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

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out of one’s pram

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These terms became widespread in the mid-1960s, before which synonymous phrases (with the exception of ‘out of one’s mind’) usually began with ‘off’. When the Rolling Stones called their 1965 album Out of Our Heads the phrase was still a lit- tle-known Americanism. The ‘box’ version has been fashionable in Britain since the mid-1970s.

out of one’s pram adj British

out of control, crazy. An alternative form of off one’s trolley, the term has overtones of a childish tantrum or loss of temper rather than true insanity.

out of one’s tree adj

a.crazy, deranged

b.intoxicated by drugs or drink

A colourful variation on out of one’s head that is typically American and Australian. The implication is of someone volubly or energetically crazy or high and chattering like a monkey.

out of order adj British

1. transgressing, beyond the pale

‘“I think you’re well out of order”, he said. Apparently he had been waiting for seven years to see Grace [Jones] again, and was peeved about the extra four hours standing around.’

(Independent, 30 March 1990)

2. incapacitated, particularly by drink or illicit drugs. These extensions of the standard sense of the phrase became fashionable in raffish speech in the early 1970s. The first sense is more often heard in working-class speech, the second, predictably, in the drug-using subcultures.

out sharking n See sharking out to lunch adj

a.crazy, deranged

‘The second most out-to-lunch politburo in the north of England.’

(Private Eye magazine, 27 October 1989)

b. unconscious, incapacitated by drink or drugs. A usage which was particularly popular in Britain around 1975.

out trouting n British

looking for a sexual partner. A vogue term of the mid-1990s heard in raffish usage, particularly among young adults in the advertising industry, journalism and city financial circles. It is based on the derogatory old trout, meaning a woman.

over the top adj, adv British outrageous, bizarre, beyond the bounds of normal behaviour or decorum. The expression equally describes fury, extraordinary generosity or simple bad taste. It derives from the general idea of going ‘off the scale’, of being beyond measurable or acceptable limits, reinforced perhaps by the use of the phrase in World War I to describe troops climbing out of the trenches to go into battle, hence throwing caution to the winds. Often abbreviated to O.T.T., the phrase was a vogue term in 1979.

There’s no point in going over the top about someone like that.

Wearing that dress with those shoes is really over the top.

own goal n British

a suicide. An unsentimental item of police jargon since the 1970s.

Oxo (cube) n British

the Tube, the London Underground railway. The rhyming slang uses the brand name of a concentrated meat-stock product.

He disappeared down the Oxo.

oy-oy, saveloy! exclamation British

a synonym for aye-aye, shepherd’s pie!

oyster n British

a shoplifter. Recorded in 1999 among petty criminals in London, the word may be a cockney pronunciation of ‘hoister’.

Oz n

Australia

P

packed adj

well-hung. The term was used by the British comedian Dawn French in January 1994.

packet n

the male genitals. A term from the gay lexicon, usually referring to the crotch as it appears clothed.

pad1 n

a home. The word now invariably refers to a room, apartment or house. In 17thcentury Britain pad was used by peasants and poor travellers to designate a bed made of straw or rags, while in American slang before 1950 it designated a pallet or couch on which opium smokers or other drug takers reclined; this sense was later extended to encompass any room or place in which drug users gathered, or the beds on which they slept. The dissemination of beatnik-related jargon introduced the word to a wider audience, as did its adoption by the hippy generation.

‘Drop-out pads for the large numbers of people hitting London at the moment looking for the mythical beautiful dreamboat.’

(International Times, April 1968)

pad2 vb, n British

(to go for) a walk

paddle vb

to hit, beat, thrash. This synonym of ‘wallop’ probably derives from the archaic use of the noun paddle to mean both hand and, more rarely, foot. Long before signifying a bat, paddle also denoted a small spade.

Paddy n

an Irish person. A nickname derived from the short form of Patrick, the most common male Christian name in Ireland. It has been used since at least the 18th century. Although the term can be used as an epithet, it may be used descriptively and is also heard among the Irish

themselves, where it is usually a personification of a typical rustic Irishman. An alternative, usually with a slightly more pejorative emphasis, is mick.

