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

go off vb

1. American to express enthusiasm and/ or excitement, give vent to strong feelings. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

2a. to be lively, exciting. Usually referring to a party or dance, the phrase can also denote, e.g., exciting surfing conditions.

It was going off down the boathouse bar last night.

2b. British to erupt into violence

‘Then Jimmy spilled Bob’s beer and it all went off.’

(Recorded, Southampton, 2000)

go off on (someone) vb American

to criticise, denigrate, diss. An item of black slang of the 1990s, also adopted by younger white speakers.

goof off vb American

to avoid responsibility, refuse to take things seriously. An Americanism since the 1940s, the word was briefly adopted by British beatniks in the early 1960s but did not establish itself.

goof up vb American

to make a mistake, blunder. An elaboration of goof.

goo-gobs n American

a large quantity of money, used in the phrase ‘to make goo-gobs’. An item of black street slang that was reported by US linguists to be obsolete by the end of the 1960s, but which was revived in 1990s usage.

googy-egg, googie, goog n Australian an egg. A piece of ‘baby talk’ transferred from the nursery to facetious adult usage.

gook n

1. American a North Vietnamese or any Oriental person. A derogatory term widely used by American soldiers in the Vietnam War, but originating much earlier, probably in the Filipino uprising of 1899 in which US troops referred to Filipinos as ‘gugus’, from a native word meaning tutelary spirit. Coincidentally, kuk is a Korean word-ending meaning person, and gook was also heard in the Korean conflict.

‘…dinks, gooks, slopes – all sorts of slang to dehumanize them.’

(Veteran of My Lai massacre, Channel 4 TV, 22 June 1988)

2. an alternative spelling of guck

goolies, ghoulies n pl British

the testicles. In northern Indian languages gooli means pellet or pill. The

word was picked up by British colonial troops at the turn of the 20th century as a euphemism for testicle. This sense was reinforced by a more circuitous route; the gypsies’ language, Romany, also adopted the Indian word gooli, from which the English and Australian schoolchildren’s word ‘gully’, for a marble, derived. Marbles itself was a common euphemism for the testicles.

‘The temperature further increased each time we dipped a deep fried fish ball into the special Oh’ Boy sauce. “It’s enough to take your goolies off”, gasped my sister- in-law.’

(Craig Brown, Sunday Times magazine, 8 October 1989)

goomba, gumba n American

a friend or associate. The word has been widely used, mainly by males, in many social contexts. It is often assumed to have an Afro-Caribbean origin, but one authority, Robert L. Chapman, derives it from a dialect pronunciation of the Italian compare (a ‘comrade’ or ‘relation’).

goon n

a.a foolish, clumsy or clownish person. This sense of the word was popularised in Britain by the zany radio series The Goon Show in the 1950s, and was earlier used in the Popeye cartoons for ‘Alice the Goon’, a huge dull-witted character. This in turn was probably influenced by a preexisting word in British dialect meaning vacuous or simple (and distantly related to ‘yawn’). Since 2000 the expression ‘you goon!’ has been used by British adolescents to indicate strong dislike or disdain.

b.a thug. The word was already being used in this sense in the USA in the late 1930s, typically of hired strike-breakers. It was later applied particularly to strongarm men of low intelligence used by gangsters to intimidate or punish.

‘Tell Simpson to get his goons to lay off – then we’ll talk.’

(Rockford Files, US TV series, 1978)

go (out) on the cotton wool vb See on the cotton wool

goony n American

a foolish person. A variant form of goon, mainly heard among children and teenagers.

gooper n American

a gob of spit. This is probably a variant form of goober.

goopy adj

foolish, clumsy or unfortunate. An uncommon adjective influenced by goop and goofy.

‘To keep goopy stills from love scenes out of circulation, his contracts stipulate that the studio can’t release his photograph without his approval.’

