Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, Third Edition; Tony Thorne (A & C Black, 2005)

flapdoodle n

fuss, agitation, consternation. An invented nonsense word dating from the 19th century.

flap one’s gums vb American

to talk, speak or converse. An item of black street-talk that was included in socalled Ebonics, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996. ‘Flap one’s lips’ is a less common variant, snap/bump one’s gums are synonyms.

flaps n pl

1.ears, especially large or protruding ears

2.the female labia

flash1 n

1. a glimpse of, or deliberate exposure of, the genitals, breasts, underwear, etc. 2a. the sensation felt immediately after the injection of a narcotic; the sudden, initial effect of a drug

2b. also acid flash a sudden recurrence of a previous experience of the drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)

3.British a street trader’s display of goods

4.an ugly or unattractive female, minger. The derivation ‘because she mings mercilessly’ is from the Flash Gordon cartoons and film in which the villain is ‘Ming the Merciless’.

flash2 adj

ostentatious, showing off. Since the 1960s, especially in Britain and Australia, this form has tended to replace the earlier ‘flashy’.

‘Why do you bring horses if not to sell? It’s flash.’

(Recorded, gypsy boy, Appleby horse fair, 1988)

flasher n

a sexual exhibitionist, a man who deliberately exposes his genitals in public. The word was slang or police jargon until the 1960s when the prevalence of the activity and a lessening of verbal prudishness brought it into common currency.

Flash Harry n British

a show-off, a flamboyant or boastful person. The identity of the eponymous Harry is unknown.

flash the ash vb British

to offer a cigarette. Usually the expression is in the form of a request or demand.

flat adj British

penniless. A shortened form of the colloquial ‘flat broke’, heard in raffish speech of the late 1980s.

flatlining adj

drunk. The term is medical jargon for the state of a patient whose vital signs have disappeared, leaving only a flat trace on monitoring screens.

flave adj American

fashionable, stylish, cool. A vogue term among rappers and hip hop aficionados in the early 1990s, the word is an abbreviated form of the earlier word ‘flavor’, denoting personal style.

flavour of the month n

the current favourite or fashionable person or thing. An expression which usually expresses a scathing or critical attitude to fads or ephemeral popularity. (It derives from the use of the phrase in advertising ice cream in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s.)

fleabag n

a.a cheap, dirty hotel

b.a scruffy, dirty person or animal

c.an old sleeping bag or bed

fleapit n

a cheap, dirty cinema. Originally the term usually referred to the front-stalls section and the ‘pit’ in front of the screen. Before World War II, in the case of rural cinemas especially, the term was often a literal description.

flex n British

energy, enthusiasm. A term from the jargon of dancefloor and acid house aficionados in the 1990s.

Give it flex!

flexin’ n

showing off, acting ostentatiously. A vogue term in club culture since the later 1990s, by 2001 also in use among UK schoolchildren.

flick n

a film. This word was first common slang, then trade jargon in the film business and now, via such American magazines as Variety, is emerging again as a general term for a film. (For the derivation see flicks.)

See also skinflick

flicking adj British

an intensifying adjective, a euphemism for fucking. It is used, e.g., by schoolgirls and adult women.

‘I can lay any amount of hands on them – no flicking danger.’

(An Evening with Victoria Wood, British TV programme, 1988)

flicks, the flicks n pl

the cinema, films. An early slang term in all English-speaking countries, derived from ‘flicker’ or from the homemade moving pictures made by flicking cards. This form of the word is now obsolete in the USA and has rarely been heard in Britain or Australia since the early 1960s. The singular form flick is still current.

We’re going down the flicks tomorrow night.

flid n British

a stupid person. The word was reported as being in use among schoolchildren by the sociolinguist Peter Trudgill in his 1990 work Bad Language, but seems to have arisen in the 1970s. It may be an arbitrary coinage, an obscure dialect term or, alternatively, a conflation of ‘flip one’s lid’ or, some suggest, of ‘thalidomide (victim)’.

flim-flam vb, n

(to attempt) trickery or deceit, specifically a confidence trick involving a tall story. The word, which is in use in Britain, but more widespread in the USA, probably comes, via Scottish dialect, from an old Scandinavian word flim meaning mockery. The added second syllable is an example of a common linguistic change in comical words (such as knick-knack, etc.) known as ‘reduplication’.