‘We Import More Paddies Every Year.’

(Joke acronym for Wimpey, British construction and civil engineering firm)

paddywaggon n

a secure police van, a black maria or a police car. This term was introduced into Britain and Australia from the United States at the end of the 19th century. The reference to paddy reflects the importance of the Irish population of New York and other northern cities in providing police officers at the time, rather than to the number of Irishmen arrested. Meat wagon is a racier, more modern alternative.

paedo, pedo n British

an unpleasant or unfortunate person. This contraction of the term ‘paedophile’ has been adopted as an all-purpose insult in playground parlance since 2000. A synonym is kiddy-fiddler.

pain in the arse/ass n

a nuisance, irritation or source of problems. A vulgar version of ‘pain in the neck’, an expression in use since the early 20th century. (Arse may be substituted by any synonym or balls, etc.)

‘A few drinks and respectable family men, dads, became lecherous pains in the ass.’

(The Switch, Elmore Leonard, 1978) painters n pl See have the decorators in

paki n British

a. a Pakistani. The abbreviation, invariably used in a racist context, began to be heard in the later 1960s.

‘Paki scum go home.’

(Racist graffito, Whitechapel, London, 1980)

b. a shop, usually a supermarket or general store, operated by a Pakistani or other South Asian

paladic

326

‘I’m just off down the paki for a can of beans.’

(Recorded, housewife, London, 1987)

The simple shortening is used, in the first sense, as an offensive racial epithet and in the second sense as a simple descriptive term for the many independent corner stores owned and run by immigrant families. In both senses the word is often applied, loosely, to any immigrant from the subcontinent, including those of Bengali, Indian or Sri Lankan origin.

paladic, palatic adj British

drunk, a light-hearted term of uncertain origin; it may be a corruption of paralytic

palari n British

speech, talk, particularly in camp and theatrical circles. It is a corruption of the Italian parlare or of parlyaree.

palatic adj See paladic

palooka n American

a large, clumsy and/or slow-witted male. Before World War II the word was usually employed to describe a third-rate prizefighter. It was apparently coined by Jack Conway, an ex-baseball player and sports writer. The resemblance to peluca, Spanish for wig, may be coincidental.

‘This big palooka has been trying to get me pregnant every which way but lopsided.’

(The Boss’s Wife, US film, 1986) palookaville n American

a.an out-of-the-way, slow, rustic town, the boondocks. The expression describes the kind of town popularly supposed to be inhabited by palookas.

b.oblivion, ignominy. A metaphorical use, describing the state of mind characteristic of washed-up, punch-drunk prizefighters.

You keep on fighting out of your class, you’re buying a one-way ticket to palookaville.

pan-handle n British

an erection. The term probably dates back to the 1950s, but was popularised in the late 1980s by Viz comic.

panned adj

drunk. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

pansy n

a male homosexual or an effeminate, effete or weak male. A word first used in this context in the 1920s and wellestablished until the late 1960s. It sur-

vives mainly in the speech of the mid- dle-aged and elderly.

pant- combining form British

an affix without specific meaning but used jocularly or for the purposes of ridicule. It can be prefixed to word parts in exclamations (pantlo! [hello], pantbye!), especially by middle-class schoolchildren and students.

pant off exclamation British

go away! An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000

pants n, exclamation, adj British

this all-purpose term of disapproval was a vogue word of 1995 and 1996 among adolescents. (Under)pants had long been a subject for pubescent children’s jokes, a tradition reinforced when the word was picked up by disc-jockeys and comedians, e.g. on the children’s TV programme Alive and Kicking.

‘Pants, said Tom, pants, pants … I’m afraid I think this pants is a very silly word. I must go, I’ve a book to read.’