(Elle magazine, May 1989)

gooseberry n British See play gooseberry

goosegog n British

a gooseberry, in the literal sense. A nursery term also used by adults and teenagers.

go pear-shaped vb British See pearshaped

go postal vb See postal gopping adj British

1.dirty, disgusting

2.drunk

A term popular (in both senses) among younger speakers since 2000. Its derivation is obscure.

gora n See ghora

go raggo vb See raggo

Gorbals kiss n British

a head-butt. The phrase, a synonym of Glasgow kiss, refers to the formerly notoriously violent working-class district in that city.

gorge adj

very attractive. A shortened form of ‘gorgeous’ used especially by middle-class speakers in both the UK and the USA since 2000.

gorilla-finger n Australian

a joint, especially a large one. The phrase was recorded in the early 1990s.

‘When we’ve packed up, we’ll roll up the first gorilla-finger of the evening.’

(Recorded, Australian sound engineer, London, September 1993)

gorked out, gawked out adj American incapable, intoxicated, disoriented. The word was featured in the 1990 US film,

Donor.

goss n British

gossip (in the sense of rumour, scandal and chatter, not of a person). A vogue term which appeared around 1988 and established itself in the language of teenagers and writers in teenage magazines. Although the shortened form resembles the abbreviated journalese of Variety magazine in the USA, it appears to be a native British coinage.

‘A triff new weekly mag with all the goss on your fave TV stars.’

(BBC TV advertisement for Fast Forward magazine, 1989)

go the full distance vb

to be arrested, tried, convicted and sent to prison. A euphemism heard among the criminal fraternity and the police in the 1970s and 1980s. The metaphor is taken from boxing jargon.

go through the slips vb British

to renege on (a deal). An item of underworld slang from the 1990s. The term refers either to a cricket ball passing near the wicket or to an escape near the ‘slips’ (wings) of a theatre.

go tits-up vb American

a.to die

b.to be ruined, bankrupted, defeated, etc.

In both senses the expression is a vulgar version of the more common go belly-up.

go troppo vb Australian See troppo

go twos vb

to share, ‘go halves/half-and-half’

‘Lets go twos on the shopping.’

(Recorded, London student, 2003)

gouge vb American

to intimidate, damage, do down. A business term of the 1980s.

gouged adj British

intoxicated by drugs, the term especially denotes someone stoned on ecstasy

gouger n Irish

a yob, lout or thug. The word is Dublin slang, heard since the 1980s.

gouing n British

lying. A term of uncertain origin in use among West London students in 2000.

gourd n American

the head. The word is almost always heard in the phrase ‘out of one’s gourd’.

governor n British See guvnor

go walkabout vb

to daydream, lose concentration. The term derives from the Australian Aboriginal practice of leaving the community to go into the bush on a mystical quest (when they are said to ‘go walkabout’). It was applied by journalists to the tendency of the tennis player, Evonne Goolagong, to allow her concentration to slip during matches and now is applied to any sort of aberrant mental behaviour.

gozunder n See gazunda

grab vb

to kiss. In this sense the word has been used by British adolescents since the late 1990s.

graft1 n

1a. work, particularly hard, unrelenting or persistent work

1b. a job, one’s occupation

2. American dishonesty, bribery, or peddling influence in public or political life

Both the British and American senses of the word ultimately derive from a British dialect word descended from the AngloSaxon verb grafan, related to grave and meaning to dig.

graft2 vb British

a.to work, in particular to work hard and constantly

b.to engage in clever, devious or dishonest money-making schemes, especially those involving selling in street markets, fairs, etc.

c.to pursue criminal activities

All the senses of graft originate in a dialect word meaning to dig, from the AngloSaxon verb grafan.

grand1 n

a thousand pounds or a thousand dollars. The word originated in the jargon of American sportsmen, gamblers and, later, criminals. It was adopted in the same milieus in Britain by 1950.

‘Zackerman rings and – this’ll make you smile – he goes, he goes, I’ll give you a hundred grand plus the car and that, and fifty in your hand.’

(Serious Money, play by Caryl Churchill, 1987)

grand2 vb South African

to appreciate. In this sense the word was recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

Well, I don’t grand your joke.

grandstand vb American

to put on a bravura display, show off to an audience. The expression comes from the world of sport and was originally an Americanism. It is often used as an adjective as in ‘a grandstand play’.

granola n American

a keen environmentalist or a person dressing like one. This campus categorisation (often pejorative) appropriates the name of a health-food cereal. It is a syn-

onym for earth biscuit, duck-squeezer, etc.

grass n

1. herbal cannabis, marihuana. British smokers traditionally preferred hashish, but began to import more marihuana in the mid-1960s. Grass was the predominant American term and had largely supplanted bush, pot, herb, etc. in British speech by 1970.

