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

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stompers

424

stompers n pl American

a.the American term for brothel creepers, the thick-soled shoes worn by teenagers in the 1950s

b.heavy workboots or cowboy boots

stomp it vb British

to hurry, go quickly. The term is used by devotees of dancefloor and rave culture.

On Tuesday we stomped it down to the Limelight.

stone n British

the drug crack. A synonym, recorded in 2002, of the earlier rock.

stoned adj

intoxicated by narcotics or alcohol. In the 1960s stoned proved the most popular of a number of synonyms employing the metaphor of punishment or damage (wrecked, destroyed, blitzed, etc.) It became the standard term to describe the effects of cannabis in particular. This use of the word originated in the argot of jazz musicians and bohemians in the USA in the 1940s.

‘[Richard Neville] suggesting making love when stoned with stereo headphones on both partners, playing the first Blind Faith album.’

(Oz magazine, February 1970)

stoner n

a drug user, especially a habitual user of cannabis. Originally an Americanism, the word has become more widespread since 2000.

‘This is a stoners’ western for crystal-dan- gling deadheads.’

(Evening Standard film review, 22 July 2004)

stonker n British

something stunning, devastating or powerful. This invented word should logically be derived from a verb ‘to stonk’ which is, however, unrecorded in modern slang, although stonkered and stonking are. In origin the term is probably influenced by words such as ‘stun’, ‘clunk’ and ‘bonk’.

See also stonkered stonkered adj

a.drunk

b.destroyed, out of action, devastated or exhausted. (For the probable derivation see stonker.)

stonking adj British

extremely. The word is an all-purpose intensifying adjective, usually used in place of more offensive terms. Mainly in working class and armed service usage,

stonking was in vogue in the late 1980s. It probably postdates stonker and stonkered.

stony, stoney adj

penniless. A shortened form of ‘stony broke’, heard especially in Australia.

stooge n British

an innocent stand-in at an identity parade. A term from the jargon of police officers, deriving from the standard colloquial senses of menial, dupe, etc. (The word stooge, which appeared in the USA in the 19th century, is said to be a corruption of ‘studious’ or ‘students’.)

‘They don’t think they can get the I.D. parade off the ground. I don’t know if there are problems with the stooges, or what.’

(Flying Squad, British TV documentary, March 1985)

stoolie n

an informer. A shortening of stool pigeon.

stool pigeon n

an informer. In North America in the 19th century pigeons were tied to wooden frames (known as stools) as decoys to lure game birds. The expression was later applied to a cardsharp’s human decoy, and later still to a police informer or spy. By World War I the use of the phrase had spread to Britain where it was adopted by crime fiction and the real underworld. The term is commonly shortened to stoolie.

stooper n British

a male homosexual. The word is applied to a supposedly ‘passive’ gay male. The pejorative term (its counterpart is stabber) was reportedly in use by Wapping journalists in 1990.

stoosh adj

a.costly

b.wealthy

c.offensively ostentatious or snobbish

The word, heard in London speech since 2000, occurs in Jamaican slang but its exact origins are obscure.

stormer n British

an impressive, admirable thing, person, etc.

storming adj British

excellent, exciting. One of many vogue terms in adolescent usage, particularly among devotees of dancefloor, techno and jungle music since the 1990s.

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strap

stoshious, stotious, stocious, stoshers adj British

a.drunk

b.silent, tight-lipped, discreet

This mysterious word can be traced to the 19th century and was thought by some authorities to be extinct by the 1930s. It survives, however, in jocular usage. The term is either a mock-Latinate invention or a corruption of a dialect word for waterlogged or muddy.

stote vb

to go for a walk. The term, of uncertain origin, was in use among UK adolescents in 2003.

stouch, stoush, stoosh adj British presumptuous, arrogant, overbearing. The fashionable term, recorded among adolescents in the 1990s, was defined by Touch magazine in September 1993 as ‘acting like your shit don’t stink’. The origin of the expression is uncertain.

stoush n Australian

a brawl. The word is probably a descendant of lost dialect terms for ‘uproar’ or ‘strike’.

straight1 n

1.a heterosexual, particularly heard in the language of homosexuals

2.a conventional person, someone who does not take drugs or ascribe to ‘counterculture’ values. A term from the language of drug abusers and counterculture members which was a buzzword of the later 1960s.