(Independent, 9 October 1996)

pantsgan n, adj British

a meaningless term (the -gan element is obscure, although one informant claimed that it derives from the female name Megan) employed as an intensifier or sometimes as an exclamation. It was in use among middle-class adolescents in 2001 and 2002.

pants man n Australian

a promiscuous male, seducer or stud

panty adj British

fortunate, lucky and/or attractive. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

Panty him!

panty-man n

a male homosexual. The term, usually pejorative, originates in Caribbean usage. Antiman is a contemporary synonym.

pantywaist adj American

an effete person, sissy or weakling. The term comes from the image of a male wearing women’s underwear or a type of toddler’s one-piece garment of the same name.

paper bag job n

an ugly or unattractive person. The image is of a person who could only be considered as a sexual partner if his or her face were covered. The expression, first heard in the 1960s, probably orig-

327

parlyaree

inated in US high-school or campus usage; it enjoyed a vogue among schoolboys in Britain in 1968 and 1969.

Compare bag one’s face/head

paper-hanger n American

a passer of dud cheques and/or counterfeit money in the jargon of the underworld and police

papers n American money

papes n

money, especially to buy drugs. The short form of papers was probably first used by gang members but by around 2002 was heard on campuses and in financial circles in the USA and UK.

pappy n British

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

para adj British See paro

paracat n British

a person under the influence of drugs, especially when rendered agitated, anxious and/or suspicious. A blend of para(noid) and cat in the sense of an individual. More recently, the term is sometimes re-shortened to cat. It is typically heard in black street-talk and club culture since 2000.

paraffin lamp n British

a tramp. This rhyming-slang expression was recorded in the Merseyside area in the early 1990s, although it is presumably much older. Penny stamp and Harold Ramp are synonyms.

parallel parking n American

sexual intercourse. A popular euphemism since the 1970s among highschool students and preppies. (The phrase is displayed on car park notices to remind drivers of parking discipline.)

paralytic, paralysed adj

(extremely) drunk. A very common expression in Britain (but less so in the USA, where paralysed is probably more prevalent) since the first decade of the 20th century.

paraphernalia n

the apparatus and equipment (pipes, cigarette papers, scales, etc.) accompanying the taking of illicit drugs. A euphemism popularised by its use in ‘head shops’ from the late 1960s, paraphernalia there refers to the soft-drug culture of cannabis and hallucinogens. The same term is used, especially by

law enforcers, to describe the equipment used by hard-drug addicts and users.

parental units n pl American parents, a rarer form of units or rents

parentectomy n British

the removal of a patient’s (presumably troublesome) parents, in medical slang

park a custard/tiger vb British

to vomit. The chosen words are intended to suggest consistency or colour. The first version was said by Eric Partridge to be in use in the Royal Navy in the 1930s.

‘People … were actually trying to park a custard after eating something they had only identified after swallowing and didn’t want to digest.’

(Love it or Shove it, Julie Burchill, 1985)

park and ride vb British

to have sex. From the phrase indicating public transport arrangements for some greenfield and (sub)urban campuses. The expression was recorded by the Student World website in 2001.

parking n American

necking and petting in cars. A teenage euphemism of the 1950s which is still in limited use.

park one’s arse/bum/carcass vb to seat oneself, position oneself

park one’s bus vb

(of a male) to have sex. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

parky adj British

cold. A word of obscure origin dating from at least before World War II and still in use. Among middleand upperclass speakers the term is occasionally altered to parquet (as in ‘parquet flooring’).

‘It’s a bit parky in here – mind if I close this window?’

(Recorded, teacher, London, 1987)

parlyaree, parliari n British

the strong Italian influence on the theatre, dance, music and the humbler entertainments of the streets from the late 17th to the late 19th centuries gave rise to an Italianate jargon. This terminology was adopted by English speakers (including vagabonds, street traders and the like), with resulting deformation of the original Italian words. This code, later known as parlyaree or parliari (itself a corruption of the Italian parlare, meaning

parni

328

to speak), died out slowly during the 20th century. Certain terms remain in limited use, among them nanty, omi, khazi and bona.

parni n See pawnee

paro, parro, para, parra adj British paranoid, in the popular sense of nervous or suspicious. These short forms were in use among schoolchildren from the end of the 1980s.