‘I can smell flim-flam, right down to the paperclips you make me buy.’

(Columbo, US TV series, 1976)

fling vb, n British

1. (to give someone) a bribe, illicit payment. A piece of criminal and police jargon which is a more recent coinage inspired by bung.

We’ll have to fling him to square it. I’d need a fling in that case.

2. an affair, usually extramarital

flip, flip out vb

to lose control, either through delight, anger, etc., under the influence of an illicit drug, or during the course of a nervous breakdown. Both words spread from American English to world English in the 1960s and derive from the earlier ‘flip one’s wig’ or ‘flip one’s lid’, in use in the late 1940s and 1950s among hipsters, jazz enthusiasts and beatniks. To flip out

was used to describe temporary insanity caused by LSD in the early days of the hippy era. The term is now old-fashioned (although surviving in French, particularly in the form flippé).

‘He was worried about his mother, though. The old lady was flipping out.’

(Requiem for a Dream, Hubert Selby Jr., 1979)

flipping adj British

a euphemism for fucking used as a mild intensifier, especially in such phrases as ‘flipping hell’ or ‘flipping heck’

‘“Stop standing there dreaming, lass”, shouts Dad, “and get the top orf this flipping bottle of ’arp”.’

(Town magazine, May 1964)

FLK n

‘funny looking kid’ in medical shorthand, a jocular version of ‘possible dysmorphology’ as written, e.g., on a paediatric patient’s notes

floating adj

euphoric, especially from the effects of illicit drugs. A now dated term common in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

flob vb British

to spit. An echoic term heard among schoolchildren since the 1950s.

flog vb

to sell. A common colloquialism in Britain which would still be considered slang by some speakers. The word originally referred to selling off military stores illicitly and is said to derive from a 19th-century army expression to ‘flog the clock’, meaning to put the clock forward to shorten the working day, later extended to other devious behaviour.

flog the lizard / log / dong / meat / mutton / bishop vb

to masturbate. Colourful expressions used of, and usually by, men. The verb to flog was employed in the formation of a large number of slang terms in the 18th and 19th centuries.

flook n American

an unattractive and/or unpopular person. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

floored adj British

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

floozy, floosie n

a disreputable, immoral, ‘loose-living’ or frivolous female. A late-19th-century

word which is still in use (now usually said lightheartedly). The word originated in the USA, but by the end of World War II was in widespread use elsewhere. It is probably a deformation of ‘flossy’, an archaic word for a prostitute (itself deriving from ‘flossy’, meaning ‘showy’, or from the female nickname).

flop1 n

1.a place to sleep, a temporary bed or shelter. Especially in the USA the term has been used by vagrants since the early 20th century.

2.excreta. Probably originating in the USA, where dogflop is heard, this euphemism is paralleled by the British plop(s).

flop2 vb

1.to collapse exhausted, go to bed

2.to consent to sex. In this sense the word has been used, albeit rarely, in the USA at least since Raymond Chandler’s private eye Philip Marlowe said of a woman that she would ‘flop at the drop of a hat’.

flophouse n

a cheap hotel or dormitory for vagrants. Originally an Americanism, the word is now part of international English.

floss1 n American

abbreviated female underwear; a G- string or thong. The colloquial shortening of ‘dental floss’ was used by females from the late 1980s to refer to thongs (in the sense in underwear).

floss2 vb American

(of a female) to behave ostentatiously and/or offensively, usually in public. The term was popularised by its use by singer Jennifer Lopez. By 2002 it was also heard in the UK.

flossed-up adj American

dressed ostentatiously, presenting an extravagant or elegant appearance. The term has been widespread since 2000.

flossie, flossy adj, n

(behaving like) an ostentatious, pretentious or otherwise obnoxious female. Said to derive originally from floss in the sense of thong underwear, the term is used by females in the UK and USA of those they disapprove of.

flub vb

to fail, blunder. The word, of uncertain origin, was recorded among computer

specialists and rave devotees in the 1990s.

fluff1 n

1.nonsense, rubbish

‘…so stop chattin’ fluff!’