‘Would you say Hunter Thompson was afraid of anything in particular? “Ah … Straights”.’

(Ralph Steadman, I-D magazine, November 1987)

3. a cigarette (as opposed to a joint). A now dated cannabis users’ term in wide currency in the 1960s.

If you give me a straight I’ll roll us something for the journey.

4. South African a bottle of alcoholic liquor. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the Cape Sunday Times, 29 January 1995.

straight2 adj

1a. honest, not criminal or corrupt

‘You couldn’t bribe or compromise him because he was straight. However, he was also naive.’

(Former detective, Inside the Brotherhood, Martin Short, 1989)

1b. heterosexual

In the first two sub-senses, the opposing slang term in British English is bent.

1c. not under the influence of drugs or a drug-user

I’ve been straight for three days. Don’t offer her any, she’s straight.

The word has been used to mean ‘upright’ or honest, fair, scrupulous, etc. for more than a century. The sub-senses above, not always used approvingly, were established in the 1950s and 1960s. The following sense is in ironic contrast.

2. restored to one’s desired state of drunkenness or drugged euphoria

Just one shot and I’ll be straight again.

straightened-out adj

bribed, suborned or otherwise corrupted. A euphemism in underworld and police usage.

‘Their tip-off was supported by a tape recording of a bugged conversation involving an American criminal, referring to “a top man” who had been “straightened out in Scotland Yard”.’

(Observer, 16 August 1987)

straighten (someone) out vb British

to bribe or corrupt (someone). A euphemistic term in use among criminals and police officers.

We wanted to straighten out a magistrate, but we couldn’t get to any of them in time.

straight-up adj

honest, reliable. This usage is an extension of the use of the phrase as an exclamation meaning ‘It’s the truth’. or ‘Honestly’.

He’s a straight-up guy.

strain the potatoes vb Australian

to urinate. The phrase is a survival of a 19th-century British euphemism inspired by the resemblance to the resulting colour of water. In Britain, the phrase ‘strain the greens’ was heard before the 1950s.

strap n American

1. a gun, in the argot of street gangs and other criminals. By 2005 the term was in use in London, too.

‘I’m hoping to hook up with some more straps …’

(Gang War, Channel 4 TV documentary, August 1995)

2. a humorous synonym for jock

strapped

426

strapped adj

1.short of money, broke. A short version of the phrase ‘strapped for cash’.

2.armed with a gun. In this form the word crossed the Atlantic eastwards, so that by the early 1990s criminals in the UK were referring to ‘going strapped’.

3.good-looking, physically fit. In this sense the word has been used appreciatively by UK adolescents, especially females, since around 2000.

strapping n American carrying a firearm

strawberry n American

a prostitute who sells sex for drugs

‘All the vice girl victims [of a Los Angeles serial killer] were known as strawberries – American slang for hookers who trade sex for drugs.’

(Sunday Mirror, 3 March 1989)

stray n British

a heterosexual who associates with gays. The term was defined in the Modern Review, June 1994 and was still in media use a decade later.

Compare metrosexual; stromo

streak n

1. a run through a public place while naked. From the verb.

Some guy did a streak at the Test Match.

2. British a person of ectomorphic build. A mildly pejorative term, sometimes expressed more brutally as long streak of piss, invariably said of males. Long streak of misery denotes a tall, thin and morose or excessively serious individual.

street adj American

‘streetwise’ or having ‘street credibility’. A term of approbation originating in black argot of the 1970s.

She’s OK, she’s street. street apple n See road apple street pizza n See road pizza

stressed-out, stressy, stressin’ adj British

a.unwell, uncomfortable, discontented. In secondary school playground slang this use of the colloquialism is generalised from its normal sense to incorporate almost any negative feeling.

b.inferior, inadequate. A further generalisation of the original sense of the word, used as a vogue term by teenage gang members from the late 1990s.

stretch n

1. American a tall, thin person. A term of cheerful mockery. The equivalent of the British streak, or rather the nickname

‘Lofty’, since stretch is often a term of address.

How’re y’ keeping, Stretch?

2. a period of imprisonment. This underworld term originally referred specifically to one year’s incarceration; it has now been generalised to mean a term of indeterminate length.

He did a four-year stretch.

strides n

trousers. The word has existed in raffish usage since the turn of the 20th century. Originally an Americanism, it is now heard in Britain and Australia.

