightsbridge in London. Ketchup is a synonym.

kerflumix vb

an alternative spelling of kerflummox

kerflummox, kerflumix vb

to baffle, confuse, bamboozle. A humorous embellishment of the colloquial ‘flummox’. Keris a prefix indicating force, effort or impulse, reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon and modern German ge-: ‘made’.

‘After all their explanations I’ve got to say I’m totally kerflummoxed.’

(Recorded, US diplomat’s wife, London, 1988)

kermit n

1. British a French person. A jocular nickname used by students since the 1980s. It is inspired by the character ‘Kermit the Frog’ in the 1970s US television series The Muppet Show.

‘Don’t forget to send invitations to the kermits.’

(Recorded, London student, 1988)

2. Kermit (the Frog) an unattractive female. Rhyming slang for dog, in use among male adolescents since the late 1990s.

‘We were out on the cotton wool but all we saw were Kermit the Frogs everywhere.’

(Recorded, agricultural college student, Devon, 1999)

ketch vb British

to criticise, harass. A term used by schoolchildren since the 1990s. The derivation is uncertain, but it may be a northern dialect version of catch.

I just got ketched for swearing again.

ketchup n

artificial blood, as used in the theatre and broadcast media. Kensington Gore is a more colourful(!) synonym.

kettle n British

a watch. This old term, still used particularly among police and criminals, is said to be from the rhyming slang ‘kettle and hob’, meaning fob.

kettled adj British

drunk. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

Kev n British

a foolish and/or unsophisticated young male. Kev was the name of a truculent uncouth teenager played by the TV comedian Harry Enfield.

‘Blacks and Kevs do cause more fights. U r ignorant for not looking at these stats.’

(Recorded, contributor to www.wass- up.com, November 2003)

Kevin n British

a common, vulgar or boorish young man. This disparaging term from the 1970s and 1980s is typically used by snobs or wags to designate a working-class or lower-middle-class youth without taste or sophistication. The Christian name supposedly epitomises this social subgroup (the female equivalent of a Kevin is a Sharon). Wayne is sometimes suggested as an alternative for Kevin.

That pub’s full of Kevins, we never go in there.

Compare Kev; Brian

Kevinish adj British

common, uncouth and/or vacuous. From the noun form Kevin. A disparaging term used by middle-class speakers since the late 1970s.

‘Other schools just can’t understand why they look so “Kevin-ish” – a term describing the white socks and footballers’ haircuts (long at the back) which are so popular there.’

(Tatler, March 1987)

kewl adj

a variant spelling and deliberately affected pronunciation of cool in its slang sense. In use around 2002, it can indicate irony or self-conscious enthusiasm.

Compare rawk

kewpie doll n

an excessively cute and/or overdressed or over made-up girl or woman. The original American Kewpie Doll (a trademark name based on Cupid) is a fairy-like baby. In Australia the name is used as