Compare noid

parquet adj British See parky parra, parro adj British See paro

party down vb American

to let oneself go, to enjoy oneself to the full. A later embellishment of the colloquial verb to party, with overtones of dedicated involvement or application.

party-hat n American

a condom. Synonyms are hat, jim(my)- hat.

party pooper n

a spoilsport, ‘wet blanket’. This expression (see poop for the probable origin) was introduced to Britain from the United States in the early 1960s. It originally referred to adults interfering in teenagers’ activities, but was later generalised to describe any morose or unconvivial person.

pash1 n British

1. a teenage ‘crush’, an infatuation; especially a young girl’s feelings towards an older girl or teacher. A shortening of ‘passion’ still heard in public schools.

Amanda has a pash on Miss.

2.a girlfriend or lover. In armed-forces usage.

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

pash2 adj British passionate

feeling pash

passion wagon n

a car or van used for purposes of dating and/or seduction. The word was probably first used in armed-services slang during World War II, describing buses used to transport female personnel. Draggin’ wagon and shaggin’ wagon are later, racier alternatives.

paste (someone), paste one on (someone) vb British

to hit, beat up, ‘thrash’ or defeat someone. This use of the word paste, perhaps

inspired by the slapping of paste on walls, posters, etc., or from ‘baste’ or ‘lambaste’, arose in the 19th century and was popular in colloquial speech until the late 1950s. ‘Paste one on (someone)’ was then an alternative version; ‘give someone a (good) pasting’ survives.

pasting n

a beating or resounding defeat. From the verb to paste (someone).

patch n

one’s territory, area of jurisdiction. A designation used by street gangs, drug dealers and law enforcers.

patna n American

a friend. The word, heard since 2000 and typically used by African Americans, is an ‘Afro’ pronunciation of ‘partner’. It is generally used in situations where solidarity or affiliation are being emphasised.

patootie n American

1. the backside, buttocks. An inoffensive term which may be an invention or a deformation of ‘potato’.

She fell flat on her patootie.

You can bet your sweet patootie I will!

2. a girlfriend or boyfriend, a sweetheart. In this (now obsolescent) sense the word is almost certainly a jocular alteration of (sweet) potato.

patsy n

a dupe. The term dates from the early years of the 20th century but its original significance is lost. Robert L. Chapman’s New Dictionary of American Slang tentatively derives it from pasqualino, Italian for a scapegoat or loser.

Patsy Cline n British

a line (of cocaine). The term uses the name of the late US country music star and has been heard since the later 1990s.

Pattie n British

a first (first-class honours degree). A student pun (rhyming slang on Pattie Hearst) on the pattern of Desmond, etc. A set of nicknames of this sort was coined in 1987 and 1988.

Paul (Weller) n British

(a drink of) Stella Artois lager, playing on the name of the former neo-mod musician. David (Mellor), Nelson (Mandela) and Uri (Geller) are synonyms, all popular with students since the late 1990s.

329

pearler

Paula n British

the female genitals as visible through clothing, camel toes. The term refers to the late TV celebrity Paula Yates. Bob is the male counterpart. ‘To have a Paula’ means to be wearing very tight leggings or trousers which, because of their tightness, cause the female labia to be very pronounced.

Pavarotti n British

a £10 note or sum of ten pounds. A pun on the name of the famous Italian tenor and ‘tenner’. Synonyms are Ayrton (Senna) and Tony Benner.

pavement pizza n

a patch of vomit in the street. A drinkers’ term from the 1980s which forms part of a set of terms such as road pizza, road apple, etc. as supposedly humorous euphemisms for distasteful discoveries.

paw n a hand

pawnee n British

a.a body of water; a lake, pond, the sea

‘Two ducks on the pawnee.’