(Recorded, contributor to www.wassup.com, November 2003)

2.See bit of fluff

fluff2 vb

1a. to stimulate sexually. The term, from the jargon of pornographers, refers to assisting the male performer to an erection before filming.

1b. to arouse, excite

‘Here, fluffing the crowd for Thirteen Senses, Liverpool’s Afterkicks steal the night.’

(NME, 28 March 2005)

2. British a euphemism for fuck, used in the form fluffing as an intensifying adjective or in the expression ‘fluff off!’ (an exclamation delivered at journalists by Prince Philip in October 1987)

fluff3 adj American

easy, unchallenging. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

fluffing adj British

a mild euphemism for flaming or fucking, when used as intensifiers

fluffy n British

marihuana. The term was recorded in 2002.

fly1 adj American

streetwise, fashionable. A vogue term in black street slang of the mid-1980s, later used by whites.

‘You fly, you cool: too much macho man fu’ one woman.’

(LA Takedown, US film, 1989) fly2 n American

a.a cool male

b.an unfortunate male who thinks he is cool

fly a kite vb

to issue a worthless cheque. Originally an underworld term from the jargon of fraudsters, the expression is now a common colloquialism with the meaning of presenting any dubious scheme or idea for approval. It retains its original meaning in criminal and police parlance.

fly-girl n American

the female counterpart of a B-boy

FMBs n pl British

calf-length boots for females. The abbreviation is for ‘fuck-me boots’ and was recorded in 2000.

See also fuck-me shoes

fod n British

the forehead. A schoolchildren’s conflation.

fodder n British

food. A lighthearted or hearty usage, heard typically among middleand upper-class speakers.

folderol n

fuss, complications, ‘argy-bargy’. ‘Fol- de-rol’ and ‘falderal’ are nonsense words used in popular songs in former times.

folding stuff, the folding stuff n

money, banknotes. A common lighthearted euphemism.

‘The Cali cartel has a gentler reputation, first offering large amounts of the folding stuff and abhorring murder unless it is absolutely necessary.’

(Independent, 12 September 1989)

fomp vb American

to engage in sexual horseplay, heavy petting. The word was popular among college students in the later 1990s but its derivation is unclear.

foodist n Caribbean a glutton

foo-foo n See fufu

foofy adj

‘prissy’, conceited

fool around vb American

to commit a sexual indiscretion, typically adultery. A common euphemistic use of the expression, heard particularly among middle-class and middle-aged speakers since the 1960s. The term in this specific sense has not caught on outside the USA.

foolio n

a foolish person. A lighthearted insult in use since 2000, employing a mock-Ital- ian termination (as in Coolio, the nickname of a well-known US rapper).

footsie n See play footsie

footy n

football. An abbreviated form popular in Australasia and in Britain where it is now more common than the older footer (which persists in public-school usage).

foozling adj

a.clumsy, bungled

b.trivial, footling. From the verb foozle meaning to play or move clumsily or bungle; itself from the German fuseln, meaning to work carelessly.

form n British

a criminal record. A police and underworld term derived from the language of the racetrack where it refers to a record or reputation based on past performance.

Has he got any form?

fornicating adj British

a jocular euphemism for fucking (as an intensifying adjective)

I’m fed up hearing about his fornicating job!

foul adj American

immoral, unacceptable. The standard term was appropriated by black street slang as a general indication of disapproval.

four-by-two, forby n British

a Jew. London rhyming slang in current usage. A descriptive, rather than an intrinsically offensive term. A four-by- two is a standard size of timber plank used for rafters, etc. (In the USA it is known as a two-by-four.)

four-on-the-floor adj, adv

flat out, extremely, excessively. This term, used typically by the young in the 1980s, comes from the hot rodders’ term for a ‘stick shift’ or four-speed gear system.