‘They’re saying cannabis drives you crazy, but I can’t see that applying to just grass.’

(Teenage smoker, London, June 2005)

2. British an informer. Originally the expression was ‘grasshopper’ as rhyming slang for copper; the meaning was then transferred to the ‘copper’s nark’ or informer and by the 1940s grass had become established in the underworld lexicon. By the 1970s the word was also widespread among schoolchildren and others. ‘Supergrass’ was a journalese elaboration denoting a highly significant informer.

grass (someone up) vb British

to inform on or betray (someone) to the police or authorities. The usage was originally to ‘grass on someone’ or to ‘grass to the authorities’. From the 1980s the London underworld expression to ‘grass someone up’ has been used, not least among schoolchildren, who had adopted it from TV police dramas and documentaries. For the etymology see the noun grass.

graunch vb South African

to engage in ‘heavy petting’, fondling or sex play

graze vb

to eat while standing up and/or occupied in some other activity. A piece of yuppie jargon from the late 1980s.

grease1 n American

money. An underworld term of the early 20th century, adopted by beatniks among others and, more recently, by teenagers. From the notion of greasing the wheels of commerce, or money as a social lubricant.

If we had some grease we could hit town this weekend.

grease2 vb American

to kill. The word appears to have had the specific meaning of shoot (probably inspired by ‘grease-gun’) until the

1970s when it acquired its additional and more general sense.

One move and we grease your friend. greaseball n American

a.a person of Hispanic or Mediterranean origin or appearance. An offensive term which has been in use since before World War II.

b.a person, such as a cook or mechanic, who works in literally greasy conditions

grease-monkey n

a mechanic. Partridge dates the term to around 1910. It was still in use in 2004.

greaser n

1.British a rocker, motorcycle enthusiast, a scruffy unfashionable person. A scathing term adopted by mods and students to refer to rockers in 1964. The word has gradually fallen out of use since that time.

2.American a person of Hispanic or Mediterranean origin or appearance. The term refers to a supposedly greasy complexion; it implies great contempt and causes offence.

‘Crazy greasers – they’ve always got bees in their panty hose about something.’

(P. J. O’Rourke writing on Panama in

Holidays in Hell, 1988)

3.a petty criminal, juvenile delinquent, etc., specifically one who wears hair oil, a leather jacket, etc.

4.a toady, sycophant or hypocrite, from the notion of greasiness equated with unctuous, devious behaviour

greasy spoon n

a transport cafe, diner or other cheap restaurant. A mildly derogatory but generally affectionate term for the kind of eating place where most, if not all, of the hot dishes are fried in animal fat. The expression seems to have originated in Canada or the USA in the 1930s.

‘There’s nothing for breakfast except toast. Let’s go down the greasy spoon – I fancy a good grease-up.’

(Recorded, teacher, London, 1987)

grebo, greebo n British

a scruffy young rock-music enthusiast, typically long-haired, unkempt and leather-jacketed. The word was coined in 1985 in the Midlands to describe a youth subgroup of gauche but earnest heavyrock devotees. Grebo does not so much denote a separate cult (its proponents displayed characteristics of rockers, hip-

pies, goths and punks), but is a new term for a pre-existing phenomenon (as in the case of anorak).

‘Greboes drink stout and snakebite, smoke Players No.6 (packets of ten), wear y-fronts and dirty torn jeans, drive big bikes, and go out with girls who don’t shave their armpits.’

(I-D magazine, November 1987)

greek vb, n American

(to engage in) anal sex. The term, from the euphemism ‘greek love’, is invariably used for referring to homosexual behaviour between males.

green1, green stuff n

money. Banknotes of all denominations are green in the USA. In Britain, pound notes were green until replaced by coins in the 1980s.

See also long green green2 n

1.a £5 note or the sum of five pounds. The UK banknote is dark turquoise in colour.

2.weed, from the usual colour of herbal cannabis. A fashionable synonym for the earlier grass, heard especially since 2000.