(Bingo callers’ code for the number 22)

b.water in any form (such as rain, tears, etc.) The word, now very rarely heard but not extinct, is a corruption of the Hindi pani, entering English through colonial slang, Romany, or both.

pax exclamation British

a request for a truce, usually heard in the course of children’s games. The word is Latin for peace and was formerly used by public-school masters as well as boys to appeal for calm or silence. Non-public schoolchildren usually employed the word faynits.

paydirt n

profit, reward, success. A mining metaphor originating in the USA.

payola n

bribery or extortion. This underworld term achieved prominence in the 1960s in the USA when it was applied to a scandal involving illicit payment to disc jockeys in return for airplays. It is the word pay combined with the Spanish suffix - ola (big, grandiose or outrageous).

P.C.P. n

angel dust. The initials are from phencyclidine, an animal tranquilliser that was abused (and manufactured in home laboratories), particularly in the USA in the 1970s, for its disorienting effects.

P.D.A. n American

a ‘public display of affection’. A preppie code term for overt kissing, hugging, etc., usually said in a disapproving tone.

P.D.Q. adj, adv

‘pretty damn quick’. A middle-class adults’ expression often used in issuing commands or instructions. The term was recorded in Britain in 1900 and may be earlier.

pea-brain(ed) n, adj

(someone who is) stupid

peace, peace out! exclamation American goodbye. A term from the lexicon of rap and hip hop aficionados which was adopted by some white speakers, particularly on university campuses in the 1990s.

peach n British

a foolish person. A less common synonym of plum and pear, used by schoolchildren since the 1990s.

peach (on someone) vb

to inform upon someone. This term originated in the 15th century as a shortening of the archaic term apeach (related to ‘impeach’) and has yet to be adopted into orthodox usage. It was commonly used as late as the 1960s but is now rare, except in the speech of an older generation.

peachy adj American

wonderful, excellent. The term, now often used ironically, is based on the earlier noun ‘peach’, meaning someone or something delectable. ‘Peachy-keen’ is an intensive form of the word.

peaky adj American

producing euphoria. This appreciative term formed from ‘peaking’ (i.e. achieving a maximum high) refers to the enjoyable effects of drugs.

We managed to get hold of some peaky shit.

peanut-smuggling n See smuggling peanuts

Pearl (Harbour) adj British

cold, chilly. The witticism, referring to the weather, is based on the notion that there ‘is a Nip in the air’.

pearler n Australian

an excellent, exceptional person or object. From the notion of a pearl as a peerless example.

She’s a little pearler. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

pears

330

pears n pl Australian

female breasts. Another example of the tendency for any vaguely rounded fruit to be used to symbolise the breasts, such as the synonymous apples, melons, etc.

pear-shaped adj British

awry, faulty, inadequate. This increasingly common adult colloquialism is usually heard in the phrase to ‘go pearshaped’, presumably from the image of a balloon or football losing its spherical shape after puncturing.

‘Things were OK until Christine left and then within a short time it all started to go pear-shaped.’

(Recorded, London schoolteacher, February 1996)

pecker n American

the penis. The term may originate as a rural shortening of woodpecker, as a euphemism for cock, or simply as a metaphor for an importunate member.

‘When I told him to get a-hold of himself I didn’t mean for him to get his pecker out.’

(Recorded, US oilman, Norway, 1982)

peckerhead n American

a fool, slow-witted or clumsy person. Originally used by country people, now a favourite term of abuse among college students and others. The British and Australian equivalent is dickhead.

peckerwood n American

a white person. This derogatory term has been used by black and white alike and uses the southern American name for the red-headed woodpecker (the link is the reference to that bird’s red neck). The term is sometimes abbreviated to ‘wood’ and is often thought wrongly to be a synonym for peckerhead.

‘Selective breeding in the good-old-boy peckerwood, white-sheet, lynch-mob states has brought about a monster … a dog that is auditioning for the apocalypse …’’

(Lights Out for the Territory by Iain Sinclair, 1997)

pecs n pl American

the pectoral muscles. A word used particularly by body builders and by women admiring (or disparaging) the male physique. The shortening became widespread in the 1970s.