‘Fair crack of the whip! Lady, I’m not taking me strides off for anyone.’

(Bazza Pulls it Off, cartoon by Barry Humphries and Nicholas Garland, Private Eye, 1970)

stripe n

a scar, especially as the result of a knife or razor slash

stroke book n American

a pornographic or semi-pornographic publication. ‘Stroke’ in this context refers to male masturbation.

stroll on! exclamation British

a cry of dismissal or disbelief. The phrase usually conveys indignation.

stromo n

a gay male who behaves like or appears to be a heterosexual. The term is a blend of straight and homo.

strong it vb British

to behave aggressively, presumptuously or excessively. A working-class expression heard particularly in the London area in the 1980s. It is a variation on the colloquial phrases ‘come on strong’, ‘come it strong’ and ‘go it strong’.

You been strongin’ it again down our boozer?

strop n British

a bout of bad temper. A back-formation from the earlier adjective stroppy.

put on/throw a strop

‘She got herself into a strop about it, d’you know what I mean?’

(Big Brother, UK TV show, 23 July 2004)

stroppy adj British

obstreperous, aggressive, uncooperative. The word is an alteration of obstreperous, perhaps via a fanciful deformation of this word, such as ‘obstropalous’. Stroppy appeared in the 1940s. Various deformations of

427

styler

obstreperous have been recorded since the 18th century.

strumping n British

promiscuous behaviour (on the part of a female). This back-formation from ‘strumpet’ was used in the 1990s TV comedy Birds of a Feather.

strung out adj

a.tense, nervous and upset

She was strung out inside, nibbling on her lower lip and smoking one cigarette after another.

b.suffering from the effects of an illicit drug or from withdrawal

strung out on morphine

The first, now widespread, usage derives from the second, which is a drug user’s slang expression dating from the 1950s.

strung up adj

a less common variant of strung out

stubbies n pl Australian

short trousers, as worn by men

stubby, stubbie n Australian a small bottle of lager

stud n

a sexually active, powerful, potent male. Only slang when applied to men as opposed to (real) animals, the term often indicates a degree of approval or admiration, even if grudgingly. In black American street parlance the word was sometimes used in the 1960s and 1970s simply to mean a ‘guy’. There seems to be no female equivalent that stresses sexual power rather than degeneracy.

‘The eternal teenage sexual paradox is that boys who “put it about” are called “studs” by their admiring friends but girls who do the same are “slags”.’

(17-year-old public-school pupil, Harpers and Queen magazine, August 1978)

studly adj American

cool. The term is typically applied to people, particularly males.

stud-muffin n American

a.an attractive male

b.a male seducer (of females)

In both senses this elaboration of stud was heard from the early 1990s, first among adolescents and later among adult speakers.

studsley n American

a smart, dapper or sophisticated male. A term of address between males which seems to have originated as a black elab-

oration of stud in the sense of a ‘fine fellow’.

stuff vb

1.to have sex (with). The verb has very seldom been used in the active or transitive form since the 19th century (and it was never common). The abusive exclamation ‘get stuffed’ is its main legacy.

2.to dismiss, throw away, destroy. This adaptation of the sexual sense of the word, or of the expression ‘stuff it up your arse!’, has proved useful as a non-taboo means of conveying strong rejection, impatience, etc. It often occurs in the allpurpose exclamation ‘stuff it!’.

‘Stuff the wedding!’

(Anti-royal-wedding slogan written on walls and reproduced on badges in Britain in 1981)

Stuff is currently fashionable in media, sporting and raffish circles with the sense of to defeat or humiliate.

stuffed adj British

ruined, abandoned, ‘kaput’. A brusque but fairly inoffensive derivation of the verb stuff.

stuff up vb Australian

to blunder or fail. A euphemistic version of screw up.

‘I really stuffed up, didn’t I? You sure did.’

(Flying Doctors, Australian TV series, 1995)

stumblebum n American

a vagrant or derelict, literally a stumbling, helpless tramp. The word is now usually generalised to denote an inept, incompetent or clumsy person.

stumpy n British

a small person. The word is generally a term of abuse, e.g. in playground usage.

stunned mullet n Australian

(the facial expression of) a gormless, slow-witted or stupid person. The phrase is common in Australian speech and was used in Parliament by the Premier Paul Keating, among others, when describing the supposedly vacuous expression of political opponents.

styler n British

a person who attempts to be stylish and fashionable, a ‘trendy’. This vogue term of the later 1990s is invariably used by adolescents to indicate derision or disapproval. It is probably influenced by the black American concept of styling.

styling

428

styling n American

showing off, behaving ostentatiously. A vogue term in the 1990s in hip hop and dancefloor culture which originated more than thirty years earlier in black American speech.