That was a tasty price for that green.

green (out) vb British

to vomit, especially after smoking cannabis. In use among students since 2000.

Compare white-out

greenback1 n American

a banknote. US paper money is predominantly green in colour.

greenback2 vb American

to subsidise, underwrite, finance. A recent derivation of the well-established noun form, greenback is employed as a novel synonym for bankroll.

green gilbert n British

a thick piece of mucus from the nose. A schoolchildren’s term which has been in use since the 1950s and is now considered respectable enough to be said on television. The choice of Gilbert is due to the supposed inherent comicality of the name and to its echoes of gobbet, glutinous, etc.

greenie n

1.British an old term for a one-pound note. From the predominant colour.

2.American a (Heineken) beer. A preppie term, often extended to refer to other

brands, from the colour of the bottle and label of the popular import.

green welly, green-welly brigade adj, n British

(in the style of or characteristic of) upper-middle-class young people who indulge in country pursuits such as riding and hunting and who typically wear Barbour jackets and green wellington boots. The term ‘green-welly brigade’ is used pejoratively to refer to wealthy townspeople who visit the country at weekends (usually staying in second homes), and comments on their habit of ‘dressing-down’ in a pseudo-country style.

greezy adj

excellent. The vogue term is used by UK adolescents and may be a blend of great and easy. ‘It means I’m doing well, everything is good’. (Recorded, student, London, 2003).

gregory n British

a cheque. A piece of rhyming slang from the late 1980s, playing on the name of the film star Gregory Peck. The same rhyme has also been recorded with the alternative meaning of ‘neck’, but this, given the rarity of conversations concerning that part of the body, seems unlikely to supplant the financial sense.

‘I’m just popping out to sausage [and mash: cash] a gregory.’

(Recorded, property speculator, Bath, 1988)

greldge, grelge n American

an unpleasant substance, dirt. An item of middle-class slang used by adults as well as adolescents. It was recorded from the early 1990s and appears to be formed from such terms as grease, filth and grunge.

grem, gremmie n Australian

a.a novice or incompetent surfer

b.a novice or incompetent skateboarder

A teenage term imported into Britain in the late 1970s. The variant forms are probably based on gremlin.

gremlin n

an unexplained flaw, malfunction or error. A word used particularly by British soldiers in World War I and American airmen in World War II, evoking a malicious spirit. (The word is a form of the Irish gruaimin, meaning a bad-tem- pered little fellow.)

grenade n

an unattractive female, especially one who has to be placated in order for a more attractive female to be approached. The use of the term derives from the notion of a heroic act of sacrifice whereby an individual falls upon a live grenade, thereby saving his comrades.

OK, it’s your turn for the grenade.

grey, the grey n

1a. British a conventional, conformist person. A vogue term in British counterculture circles from about 1966 to 1968. The word had the same dismissive or pitying overtones as straight, which had supplanted it by the end of the 1960s.

1b. British the grey the collective mass of conformists, dullards and authority figures, as opposed to the (literally as well as metaphorically) colourful hippies

2. American the ‘white’ man. A derisive term used by blacks.

greybar n

a period of inactivity. An item of net-head jargon referring to sitting before a grey screen waiting for a display.

greybeard n

1.an ‘old-timer’. The word probably originates (as ‘graybeard’) in the USA where it is a jargon term for a long-serving senior officer in various fields, such as civil aviation, from the literary term for an old man.

2.See longbeard

grid n British

the mouth. The term, which is heard in northern speech, is almost invariably heard in the phrase ‘shut your grid!’.

G-ride n American

a stolen car. An item of black street-talk that was included in so-called Ebonics, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996.

griefy adj British

depressing, troublesome. A fairly rare middle-class teenage and student term from the early 1970s.

‘I mean we’ve all tried to fly from upstairs windows…we know those griefy scenes, man!’

(‘American ethno-botanist’ in cartoon by Posy Simmonds, Guardian, 1980)

grievous adj British

a.annoying

b.unattractive or unappealing

The standard term was adopted as a vogue term of disapproval by adolescents in the later 1990s.

grifter n American

an untrustworthy, suspect or dishonest person, typically a gambler or minor fraudster. Grifter is a word from the early 20th century which is a blend of ‘graft’ and ‘drifter’. It was used by Raymond Chandler in his detective fiction and was still occasionally heard in the late 1980s.

grill1 vb

1.to interrogate. Police and armedforces slang of the 1950s which has become a widely used colloquialism.