When I realised I wanted it, I tell you, I went at it four-on-the-floor.

fox n

a person who is sexually attractive. The word was used in black American slang of the 1940s by men of women (who were also known as ‘minks’). Fox was adopted by white speakers in the 1960s and can now also be said of men by women.

‘She’s a fox and she knows it too.’

(Lyrics to ‘Deborah’, written by Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, 1978)

foxy adj

attractive in a ‘feral’, sexually exciting way. Usually, but not invariably, used of women by men. The word was originally a black Americanism derived from the noun form fox; it is now widely known and used.

‘Lookit all these foxy chicks! Everywhere I turn.’

(Robert Crumb, cartoon in Head Comix, 1970)

fraff n

spoken nonsense. An item of London youth slang recorded for the film Backslang in 2003.

You’re talking fraff.

fragged adj American

ruined or badly damaged. The term derives from the Vietnam-era practice of ‘fragging’ or killing one’s own officers, itself based on ‘fragmentation grenade’.

The fraternity house was totally fragged.

fraggle n British

a new-age traveller or crustie. The term, from the lexicon of the homeless, neo- hippies, etc., denotes an unkempt and/or seemingly deranged youth. It is inspired by the TV puppet series Fraggle Rock.

framed adj

falsely accused, incriminated or convicted of a crime. The term was first used in the USA in the early years of the 20th century.

frame-up, frame n

a situation in which someone is framed. Originally an Americanism from the early years of the century.

francis, frances n American

the buttocks. The derivation of this term, heard in the armed forces and on college campuses, is obscure but it may be a euphemism for fanny.

franger n Australian a condom

Frank n British

a TV remote control. The reference is to the late musician Frank Zappa and zapper.

Pass the Frank, will you. frass

1.untidy

2.smelly, repellent

His crib is well frass.

An item of London youth slang recorded for the film Backslang in 2003.

frat vb, n

1.British a schoolchildren’s alteration of fart

2.(to indulge in) fraternisation

freak1 vb

to lose control of oneself, become hysterical. A shortening of freak out, this term came, in hippy usage of the late 1960s

and early 1970s, to have a negative connotation of alarm or over-reaction.

I told her I was leaving home and she completely freaked.

freak2 n

1. a hippy, a long-haired (if male), nonconformist member of the ‘alternative society’ of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Freak was originally a term of abuse directed by straights at homosexuals and later at those guilty of outlandish behaviour and/or bizarre appearance. The term was quickly adopted by the objects of abuse and used as a badge of pride in themselves. (Hippies almost never referred to themselves as hippies after 1966; freak remained the acceptable epithet until the movement faded in the early to mid-1970s.) The word has now reverted to its original derogatory sense and is applied for instance to sexual deviants.

‘I feel like lettin’ my freak flag [i.e. long hair] fly.’

(Song lyric, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970)

2.(as a suffix -freak) an enthusiast, devotee. From the mid-1970s the word was used in this sense, as in health-freak, eco-freak, etc. It was originally a hippy usage, as in acid-freak. The term now sounds dated and has partially been replaced by the less radical buff.

3.American a sexually active or promiscuous person. This item of black street slang may be used pejoratively or appreciatively.

See also freaky-man

freaking adj

an intensifying adjective, a euphemism for fucking

‘You’re a narc, you’re a freaking narc!’

(Magnum, US TV series, 1981)

freak out vb

to lose one’s self-control, to behave in an outrageous, frantic way. The phrase first described the alarming effect of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD on some users, but was soon extended to any wild behaviour (whether viewed positively or negatively) such as ecstatic dancing. The expression originated in the USA among the first hippies and quickly spread to other English-speaking areas; it was sounding dated by the mid-1970s.

freak-out, freakout n

a bout or scene of wild abandon, selfexpression or loss of control. Originally, in

hippy terminology, it was the result of ingesting hallucinogenic drugs, but later came to refer to any simulation of their effects.

‘These guys that come up and say: “Wouldn’t it be a mind-blower if we got 6,000 million kids in red uniforms and had a big freak-out in the middle of Ealing Common”.’