Compare profiling; vogu(e)ing

substance n British

cannabis, hashish or marihuana. A euphemism adopted by users of the drug from the legalistic description (employed particularly in sentences such as ‘Certain substances were taken away for analysis.’).

Got any substance?

suck vb American

to be repellent, inferior or worthless. An extremely common term of strong disparagement or denigration in American English, suck is both a euphemism for fuck and an amalgam of notions contained in words such as ‘sucker’, cocksucker, etc.

‘To say something or someone “sucks” is to use America’s most common term of disparagement … The term suck originally had as its prefix the word for a male hen.’

(Simon Hoggart, Observer magazine, 1989)

‘Is it me, or does the party all of a sudden suck?’

(10 Things I Hate About You, US film, 1999)

sucked in adj Australian

fooled, duped, ‘conned’. A racier version of ‘taken in’.

sucker-punch vb American

to attack from behind or without warning, to land an unfair or surprise blow. From the colloquialism ‘sucker’, denoting a dupe or easy victim.

‘You’re a witness, Alex. I just came here to talk to you and Fruitfly suckerpunched me.’

(Jonathon Kellerman, Over the Edge, 1987)

suck face vb American

to kiss. An adolescent euphemism on the lines of swap spit.

suck-hole, suck-holer n Australian

a sycophant, toady or other contemptible person. A more recent variant on the ancient notion expressed by ‘bumsucker’, arse-licker, etc.

suck off vb

to perform fellatio (on someone)

sucky adj American tasty, sweet

suds n American

beer; a ‘college-boy’ word

suffer! exclamation Australian

a cry of defiance, challenge or contempt, as used by schoolchildren and adolescents from at least the late 1970s

sugar daddy n

a wealthy older protector and lover of a young woman. Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver, in their Dictionary of Euphemisms (1983), date this expression to the 1920s and derive it from the American rhyming slang phrase ‘sugar and honey’: money. While this is possible, sugar had been a term of endearment or a metaphor for affection or luxury for many years before.

‘I see Natalie’s managed to find herself another sugar daddy.’

(Recorded, magazine editor, London, 1986)

suit n

a bureaucratic functionary, apparatchik, corporation man. The term appeared in the 1980s and is used contemptuously or dismissively by working people and, especially, the fashionable young. In 1989 and 1990 the elaboration ‘empty suit’ was heard, underlining the notion of anonymity.

‘What the hell is that?

Some suit from the mayor’s office.’ Just in time for the evening news.’

(Cagney and Lacey, US TV series, 1982) suit-stabber n British See stabber

sunnies n pl Australian female breasts

supersonic n British

tonic (water). The rhyming slang term was used by bar staff and drinkers in the 1990s sometimes in conjunction with

Vera Lynn. surfboard n

1.a flat-chested girl. An expression popular among pubescent schoolgirls.

2.a promiscuous girl or woman. From the image of supine acquiescence and the sexual connotations of ride.

surfie n Australian

a member of a 1960s subculture based only partly on surfing. They were the contemporaries of the British mods and contributed (like their American surfer

429

sweat-hog

counterparts) many colourful expressions to modern Australian slang.

surf the crimson wave vb American

to menstruate. The phrase occurs in adolescent speech and was featured in the 1995 US film Clueless, where it may have originated.

suss1 adj British suspect or suspicious

I thought it was a bit suss when they offered it to me for nothing.

suss2 n British

1. ‘knowhow’, ‘savvy’. A usage in currency since the 1970s, based on suss (out).

I wouldn’t worry about her, she’s got a lot of suss.

2. suspicion. The much criticised Vagrancy Act, under whose provisions (young) people could be arrested for ‘loitering with intent (to commit an arrestable offence)’, was known as ‘the sus law’. ‘On sus(s)’ refers to being taken into custody on suspicion of committing an offence.

suss (out) vb British

to discern, discover, deduce or realise. A vogue expression among beatniks of the early 1960s (in the longer form); it had probably been in sporadic use before that. At first the phrase usually meant to perceive someone’s true nature or intentions, it is now a fairly common colloquialism, often meaning no more than to ‘work out’.