2.American to intrude upon someone’s personal space, from the noun form. A fashionable usage among adolescents since around 2002.

grill2 n American

a.the teeth, mouth. The reference is to the radiator grille of a car, often in the form ‘(all) up in someone’s grill’ (engaged in confrontation or harassment).

b.one’s personal space, face. The word has been in vogue in hip hop and rap milieus since around 2000.

grim adj British

extremely unpleasant, disgusting. The standard term was adopted as a vogue term of disapproval by adolescents from the later 1990s.

grimy adj American

thuggish in demeanour, from the language of hip hop. The term can be used appreciatively or, probably less often, pejoratively. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000 and since around 2004 by British teenagers, invariably as a term of admiration or approval.

grind n

1.an act of sexual intercourse. A widespread vulgarism since the 1960s, the word has been used with a sexual connotation since the 16th century.

2.American a swot, a tediously diligent student, in high-school and college terminology

3.the quotidian reality, an oppressive routine, as in the ‘daily grind’

grindage n American

food. One of many items of adolescent slang using the -age suffix, fashionable in the 1990s.

grinding n

rubbing one’s body against a partner for sexual stimulus. The term applies particularly to dancing and usually refers to males. Crubbing is a synonym.

grip1 vb

to steal. A term used by young streetgang members in London since around 2000.

grip2 n American

1.a large crowd a grip of people

2.money. In this sense the word was recorded in student usage in 2003.

grippa, gripa adv American

extremely. A vogue synonym of hella and ganga recorded on campus in 2002.

Hey that ride is grippa tight!

grizzer n South African

a mother, matriarch or elderly lady. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

gro, groe n American

a black person. The racist epithet is a clipped form of ‘negro’. In the UK groid has been used in the same way.

grobber n British

an obnoxious, repulsive individual. The term was first recorded in the 1960s and may be related to the verb ‘to grub’.

groceries n pl See blow one’s cookies/ doughnuts/groceries/lunch/grits

grockle n British

an unwelcome outsider, tourist or visitor. A Devon dialect term applied contemptuously to summer visitors by local residents since the 1960s. The word has been adopted by the many non-native hippies and travellers living in the West Country to refer to anyone who is not approved of. (The term has also been heard in other parts of Britain.) Grockle is claimed to derive from the name of the famous clown ‘Grock’. In Cornwall the equivalent is emmet.

‘That unmistakable grockle smell – stale fat and farts.’

(Recorded, resident of Torquay, 1976)

‘We never go in that pub – full of grockles.’

(Recorded, resident of Parracombe, North Devon, 1986)

grody adj American

an American version of grotty, used typically by Valley Girls. A word dating from the mid-1970s which now seems estab-

lished in the teen lexicon. It is often intensified in the phrase ‘grody to the max’.

grog

1. vb, n (to indulge in) alcoholic drink. The noun form, from the rum and hot water served in the British navy since the 18th century, can now refer to any strong drink, or even beer. It is generally heard among middle-aged speakers. The verb ‘to grog / grog up’ (in Australian English to ‘grog on’) is rarer and restricted mainly to a younger age group. It implies heavy and constant imbibing. ‘Old Grog’ (from the grogram, or silk and wool cloak he wore) was the nickname of Admiral Vernon who aroused his sailors by ordering the dilution of their rum ration in 1740.

‘Not realizing one’s dependence on the grog is where the wheels touch the road, eh?’

(‘Edmund Heep’ in a cartoon by Posy Simmonds, Guardian, 1979)

2. vb British to spit. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

groid n

a black person. This racist term of abuse, a shortening of the adjective ‘negroid’, was particularly prevalent in police usage in London in the late 1980s. It also exists in American speech.

‘Travelling around – being an International Knee-grow (or a “groid” as the Met would have it) – thanks chaps!’