‘The guys there [California] all have great pecs, but I guess that’s not the only thing.’

(Recorded, American female executive, London, 1986)

pedigree chum n British

an upper-class girl’s escort or boyfriend. A witticism inspired by debs’ delight punning on the brand name of a dog food. The phrase arose in the 1980s.

pedo n See paedo

pee1, pee-pee n

urine or an act of urination. The word is probably in origin a euphemistic form of the more onomatopoeic piss, but is reinforced by being the initial sound of piddle and a cognate of other European forms (such as the French pipi). It was not recorded before the 18th century.

pee2, pee-pee vb to urinate

(For the origins of the word see the noun form.)

pee’d adj British

a more polite version of pissed

pee’d off adj

a less offensive version of pissed-off

peek n British

an observation cell in a prison, in the jargon of prisoners recorded in the 1990s. (The verb ‘peek’ itself is not slang, being a direct descendant from the Middle English piken.)

peely-wally adj British

wan, ailing. The phrase is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England, but is also sometimes used by Jamaican and black British speakers. The expression may be an elaboration of ‘pale’ or derive from a personal nickname.

feeling/looking a bit peely-wally

peepers n pl

the eyes. A humorous euphemism.

peeps n pl

people. The term occurs in American slang, in which it may refer to one’s fellow gang members or one’s friends and family, and in British, where it is often a plural term of address, probably inspired by its use in the comic monologues delivered by the comedian Harry Enfield in the character of Stavros the kebab-shop owner in the 1980s.

peeve n British

an alcoholic drink, alcohol. The term, used by teenagers in particular since around 2000, is often in the phrase sconned on peeve, that is, drunk.

331

perve

peg it, peg out vb

to die. The first version of the phrase is currently more fashionable than the earlier peg out, which appeared in the USA in the mid-19th century, inspired by the use of pegs in the game of cribbage (‘pegging-out’ was finishing the game). The form peg out may also mean to collapse exhausted or fail in one’s efforts.

pegs n pl

legs. From the 19th century the word peg has denoted a wooden leg.

pelf n British

money. An old term, like many others (rhino, spondulicks, etc.) revived in the money-conscious environment of the later 1980s. Pelf is from the Middle English pelfre, related to ‘pilfer’ and meaning loot.

‘Miss Smith … Cold as the Ice itself; She admires nought but Pelf.’

(List of Covent Garden Ladies, or the New Atlantis, pamphlet, 1773)

pen-and-ink n, vb British

(to) stink. An early 20th-century cockney rhyming-slang term which has survived to the present. It can be used as a noun phrase, as in ‘there’s a real pen- and-ink in here!’ or as a verb, normally in a form such as ‘it don’t half pen-and- ink in here!’.

pencil-dick n American

a vulgar alternative of pencil-neck and pencil geek

pencil geek n American

a tediously studious person, a swot. One of many high-school and campus categorisations of fellow students; grind and conch are synonymous.

See also geek1 1

pencil-neck n American

an earnest, unattractive, excessively studious male. A derogatory term, suggesting the appearance of a scrawny individual, which has been used as a synonym for nerd, grind, etc. Pencil geek is an alternative form.

penguin suit n

formal male evening dress; a dinner suit

penny stamp n British

a tramp. This old example of London rhyming slang was still in use in the 1990s, now referring to homeless persons in general. Paraffin lamp is an alternative.

pep pill n

a tablet of amphetamine or a similar drug. This term was used in the 1940s when stimulant drugs such as caffeine and benzedrine were taken to combat fatigue and sleep. The expression was used by illicit drug takers until the early 1960s when it was appropriated by spokesmen for the anti-drug establishment and the media.

percussive maintenance n

striking something in an attempt to make it work. A jocular term used especially in the medical and other technical fields.

percy n

the penis. One of a number of personifications of the male member which include peter, dick, willie, John Thomas, etc. The word principally functions as part of the phrase point percy at the porcelain.

perk vb Australian

to vomit. A variant of puke, perhaps influenced by the phrase ‘to perk up’ or the word ‘percolate’.

perp n American

a wrongdoer, felon. An abbreviation of ‘perpetrator’ used by law enforcers.