(Pete Townshend of The Who, interviewed in Oz magazine, June 1969)

freak someone out vb

to alarm, traumatise or ‘transport’ someone. A transitive form of freak out.

‘Coming up next on channel 4: a task that freaks out one of the girls on Big Brother.’

(UK TV announcement, 20 June 2005)

freaky adj

1a. unorthodox, non-conformist, pertaining to freaks

Their awful freaky dancing.

1b. amazing, outstanding, far-out. A term of approval used by freaks.

this freaky chick

2. American upset, unsettled. A 1990s synonym for freaked out or freaking out, used by neo-Valley Girls, e.g., ‘When I saw him I was, like, freaky’.

freaky-deaky adj

a later elaboration of freaky in both senses. This form of the word was generally used pejoratively, condescendingly or sarcastically.

freaky-man n Caribbean

a male homosexual. A pejorative term, like the contemporary chi-chi man.

freckle n Australian

the anus. One of many Australian vulgarities (ace, date, etc.) to denote this anatomical feature.

freebasing n

taking cocaine by mixing the crystals with various volatile solvents, including ether, to form a base which is then smoked in a pipe. This activity is also known as ‘basing’.

‘…the technique known as freebasing, a method of separating the base cocaine from the hydrochloride salt…the result is pure crystals of cocaine…’

(Guardian, 5 September 1989)

french vb

1. to perform oral sex. A jargon term from the world of prostitution and pornography. The word may refer to cunnilingus or fellatio and derives from the British notion that all forms of ‘deviant’ sexual

behaviour are widespread among, if not invented by, the French. This may originate in the widespread accusation or supposition of the spreading of venereal disease by foreign neighbours.

2. to engage in French kissing, in the language of teenagers. In this sense the word is most commonly heard in the USA.

See also Frenching unit

frenchie, frenchy n

a condom. From the now obsolescent ‘French letter’, one of many examples of ascribing anything with sexual connotations to the French. (In French the equivalent is une capote anglaise, meaning an English bonnet or overcoat.)

Frenching unit n American

the mouth or tongue. A humorous euphemism, popular among college students for instance, and derived from the verb, to french, in the sense of tongue kissing or oral sex.

French kiss n

an open-mouthed kiss with tongue contact. A phrase which appeared in British and American speech shortly after World War I, before which there was, perhaps significantly, no equivalent term. Later alternatives were ‘soul kiss’ and tongue sushi.

French safe n Canadian

a condom. The phrase has been heard since the 1970s.

fresh adj American

excellent. A vogue term among teenagers in 1987 and 1988. Teenage argot is in constant need of new terms of approbation but this fairly obvious example (derived probably from its over-use in advertising hyperbole rather than its standard American colloquial sense of cheeky) was still in use after 2000.

‘I’ve got to have that [red carpet] in my crib in LA. That’s fresh to death!’

(Damon Dash, hip hop record producer, quoted in the Sunday Times, 6 June 2004)

freshi n British

a newcomer, unassimilated immigrant, unsophisticated person. An abbreviation of the dismissive phrase ‘fresh off the boat’, used by British Asians.

Compare desi

friar tuck n British

an act of sexual intercourse. A rhymingslang form of fuck.

fridge n British

a male. An item of rhyming slang (‘fridge freezer’, meaning geezer) heard since the 1970s.

fried adj

suffering from the effects of drug intoxication. The term probably derives from the notion of ‘frying one’s brains’, and denotes a state of dangerous disorientation, physical collapse, etc. Baked and toasted are used in the USA in similar senses.

frig vb

1. to masturbate (oneself or another person). The ultimate origin of the word is the Latin fricare, meaning to rub (from which friction is derived), via the Middle English friggen.

‘Friggin’ in the rigging ’cause there’s fuck-all else to do.’

(Chorus from the rugby song ‘The Good Ship Venus’)

2. to have sex (with). Since the 19th century the word has been used as a slightly less offensive alternative to fuck, although this was not its original sense.