(Lenny Henry, Time Out magazine, 26 July 1989)

grolly n, adj British

(someone (usually a male) who is) dull, unattractive, ‘frumpish’. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

grommet, grom n Australian

a young and/or inexperienced person. The term is used by surfers to denote novices, especially those under 16.

gronk n British

an unattractive female. In armedforces’ usage since the 1990s.

groove1 n

1. an enjoyable experience or situation. An Americanism derived from the verb to groove (on) and the adjective groovy. The word was hip jargon of jazz musicians since the 1930s, later becoming part of the hippy lexicon and as such was also

heard outside the USA until the mid1970s. It now sounds very dated.

2. See in the groove

groove2 vb

to experience a sensation of well-being, fellow-feeling, to feel in tune with one’s surroundings. This well-known and characteristic hippy term originates in the slang of jazz musicians and others for whom being in the groove meant being at one with the melody, with one’s fellow players, etc. (like a needle in the groove of a record). The word subsequently became a pivotal one for hippies, for whom it expressed a notion of enjoyable one-ness with one’s environment that hitherto lacked a name. The expression was hackneyed by the time James Taylor was ridiculed by British rock journalists for his declaration at a mid-1970s concert at the Royal Albert Hall that he ‘grooved to the vibes’. To ‘groove on something’ was another typical form.

‘Groovin’ down a crowded avenue/ doin’ anythin’/ we like to do.’

(‘Groovin’, recorded by the Young Rascals, 1967)

groover n

1.a fashionable, dynamic, hip person. A 1960s formation from groovy and the verb to groove.

2.a tedious person, a swot. A probably ephemeral usage of the late 1980s, based on the newly pejorative teenage sense of groovy.

‘Charmless college swots are no longer known as “nerds” but are on the receiving end of a whole variety of new insults including “dweeb”, “geek”, “goober”, “wonk”, “corn-dog”, “goob-a- tron” and “groover”.’

(Independent magazine, 24 December 1988)

groovy adj

1. satisfactory, satisfying, fine. A term of approval, sometimes in the form of a mild exclamation, from the hippy era. The adjective is derived from the verb to groove; originally an American term, it was adopted by British rock musicians, beatniks and, later, hippies from about 1965. Sounding risibly dated in the 1970s and 1980, groovy was revived first for ironic, then appreciative use from around 2000.

‘You see we have a lot of other groovy things going for us, and not just concerning music.’

(Mick Jagger, Record Mirror, 26 August 1967)

2. American tedious, dull. A vogue word among adolescents from 1988. It is probably inspired by the ironic use of the dated term of approbation.

‘Another 1960s catchword, “groovy”, has mysteriously turned into its opposite, now signifying stodgy or old-fashioned.’

(Independent magazine, 24 December 1988)

gross adj

disgusting, distasteful. An Americanism of the mid-1960s, particularly popular among teenage girls. It is a fashionable usage of the standard term (from Latin grossus, meaning thick, via French and Middle English) in its sense of excessive, vulgar or obscene.

‘Like Joan’s, Marlene’s entire range of expression was pretty much limited to “far out”, “super” and “gross”.’

(The Serial, Cyra McFadden, 1976)

gross (someone) out vb American

to disgust or repel (someone). The expression is normally used by a speaker to refer to their own distaste. It is a teenagers’ term, popular since the late 1960s.

‘Would you move your socks. Like out into the patio or something? I mean they’re really grossing me out.’

(The Serial, Cyra McFadden, 1976)

gross-out n American

a disgusting act or situation. A favourite term of teenagers since the mid-1960s, usually said with excited or exaggerated distaste.

‘After totting up the score-sheet of exposed breasts (“garbonzas”), mutilations, rolling heads, gross-outs, autocollisions, he awards a number of stars and puts his seal of approval on a film.’

(Observer, 9 April 1989)

Grosvenor Squares n pl British

rhyming slang for flares, i.e. bell-bottom trousers. This phrase was an ephemeral youth term of the late 1970s used contemptuously of the (by then) unfashionable style and the remnants of the hippy movement who still favoured it. London’s Grosvenor Square, the site of the US embassy, was the scene of peace demonstrations by students and hippies during the Vietnam war. A later, more

lasting, alternative piece of rhyming slang for the same item was Lionel Blairs, followed by Tony Blairs.

‘Belinda has discovered an important pair of “jeans” dating from the late 1960s. These are most certainly rare items, known by collectors as “Grosvenor Squares”.’