I think I’ve managed to suss out a way round this.

She sussed him out in five minutes.

sussed, sussed out adj British

(of a person) well-adjusted, adapted to the circumstances, self-aware or self-reli- ant. This more recent derivation of the verb suss (out) is based on the notion of suss in the sense of ‘knowhow’. Since the 1980s it is often in the form ‘well-sussed’.

‘This time, man, we’ve got it all sussed … all the albums gonna be made here, first class jobs.’

(Record bootlegger, Oz magazine, February 1970)

‘A post punk skatezine that’s aggressive, sussed and caustic about skating UK’ (Mail on Sunday, ‘Biz’ magazine, June 1987)

swag1 n

loot, booty, stolen goods. In this sense the word originated among itinerants and thieves in the early 19th century. It

had earlier denoted goods or possessions when carried. The word is ultimately related, via dialect, to ‘sway’ and ‘swing’. In modern usage swag is usually used humorously.

swag2 adj

a.British bad. The word was in vogue among London schoolchildren in the late 1990s.

b.frightening, thrilling, ’edgy’ This extension of the earlier pejorative sense was in vogue in 2006 among teenagers

swallow n British a drink of alcohol

Shall we go for a quick swallow?

swamp n

a poor housing estate. The term was recorded in West London in 1998.

swamp-donkey n

an extremely ugly or unattractive female. A vogue term among university students since around 2000. A British origin has been claimed for the phrase, but it may be a rural North American slang word for a moose.

swap spit vb American

to kiss, used particularly when referring to French kissing, in the jargon of teenagers and students

swayve n, adj

(the quality of being) sophisticated, elegant, refined. The word is a mockaffected mispronunciation of ‘suave’ (along the lines of the earlier British fabe and mode).

He’s got loads of swayve, hasn’t he? She’s très swayve.

sweat1 vb American

to put pressure on (someone)

‘No-one’s sweating you to join a gang.’

(Los Angeles policeman to street-gang member, ITV documentary, August 1989)

sweat2 n British

a brutish, unsophisticated individual. The term sometimes denotes someone engaged in menial tasks and was heard in working-class speech in the 1990s.

‘No you don’t ya dozy sweat!’

(Blonde Fist, UK film, 1994)

sweated adj British

angry or annoyed. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

sweat-hog n American

a physically repugnant person. A term of contempt or abuse typically applied

sweaty

430

by males, such as college students, to females.

sweaty n British

a disco, dance or frenetic party, in the 1990s jargon of Oxbridge students

swedge vb British

to have sex with, penetrate. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

I swedged her.

sweet adj British

excellent, acceptable. A vogue term of approval among adolescents in the later 1990s.

sweet F.A./Fanny Adams n British

a.nothing at all, fuck-all

b.a pitifully small amount. In 19th-cen- tury naval slang ‘Fanny Adams’ was tinned or cooked meat, a sardonic reference to a girl of the same name who was murdered and dismembered in 1867. The name was later matched with the initials of fuck-all and used euphemistically in its place.

swell n British

a well-off single woman, in yuppie argot of the late 1980s. An acronym (‘single woman earning lots of lolly’) also recalling the dated description of a fashionable ‘person-about-town’.

swift1 vb British

to give false evidence, ‘bend’ the evidence. A piece of police slang. A police officer who is adept at this practice is known as ‘a (bit of a) swifter’. ‘Swift it’ is another form of the verb.

swift2 adj

a. American alert, clever. Now heard among various social groups, the word has been used in this sense in black adult speech since before World War II.

The kid’s not too swift.

b. British devious, cunning, deceitful. This usage has occurred in London work- ing-class and underworld speech since the 1950s.