‘They’ve ID’d the perp, but they can’t touch him.’

(Recorded, journalist, Pocatello USA, November 2004)

perpetrate vb American

a.to put on a show of confidence, selfassurance

b.to dissimulate, pretend

Both usages of the word probably originated in black speech.

personals n pl Australian

lingerie, (female) underwear. An adult euphemism used both facetiously and seriously.

I wouldn’t hang your personals out here in full view.

Peruvian marching powder n

cocaine. A jocular middle-class American euphemism of the midto late 1970s which was probably too long and unwieldy to gain a wider currency.

perve1, perv n

a lascivious or perverted person, a ‘dirty old man’. A shortening of ‘pervert’ heard since the 1960s.

See also optic (nerve)

perve

332

perve2, perv vb Australian

to behave lasciviously. From the noun form.

pervy adj

perverted or lascivious

pesterous adj Caribbean irritating, troublesome

peter n

1. the penis. A personification and predictable euphemism dating from the 19th century (if not earlier) and mainly used by adults.

‘Absence makes the peter fonda.’

(Caption to nude photograph of Peter Fonda, Oz magazine, 1969)

2. a safe. In the jargon of the underworld peter originally meant a trunk or strongbox, later a safe. The word was being used with this sense as early as the 17th century, perhaps inspired by some sort of biblical pun, now lost.

peter-man n British

a safecracker. An underworld and police term in use for the last few decades or so. Peter is an old word for a safe or strongbox.

Pete Tong adj British

wrong. The rhyming slang expression, using the name of a star club DJ, has been in use since around 1998 and was used in the title of a 2004 film.

Oh God, it’s all gone Pete Tong!

petrified adj American

intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. The term has no connection with the colloquial sense of ‘terrified’ but is a pun on the more common stoned.

petrol-head n

a car enthusiast. The term is heard both in Britain and Australia and was given wider currency in Britain from the 1990s by its usage in motoring magazines and such television programmes as BBC TV’s Top Gear.

pew n British

a chair. A colloquialism usually heard in the verb form ‘take a pew’: sit down. This humorously elevated version of chair arose around the turn of the 20th century.

pezzie, pessy n British

an unsophisticated, gormless individual. A derivation of ‘peasant’ used by schoolchildren since the 1990s.

P.F.O. adj British

injured as a result of drunkenness. Jocular medical shorthand for ‘pissed, fell

over’, e.g. as recorded as a mock diagnosis in a patient’s notes.

Compare P.G.T.

P.G.T. adj British

assaulted while drunk. Jocular medical shorthand for ‘pissed, got thumped’, e.g. as recorded as a mock diagnosis in a patient’s notes.

phat adj

excellent, hip. The re-spelling of fat (itself alternatively derived from its use in the phrase fat-city or from the fat tyres favoured by low-riders, etc.) was an emblematic term first in hip hop and rap circles and then in other youth subcultures such as surfers, skateboarders and skaters, etc. (A magazine named Phat catering for rollerbladers and computergame fans was briefly published in Britain in 1994.) In this spelling the word, which some authorities claimed was actually based on ‘emphatically’, had no comparative or superlative forms to compare with ‘fattier’ or ‘fattiest’.

phat garms

phat-free adj British

unpleasant, uncool. The term was used by schoolchildren in 2004.

phreak vb

to hack into a telephone, telecommunications or computer system, in the patois of cyberpunks and net-heads. The term is a later back-formation from ‘phreaker’, the designation for the first hackers who interfered with the US telephone system for fun, in search of knowledge or for profit.

phudi, phudu n

female sex organs, in British Asian usage

piano adj British

faint, delicate, ‘under the weather’ or indisposed. This upper-class expression derives from the Italian musical term piano, which is an instruction to play or sing softly. The British speaker’s pronunciation, in imitation of the original Italian, is ‘pee-aah-no’.