(Caption to cartoon by Posy Simmonds,

Guardian, 1981)

grot n British

a. dirt, squalor, unpleasantness. Although this word was a back-formation from the adjective ‘grotty’, it no longer reflects that word’s origin in ‘grotesque’.

I can’t go on living among all this grot.

b.a dirty, slovenly or disreputable person

He really is an awful grot.

grotty adj British

unpleasant, revolting or distasteful. The word became extremely popular in the early 1960s and quickly passed into the middle-class lexicon where it is still found. Grotty, a typically Liverpudlian shortening of ‘grotesque’, became popular among young people, via the influence of the ‘Mersey boom’ in the early 1960s. It was adopted by some Americans in imitation of British usage, although an American form, grody, arose in the 1970s.

grounded adj American

confined to one’s home, deprived of one’s car keys. A popular parental means of chastising American teenagers. The image is of course that of a plane and/or pilot prevented from flying.

‘I can’t go out tonight, I’m grounded too, you know.’

(The Stepford Children, US TV film, 1987)

group-grope n

a group ‘heavy-petting’ session. A teenagers’ term from the early 1960s. The phrase was later applied to full-scale gang bangs or orgies and, scathingly, to group therapy sessions.

groupie n

a girl who associates with or follows a musical group or star. The term originally assumed, and still implies, the sexual availability of the girl. The word and the phenomenon were publicised in the late 1960s, particularly in the semiautobiographical book Groupie by the British writer Jenny Fabian in 1968 and the US film Groupie Girl, 1969.

grouse n, adj Australian

(something) excellent, superlative. This use of the word probably derives from the notion of the bird as a delicacy; also used figuratively to denote an attractive woman since the pre-war period.

grub n

1. food. The word has existed with this meaning since at least the 17th century, inspired by the action of grubbing around.

‘‘At the weigh-in, Reynolds, in the red corner, weighed eight stone, two pounds.’ ‘Give the poor sod some grub!’ (Adolf Hitler, My Part in his Downfall, Spike Milligan, 1971)

2a. Australian a dirty, slovenly person. This sense of the word was in British use until the early 20th century, but is now obsolete there.

2b. British a younger child, especially a grubby or defiant one. From the terminology of prep and public schools.

Both these senses of grub derive from the lowly insect larva.

grues adj British See gruse

gruff vb, n British

(to) fart

grundies n pl British and Australian underpants, perhaps related to the earlier undie-grundie

grunge n

1a. American anything dirty, distasteful, squalid or sordid. This adolescent coinage is now heard in Britain.

‘For Martin Amis is the Wodehouse of grunge…’

(David Sexton, Sunday Correspondent, 17 September 1989)

1b. American a boring or irritating person or task

2. a genre of rock music and subsequently a youth subculture and fashion movement, originating in Seattle in 1992. The earlier senses of the word were applied to the heavy, fuzzy sound of the musical style and to the deliberately scruffy image cultivated by its adherents.

‘Sure, even before Kurt Cobain took his own life last year, whispers of grunge’s death had been patently acknowledged.’

(Guardian, 25 March 1995)

grunt n American

1. a soldier, an army private. A derogatory term sometimes used ironically by the soldiers themselves, deriving from the supposedly low intelligence and pre-

dilection for grumbling of the humble enlisted man or conscript.

‘The grunts were conscious that they were involved in a drug-and-rock ’n’ roll extension. Most of the combatants, black and white, came from the working class.’

(Michael Herr, Observer, 15 January 1989)

2. power. The term is used particularly by car enthusiasts to refer to engine power.

‘The engine size has gone up from 3.4 to 3.6 so there’s plenty of grunt.’

(Top Gear, BBC 2 TV motoring series, 13 February 1997)

gruntled adj

satisfied, gratified. A jocular back-for- mation from the standard ‘disgruntled’ (in which ‘gruntle’ in fact means grumble and is related to grunt). This rare word is typically used by educated speakers, saloon-bar philosophers and amateur or professional comedians.

I was feeling extremely gruntled following my success.

grunt-work n American menial or demeaning job(s)

‘You know, I used to do the grunt-work around here. Now I own the place.’