I thought it was a bit swift when they left me standing holding the gear.

swifty n

an alcoholic drink, usually beer. The term has been recorded in the USA since 2000, as well as in the UK where it is probably a short form of the established phrases ‘a swift one’ or ‘a swift half’.

swing vb

a.to behave in an uninhibitedly hedonistic way. This use of the word, originating in jazz and rock music circles, was popular in the 1960s; by the early 1970s it had been narrowed to its current sense (see sub-sense b).

b.to engage in ‘liberated’ and/or sophisticated sexual practices, particularly wifeswapping and group sex. The word is a catch-all euphemism for promiscuity, originating and still mainly heard in the USA.

swing both ways vb

to engage in sexual relations with both men and women. A euphemism heard in the USA since the later 1960s.

swinger n

a.a sophisticated hedonist, a fashionable pleasure lover. This quintessential 1960s term evolved quickly into its current sense (see sub-sense b).

b.a euphemism for a practitioner of wifeswapping, group sex or other types of sexual ‘liberation’. This American term was adopted by ‘adult’ magazines, contact agencies, etc. in the 1970s as an acceptable designation for adultery and/ or promiscuity, etc.

swinging dick n American

a variant form of Big Swinging Dick

‘I ain’t no swinging dick. I know better than to fuck with the wrong people.’ (Heaven’s Prisoners, US film, 1995)

swish n American

a gay or effeminate male. A mildly pejorative term, inspired by the actual or supposed flouncing of the individuals in question. It is used by gay as well as heterosexual commentators.

Swiss adj

1.American of good quality, like a Swiss watch. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

2.British inferior, useless. Viz comic’s Profanisaurus records this usage in 1999. It may be an irony, or just possibly related to a Victorian use of Swiss to mean bogus or exaggerated, as in a ‘Swiss Admiral’.

switched-on adj British

a.fashionable, alert. A vogue term of the 1960s equating with turned-on.

b.excited either sexually or by drugs. A short-lived sense of the phrase, current in the midto late 1960s.

431

syrup

switch-hitter n

a bisexual person. The phrase is used in the USA and Australia; it is from baseball jargon, in which it denotes an ambidextrous batter.

switz n

sweat marks on clothing. An item of office slang, probably American in origin, recorded in the London Evening Standard in March 2004. The term is usually used derisively for referring to a harassed or anxious person whose armpit sweat is seeping through their clothing.

sword n See pork sword

swot n

a diligent, hard-working student. A pejorative term which has survived from the mid-19th century into modern usage. It is an alteration of ‘sweat’ and, like that word, may be used as a noun or a verb.

In the USA there are many terms used enviously or contemptuously of conscientious fellow-students, among them grind, pencil-geek, squid and wonk.

‘But finally armed with a baseball bat, he intervenes when a bullying sports-star humiliates a kindly swot, preaching a sermon that converts the whole institution.’

(Observer, 29 May 1988)

syph, the syph n syphilis

syphon the python vb See siphon/syphon the python

syrup (of figs) n British

a wig. A piece of approximate rhyming slang invoking a laxative remedy.

‘That is not a syrup.

I’ve got a tenner here says that’s a syrup.’ (Only Fools and Horses, British TV comedy series, 1989)

T

T n

marihuana. An alternative form of tea.

tab n

1. a tablet, specifically a tablet or dose of the drug LSD, from the jargon of users in the late 1960s and 1970s

‘Well, the one that stopped me from doing acid forever was when I dropped seven tabs. I completely lost my mind and went to Muppetland – the whole trip lasted for about six months.’

(Zodiac Mindwarp, I-D magazine, November 1987)

2. British a cigarette. The word, probably from ‘tab-end’, appeared in northern British usage before World War II but, since its use in Viz comic from the 1980s, has been used in other regions, mainly by adolescents.

‘He pulls out the tab … he’s trying to get the packet into his top pocket …’

(Jack Docherty’s talk show, Channel 4 TV, March 1997)

tabby n

a female, especially an attractive and/or lively girl

table-ender n

a sexual act, especially when impromptu and/or in a public place, but not necessarily on, against or under a table

tache, tash n British a moustache

tack n

1.squalor, shabbiness, seediness, bad taste. A back-formation from the earlier Americanism, tacky. ‘Tackiness’ is an alternative noun form. (Very often ‘tackiness’ refers to the quality, ‘tack’ to the evidence thereof.)

2.British cannabis. A term used by adolescents, particularly in the northeast of England, during the 1990s. It may be a

shortening of ‘tackle’ as used to mean equipment or heroin.

tack attack n British

a fit or bout of bad taste. A witticism based on tack and tacky heard among fashionable ‘young professionals’ and media circles in London in 1988 and 1989. (Rack attack and snack attack are other rhyming phrases.)