The verb is nowadays rarely used in either sense except in the noun or adjectival form frigging.

frigging adj

an intensifier used with adjectives and nouns for emphasis in the same way as bloody or fucking. It is considered substantially more offensive than the former and slightly less offensive than the latter.

‘I was talking to my Canadian niece this very weekend; she (a devout Mormon, 22-ish, not given to profanity) used the word frigging and said, “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting it’s a bad word over here” or words to that effect.’

(Recorded, editor, London, 1989)

frighteners, the n pl See put the frighteners on (someone)

frill n American

a girl or woman. A condescending male term which may be related to the archaic ‘frail’ rather than to a more obvious origin.

frog, froggie n, adj

1. (a person who is) French. The only slang term for this particular nationality dates from the end of the 18th century

when the French were known as ‘frogeaters’.

2. Australian a condom.

See also frenchie

frog (and toad) n British

a road. A piece of London rhyming slang which is occasionally still heard.

‘I’m off down the frog for a pint of pig’s.’

(Recorded, financial journalist, York, 1980)

froggy adj American

aggressive, willing to fight. This item of black street-talk of the 1990s was probably derived from the phrase feel froggy rather than vice versa.

front, the front n British

courage, cheek, effrontery, chutzpah. This use of the word, as opposed to the colloquial senses of bearing or façade, occurs in phrases such as ‘loads of front’ or ‘he’s got more front than Harrods’ (a reference to the large, impressive frontage of the London store).

See also front out/off/it

front (someone) vb Australian

to confront. This abbreviated form from the speech of adolescents was featured in Australian soap operas from 1990.

‘Why don’t you just front her about it.’

(Neighbours, Australian TV soap opera, December 1991)

front bottom, front bum n

the female genitals. A term used by young children of both sexes and, often jocularly, by some adults in Britain and Australia.

front out/off/it vb

a. to face up to someone or something, either with courage or bluff

She decided to front him out.

b. to behave aggressively or over-asser- tively. An activity of young working-class males, often containing an implicit invitation to violence.

‘He was fronting out down our boozer, so me and a couple of mates gave him a good kicking.’

(Recorded, youth, London, 1988)

The phrase in both its senses was popular in the 1980s in Britain, and became a vogue term in US black slang of the 1990s.

front-wheel skid, front-wheeler, fronter n British

a Jew. A racist London rhyming-slang term of the 1970s and 1980s. The rhyme is on yid.

frost1 vb

a.to snub or ignore

b.to anger or irritate

Both senses have been in use (based on social coolness, ‘chilling’ or ‘freezing’) since the 19th century. The word is currently fashionable in teenage use in the USA.

frost2 n

1.a failure, a woeful example of inadequacy. This fairly rare usage of the word occurs in educated speech, particularly in reference to a disappointing performance (e.g. in the theatre; it may originate in a literary or Shakespearean ‘killing frost’).

2.a snub or silent rebuff. This sense of the word derives from the verb form, currently in vogue among adolescents, particularly in the USA.

frost-top n American

an elderly person. This item of adult and family slang often refers to a relative. Synonyms are cotton-top and moss-back.

frowdy n, adj British

(someone) dull, unattractive. The term, probably a blend of ‘frump(ish)’ and ‘dowdy’, was in use among teenage girls in 2001.

frowsy adj

unpleasant, nasty. The word, used by UK adolescents since around 2000, may be an alteration or mis-hearing of the archaic ‘frowsty’ which, since the 19th century, has meant smelly, stuffy, oppressive.

fruit n American

1.a male homosexual. From the idea of exotic, ‘ripe’, etc. A common term of abuse in the USA since the early 20th century.

2.an eccentric person. A shortening of fruitcake.

fruitcake n

1.an eccentric or crazy person. This is a term from the late 1960s, originating in the 1950s catchphrase, ‘as nutty as a fruitcake’.

2.American a male homosexual. An elaboration of fruit.

fruit-fly n American

a.a male homosexual. An elaboration of fruit and synonym of fruitcake.

b.a woman who frequents or escorts male homosexuals, a fag-hag

fruity adj

1.British sexually suggestive or provocative. In the former sense the word has become a common colloquialism, as in fruity jokes/stories, etc. In the latter sense it remains a more restricted slang term in use especially among British cockneys and their imitators.