(Double Cross, US film, 1994)

gruse adj British

unpleasant, repellent. The term is an abbreviation of ‘gruesome’.

‘I watched my mate get her tongue pierced and it was well gruse.’

(Recorded, London student, 2002)

G-thing, G-thang n American

1. a subject or activity characteristic of a gangsta

‘Nothin’ but a G-thang.’

(Title of a rap recording by Dr Dre, 1992)

2. a subject or activity characteristic of males, from the phrase ‘it’s a guy’s thing’

You wouldn’t understand: it’s a G-thing.

gub vb British

a. to hit (someone), especially in the mouth or face

The geezer kept at him and finally Mickey gubbed him.

b.to defeat

Our team got well and truly gubbed.

Both senses of the verb derive from a dialect form of gob meaning mouth. The terms are heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

gubbing n British

a beating. The term, from the verb to gub, is almost always used literally, but can

also be used figuratively to mean a verbal attack.

Gucci adj

flashy, materialistic. The name of the Italian design company, usually employed with (mildly) critical intent, was adopted for use in street and, later, campus slang in the USA in the 1980s. Gucci shoes and handbags were part of the accessories favoured by devotees of the hip hop and rap subcultures. In the slang of the British Officer Training Corps the phrase Gucci kit is used to mock those who bring expensive luggage and accessories to training camps.

guck n

a sticky substance, muck. A mainly American nursery word blending ‘goo’ and ‘muck’. Also spelt gook.

guff vb, n British

(to) fart. An old childish vulgarism which has been revived since the late 1980s as part of a vogue for pseudo-nursery slang among students and others.

‘The force of the gigantic guff you used has wrecked the entire drainage system.’ (Johnny Fartpants, Viz comic, April/May 1988)

guffie n British

a fart. A variation of guff.

guinea n American

an Italian. An offensive term, the origin of which is obscure, but which might derive from a proper name such as Gianni or Giovanni, or else by a tortuous process from the name of the African country (whence slaves were exported).

gumby n

an aggressively gormless, clumsy and/or dull person. From the name of a character personifying these qualities in the TV comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus in the 1970s (in turn partially inspired by Peter Cook’s earlier invention ‘E. L. Wisty’). The personification and name were taken up by British and American teenagers in particular.

gump n American

1.a foolish, clumsy person, a simpleton. This widespread term pre-dated the 1994 film Forrest Gump. It originated in Yorkshire English dialect, in which it denoted a ‘dolt’ and was probably related to the colloquial ‘gumption’.

2.a male prostitute, particularly a transvestite male prostitute, from the slang of Chicago police, recorded in the non-fic-

tion work Pure Cop, 1991. By 2000 it was also in use in the UK.

gumshoe n

a detective, private eye or plain-clothes police officer. The term was first used in the USA early in the 20th century and referred to the silent rubber-soled shoes that detectives supposedly wore, as opposed to uniformed police officers’ heavy boots.

gunge n British

a sticky substance, muck. A slang term of the 1960s which has become a mid- dle-class colloquialism.

gung-ho adj

excessively eager, enthusiastic and/or assertive, especially in the context of patriotism, jingoism and military aggression. This phrase was thought to be a Chinese rallying cry. (The words ‘gung ho’ were part of the Chinese title of an Industrial Cooperative and were assumed wrongly to mean ‘work together’.) It was adopted by the Marine Corps and later for general American military use in World War II. It became known outside the USA to a limited extent during the Korean war and more particularly during the Vietnam war, now being so well known as to constitute a colloquialism rather than a slang term.

gunk n

1.muck, goo, sticky stuff. An American version of the British gunge, now heard in Britain, too. By extension it can also mean debris or rubbish.

2.British a school misfit. A schoolboy term reported to be in use in Eton College by Tatler magazine in September 1989.

gunsel n American

a.a callow youth

b.a gunman

The latter meaning is now more widely encountered, but the former, with overtones of punkishness, comes from the Yiddish slang for young man (gantsel or ganzl: ‘gosling’) and was the sense in which it was used in crime novels and film noir in the 1930s. The second meaning is based on a misreading of the first.

guns of Navarone n pl South African female breasts. The jocular expression from the 1990s borrows the title of a 1961 film featuring giant cliff-top cannons.