Judging by the décor of his flat, I’d say he’d had a tack attack.

tacker n British

a child. A northern English dialect word of obscure origin but possibly related to ‘thumb(tack)’. It is occasionally heard in other parts of Britain.

tackies n pl Irish sports shoes, trainers

tackle n British

1.a short form of the humorous euphemism wedding tackle (the male genitals). Tackle alone was used in this sense from the 18th century, if not earlier.

2.heroin. An item of prison slang.

tacky adj

shabby, seedy, inferior, vulgar. An American term which had existed in southern speech in the USA since the late 19th century, before being understood (in the early 1970s) and partially adopted (in the late 1970s) in Britain. The origin is not in ‘tacky’, meaning sticky or viscous, but in a dialect word for an inferior horse, hence a shabby yokel. ‘Tack-e-e-e’ is the last word and final verdict in the main text of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon (1975), an exposé of show-business scandal.

taco-bender n American

a Mexican or other person of Hispanic origin. A derogatory term coined on the lines of spaghetti-bender or bagel-bender. (A taco is a Mexican fried bread pancake.)

433

take berties

tacos n pl American See toss one’s cookies/tacos

tad n, adj, adv

a small or slight amount, a little, slightly. An American expression now fairly widespread in British use, especially in phrases such as ‘a tad hungry’. In American English tad has been used to mean a small boy since the late 19th century. It is probably from earlier British dialect, in which it is related to ‘toad’ or ‘tadpole’.

tadger n British

the penis. A vulgarism of unknown origin (probably from a lost dialect verb) used for many years in the north of England and revived by students, alternative comedians, etc. in the 1980s. Todger is an alternative modern version.

tag

1. vb, n (to spray) a graffiti artist’s personalised signature or motif. The word has been a colloquialism for a person’s name for many years. It was adopted by teenage graffiti artists in the 1970s in the USA, whence it spread with the craze.

‘If you go to one of the big guys of hip hop art and they have not heard of your tag, you are nothing. But if they’ve seen it and like it then you are bad.’

(15-year-old graffiti artist, Evening Standard, 11 November 1987)

2. vb

2a. American to hit or knock out

2b. American to kill, especially by shooting. In the latter sense the term was used in the cult US 1993 film Reservoir Dogs.

tagger n

a graffiti artist. From the use of tag to mean one’s name or pictorial signature.

tail n

a.a woman or women seen as (a) sexual object(s). The word usually occurs in phrases such as ‘a bit/piece of tail’, tail being a euphemism dating from the 14th century for the less polite arse or ass.

b.(particularly in Caribbean or gay usage) a man or men seen as (a) sexual object(s)

‘She spend all her time chasin’ tail!’

(Recorded, Trinidadian student, London, 1988)

tail-end n British

the penis. Confusingly, since the term usually denotes the backside, it may also, particularly in the northeast of England, refer to the male member.

tailpipe n American

the anus. A US teenagers’ term. This predictable use of the word (‘exhaustpipe’ in British English) is possibly influenced by the car driver’s experience of having another driver ‘up one’s tailpipe’, i.e. driving too close.

Taiwan n British

an upper second or 2.1 (‘two-one’) honours degree. A student nickname on the lines of Desmond, Pattie, Douglas, etc. coined in the mid-1980s. A made-in is a synonym from the same source.

take a bath vb

to suffer a financial loss or commercial setback. A piece of business jargon that has become fairly widespread. The image evoked seems to be of a drenching rather than just washing.

take a dive/tumble/fall vb

to deliberately lose a boxing match or other contest. Expressions in use since the inter-war years, originating in the USA.

take a dump vb See dump take a leak vb See leak

take a pill vb American

to relax, luxuriate. The phrase was popularised by the 1992 US film Wayne’s World.

take a pop (at) vb

to attack, hit, lash out at. A phrase popular in working-class London speech in the late 1980s.

‘Now you’re taking a pop at my business partners.’

(EastEnders, British TV soap opera, 1988)

take a powder vb

to leave (quickly), go away. A now dated expression originating in the USA in the 1920s. The powder in question refers to a laxative or stimulant medicine.

take a raincheck vb

to accept a postponement, put something off to a future date. An Americanism which entered international English in the mid-1970s. The raincheck in question was originally a ticket stub entitling the holder to entry to a ball game at some future date if the fixture is rained off.

take berties vb British

a. to behave in a presumptuous or intrusive way

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