2.American strange or eccentric. The word is often used adverbially as in ‘acting fruity’. It presumably derives from the noun fruitcake.

fry vb American

a.to execute someone by electrocution in the electric chair

b.to punish or chastise someone. A college students’ and armed-forces recruits’ term, used in such expressions as ‘he got fried’ or ‘they fried her ass’.

fubar n

a spectacular instance of incompetence, a hopeless mess. The term originated as an acronym standing for ‘fucked up’ or ‘fouled up beyond all recognition’. It probably originated in armed-forces usage like the similar snafu and is now heard particularly in US campus and office speech.

fuck1 vb

1. to have sex with. The most commonly used ‘four-letter’ word, used intransitively (‘let’s fuck’) and transitively (‘he fucked her/him’); now also used of women (‘she fucked him/her’). Surprisingly, the age and origins of this word are obscure. It may not be Anglo-Saxon as is often supposed (it was not recorded in writing until the 16th century) and does not occur in Chaucer and Shakespeare, but may have been borrowed from Norse (fukkar in Norwegian, fockar in Swedish). Wherever and whenever the word entered English, it is undoubtedly related to a pattern of words in Indo-European languages which give, among many others, the Latin pungere (meaning to prick), the German ficken (meaning to fuck or strike) and the French foutre (meaning to fuck). The common semantic feature of these words is that they all contain the meanings strike, push or prick.

Fuck has always been a taboo word in all English-speaking countries and is still omitted from broadcasts and generally asterisked if written in the press. In the late 20th century the verb often had the more specialised sense of ‘habitually copulate’

or ‘be sexually willing’ as in ‘does she fuck?’

2. to make a mess of, destroy. A 1980s shortening of fuck up with slightly more emphatic or drastic connotations.

They fucked the experiment totally.

3. to damn or disregard

‘Fuck art, let’s dance!’

(T-shirt slogan of the 1970s) fuck2 n

a.an act of sexual intercourse. The noun postdates the verb by at least three hundred years.

b.a person when evaluated as a sexual partner

a good fuck/an easy fuck

c. a person, especially when viewed as a fool, victim, villain, etc.

The poor dumb fuck didn’t have a chance.

fuck-a-duck! exclamation

a virtually meaningless expression of surprise or disbelief

fuck-all n British

nothing or almost nothing. An emphatic vulgarism.

‘He walked away with two hundred thousand and I got fuck-all.’

(Recorded, businessman, London, 1987)

fuck around/about vb

to play the fool, behave irresponsibly or irresolutely

OK, let’s stop fucking around and get down to work.

fucked adj

a. (of things) ruined, destroyed, rendered useless

This typewriter is completely fucked.

b. (of people) completely exhausted, beaten or at a loss

I’m feeling fucked. fucked-up adj

a.(of things or situations) in a mess, destroyed, spoilt or ruined. Originally the expression meant seduced and abandoned.

b.(of people) psychologically disturbed, traumatized

‘Sadowitz will soon revert to being the fucked-up nonentity he must have been before people like you started dressing him up in the Emperor’s New Clothes.’

(Letter to Time Out, December 1987)

c. (of people) temporarily deranged by drugs or drink (not necessarily a negative term)

I got really fucked-up on that dope.

fucker n

a person. the word does not invariably imply dislike or contempt, although it may.

The poor fucker never stood a chance.

See also motherfucker

fuckhead n

a stupid or unpleasant person. A term of abuse popular since the 1980s and usually applied to males.

fucking adj

an intensifier used with other adjectives for emphasis. Like bloody it is also one of the very few examples of an ‘infix’ (a word component inserted before the stressed syllable in the middle of a polysyllabic word) in English.