‘Please don’t disturb her, she seems to be feeling a little piano today.’

(Recorded, hostess, Dorset, 1974)

pickled adj

drunk. A fairly inoffensive term, usually heard in the speech of the middle-aged or elderly.

‘I sat next to Pat Collins who is a very intelligent and delightful woman. I felt sorry

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pig

that she had George Brown, completely pickled, on the other side of her.’

(Tony Benn’s Diaries, 14 October 1969)

picni, pickney n

a child. The term is Caribbean dialect, a more recent variant form of the often racist ‘picaninny’, itself from the Portuguese pequenino, meaning tiny.

piddle1 vb British

to urinate. A childish or humoroussounding word, this is nonetheless one of Britain’s oldest ‘non-respectable’ words in current use.

piddle2 n British

urine or an act of urination. Piddle is etymologically related to puddle and to piddling meaning insignificant or trifling. It has been used as the name of small rivers in county districts and seems to have had a colloquial meaning of ‘small water’ or ‘insignificant scrap’ before its narrowing to the modern sense during the 18th and 19th centuries.

‘Piddles were done out of the back window last night, standing on the bed.’ (Spike Milligan, Adolf Hitler; My Part in His Downfall, 1971)

piece1 n

1.American a gun. An underworld euphemism.

2.a graffiti artist’s oeuvre. A shortening of ‘piece of work’ or ‘masterpiece’ and forming part of the graffiti subculture lexicon of the 1980s.

‘Kids do it mainly for the clothes – jeans or trainers, or to buy cans of spray paint to do pieces (graffiti).’

(Teenage mugger, Observer, 22 May 1988)

3. British a girlfriend, female. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

my piece

4. British the penis. In black street-talk.

piece2, piece of ass n American

a woman (or, less often, a man) considered as a sexual object. Piece has been employed in a similar sexual context, invariably referring unromantically to a woman, since the 15th century. The various phrases such as ‘piece of ass’, piece of tail, etc. are probably more recent, arising, like bit of fluff, in the 19th century.

piece of piss/pudding n British something easy to accomplish, presenting no problems, a pushover. Both terms are variants on the common colloquialism ‘a piece of cake’.

piece of tail n

an alternative form of piece of ass

pieces n pl British See do one’s nut/ block/crust/pieces/taters

pie-eater n

a fat and/or greedy person. The derisive terms, used by adolescents in particular, coincided with national concerns over obesity in the US and UK since 2002. Pie-wagon was a synonym heard in the US in 2004.

pie-hole n American

the mouth. A humorous usage heard among adolescents and featured in the US film, Sleepwalkers, 1992. Hum-hole and the earlier British cakehole are synonyms.

pie-wagon n American a pie-eater

Joe’s scored himself a real pie-wagon this time.

piff n British

nonsense. A 1980s shortening of the colloquial ‘piffle’, heard among adolescents.

a load of piff

piffy adj British

dubious, doubtful, suspect. A middleclass usage, often said disdainfully or superciliously. Its origin is obscure; it does not appear to be related to piffling in the sense of insignificant, but may be influenced by ‘iffy’ or ‘piffle’.

pig n

1. a policeman or woman. An offensive term that gained its greatest currency in the 1960s in the USA whence it was reimported into Britain. (It was used in the same sense in the late Victorian underworld.)

‘Today’s pig is tomorrow’s bacon.’

(Anti-war protestors’ and demonstrators’ slogan of the 1960s)

2a. a girl. A usage from the argot of street gangs, beatniks, etc. since the 1950s. Surprisingly, in these contexts the word is not necessarily pejorative.

2b. American an ugly, repellent girl. A term current in the late 1980s in US colleges, where ‘Pig of the Year/Week’ con-

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