Jesus, it’s fucking cold in here. Abso-fucking-lutely!

fuck-me shoes n pl

provocative female footwear. This obscure term received extensive publicity at the end of 1995 when the former feminist writer Germaine Greer accused the Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore of betraying feminist principles by wearing ‘fuck-me shoes’ among other items. The phrase probably originated in American usage but may be a confusion with ‘fuck-you shoes’, implying a disregard for convention or propriety, or ‘fuck-off shoes’, where fuck-off means both outsize and aggressive.

fucknuckle n

a term of abuse, used of males. The second component is included merely for the purpose of reduplication of sound and signifies nothing.

fuck off vb

to leave, go away. A vulgarism that is used in regular verb forms and as an interjection.

Why don’t you just fuck off!

fuckoff n American

a useless, hopeless or idle person

fuck-off money n

funds with which to escape, retire, etc.

fuck (someone) over vb

to humiliate, discomfit, distress or destroy someone or something

‘Once the income tax guys get their hands on you they can really fuck you over.’

(Recorded, self-employed male, London, 1988)

fuckpig n

a very unpleasant, worthless or contemptible person. This is the British version of the American pigfucker. It has been part of the London working-class slang repertoire since the 19th century.

fuck truck n

another term for passion wagon

fuck up vb

1. to make a mess of things, commit a serious error or blunder

Don’t tell me, you’ve fucked up yet again.

2.See snafu

3.also fuck (someone) up to create an emotional disturbance (in someone), traumatise

‘They fuck you up, your mum and dad.’

(Philip Larkin, This be the Verse) fuck-up n

a.a disaster, blunder, error or failure

b.a bungler or blunderer

c.someone who is emotionally or psychologically disturbed

fuckwit n

an idiot, a halfwit. An Australianism which has caught on in British use since the late 1970s. It usually expresses exasperated contempt.

The guy’s a complete fuckwit.

fuckwitted adj Australian hopelessly stupid, dim-witted

fudge-nudger n British

a male homosexual. The term was one of many synonyms based on the notion of excrement (others include turd burglar, chutney-ferret and jobbie-jabber), denoting ‘active’ or ‘predatory’ homosexuality, heard since the 1990s.

fudgepacker n British

a homosexual. A derisive late 1980s term employing fudge as an image for excrement and equating homosexuality with buggery, on the same pattern as browniehound, chocolate bandit, etc.

fudge-tunnel n British

the anus. The vulgar euphemism was adopted as the name of a British grunge band in the early 1990s.

fufu n

the vagina. The term has been recorded in the USA and UK since 2000. It may originate as, or imitate, baby talk.

fuggin’ adj

a euphemism for fucking

fugly adj American

ugly, repellent. Although the word, which is popular in campus speech, is blended from ‘fucking ugly’, it is generally milder than its components imply.

God, that’s some fugly dog she’s got.

full (as a boot/bull/bull’s bum) adj Australian

drunk. Full or ‘full as a tick’ were euphemisms for drunk in Britain in the 19th century, but are now obsolete. Earlier Australianisms on the same pattern were ‘full as an egg’ and ‘full as a goat’.

full as a state school adj Australian drunk. A more recent variation of expressions based on the notion of full (of drink), heard during the late 1980s, but perhaps older.

full monty, the n British

all that is desired and/or required. The previously obscure phrase suddenly became extremely popular in 1990 and 1991 and many derivations were proposed, ranging from a nickname given to inhabitants of the Potteries region of England to a comment on the quality of the wartime briefings given by the British General Montgomery in North Africa. In fact, the most likely explanation of the phrase is that it is a piece of gamblers’ jargon meaning the entire kitty or necessary ‘pot’ to be bet, from the Spanish monte (mountain). In the US ‘monte’ was adopted as the name of a risky card game, while in Australian horseracing circles ‘monty’ used to mean an accurate tip or certain bet.

‘We had starters, main course, wine, you name it – the full monty…’.’

(Recorded, financial consultant, London, May 1993)

full-on adj, adv British

exciting, powerful, with maximum effort. A vogue term among students, particularly in the Midlands during the later 1990s. The expression is used in the same way as the colloquial ‘all-out’.

funbag n

a.a woman, particularly an attractive woman or a potential sexual partner

b.American a prostitute, in 1980s police jargon