Official Dictionary of Unofficial English-Grant-Barrett-0071458042

global gag rule

global gag rule n. a restriction that forbids U.S. government funds being given to organizations or countries that recommend, permit, or perform abortions. Health. Politics. Sexuality. United States.

1995 Contemporary Women’s Issues “Cairo +5—Assessing U.S. Support for Reproductive Health at Home and Abroad,” p. 1 ! The latest reincarnation of the Mexico City Policy, termed the “Global Gag Rule” by women’s advocates, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, would go far beyond the current legal prohibitions on abortion. It also would bar organizations in U.S. aid recipient countries from receiving population assistance if they use their own non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services. The proposed restriction would also deny funding if such non-U.S. organizations participated—consistent with their own laws—in efforts to alter laws or governmental policies with any connection to abortion. This proposed limitation would include not only overt lobbying, but also sponsoring conferences, distributing materials and disseminating public statements. 1997 Abortion Report

(June 6) “Int’l Family Planning: Smith Tries Again” ! Denying U.S. aid to family planning organizations and imposing a global gag rule will only increase the need for abortion. 2004 (U.S. Newswire) (June 2)

“Transcript of Opening Keynote Address by Nils Daulaire” (in Washington, D.C.) (Int.) ! This clique condemns these organizations because one has not been willing to agree to the so-called Mexico City Pol- icy—also known as the Global Gag Rule—and the other continues to work with humane health programs in China, despite the Chinese government’s lamentable policies.

G-machine n. an automobile capable of withstanding one g of extra gravitational force due to braking and turning at high speeds; (hence) any fast vehicle, such as an automobile or boat. Automotive. Jargon. Sports. [G- < ‘gravity’ + machine]

[1994 Usenet: rec. models.rc (June 6) “Re: (CAR) G MACHINE 2*Untweakable!*” (title).] 1995 Don Sherman Popular Science (Oct. 1) “A Sustained Blast. (1996 Porsche 911 Turbo) (Evaluation),” vol. 247, no. 4, p. 38 ! The 911 eclipses the mile-a-minute mark in 3.9 seconds, having used less than 200 feet of roadway to do so. In

short, Porsche’s turbo thruster is the most efficient g-machine Popular Science has ever tested. 1996 Usenet: rec.autos.makers.honda (Sept. 9) “Cheap Tires for My Civic” ! I didn’t expect them to transform the Civic into a balls out G-machine, but all in all I’m happy with ’em.

1998 Ron Eldridge Trailer Boats (Sept. 1) “G Machine,” vol. 27, no. 9, p. 34 ! This G Machine can carve ’em up with the hottest performance boats, and manages to do so with safety, comfort and

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panache. 2003 [Mad’lac] CadillacForums.com (Jan. 7) “Jeff Schwartz’ Caddy Modifications” (Int.) ! I like some of the ideas you have on the caddy. But I don’t think I am going to make it a G-machine though. I would like to set up my caddy for long haul and road trips. That’s why I am leaning toward a 350. *2003 Robert Bilicki (Stonybrook State Univ. of N.Y.) (July 24) “The Bilicki Zone” (Int.) ! This is my attempt at building a G-machine. All the term G-machine means is a car that has enough modification to pull 1 G in acceleration, braking, and turning. *2004 Chris Endres Popular Hotrodding “Course Correction” (Int.) ! Knowing that every g-machine is based on a solid suspension and chassis combination, Huntimer got the project under way by addressing these areas. *2004 Chris Endres GM High Tech Performance “G-Whiz!” (Int.) ! With the ever-growing g-machine movement, building an open-road racing style car presents a fresh chance to build a car with a look all its own.

goat grab n. at gatherings or celebrations in the Middle East, a communal self-served meal of meat and vegetables eaten with the hands. Food & Drink. Iraq.

1981 Economist (Feb. 28) “Kuwait: Bedouin Eatanswill” (in Kuwait), p. 45 ! The electors munched their way to and from the polling booths, helping themselves to platters of mansef (impolitely described as “the goat grab”) and heaving hillocks of that favourite Kuwaiti sweet, jello. 1990 Margaret Gillerman St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Aug. 19) “Desert Sprint Missourian Tells of Race Through Sand, Darkness, Tanks, Soldiers to Freedom,” p. 1A ! The Saudi soldiers feted the Americans, offering them juice, tea and platters of lamb and rice. Diemler explained it was “goat-grab,” where “you tear off a piece of meat with

your hands, mix it with rice and get it into a ball and pop it in.”

2004 David J. Morris Storm on the Horizon (Feb. 3), p. 189 ! The enlisted men were subjected to a daily routine of whole boiled goat or chicken served up on a large metal platter. Mixed in the gruel were all the entrails, including beaks, hoofs, feet, and eyeballs.... Chowtime soon became known as “The Goat Grab.” 2004 Robin Moore Hunting Down Saddam (Mar. 18), p. 82 ! A goat grab is basically a local tradition of having a big long table where they put out platters of rice, vegetables, and literally hunks of sheep that have been on a spit, roasting and so forth. You just dig in; you grab sheep or lamb, or fish, or what have you. 2005 Matt Misterek @ Mosul, Iraq News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) (June 18) “Deuce Four’s Many Hats” (Int.) ! They call it a “goat grab,” a night of traditional feasting to celebrate the bonds between American and Iraqi soldiers.

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goat-rope

goat-rope n. a messy or disorganized situation. Also goat roping, goat rodeo.

[1951 Albert E. Barrantine @ Korea Bridgeport Sunday Post (Conn.) (July 1) “Bridgeport Office Lauds Buddy Who ‘Fires’ Artillery by Radio,” p. C12 ! I’ve been to two world fairs, goat roping in Idaho and cut off at Unsan, but I’ve never seen anything like this.] 1987 Randy Galloway Dallas Morning News (Jan. 25) “Giants to Beat Broncos: Simms Is Pressure-Proof,” p. 4B ! Any team good enough to get this far comes in fully aware that for several morning hours every day you will have to endure a media goat rope. 1990 Usenet: sci.space

(Apr. 18) “Re: Pegasus Launch from Valkyrie” ! In fact, it sounds a lot like what is called in the oilfield a “goat-roping exercise.” 1992

Usenet: alt.music.alternative (Aug. 4) “Dallas Indie Music Festival (Re: The Buck Pets)” ! In a moment of temporary insanity, I volunteered to be some kind of stage manager for this goat-rope! Can you imagine getting fifteen bands on and off a stage—most of them don’t even have roadie. 1993 Usenet: alt.president.clinton (May 18) “Re: Laser Focus on Economy” ! It remains to be seen if this will be a real investigation, or just a C.Y.A. goat-rope. 2004 Mark Davis Atlanta JournalConstitution (Ga.) (Sept. 3) “Developer Files Suit Against Snellville”

! The article derided the proposed annexation and rezoning as a “goat roping.” 2004 John Battelle Searchblog (Dec. 22) “A Look Ahead” (Int.) ! We will have a goat rodeo of sorts in the blogging/micropublishing/RSS world as commercial interests push into what many consider a “pure medium.”

go bare v. to be uninsured. Jargon.

1976 Washington Post (Jan. 26) “Some Practicing with No Policies” (in L.A.), p. A12 ! Dr. Edwin Colbern is “going bare”—that is, he is practicing medicine without malpractice insurance coverage. 1978 Nancy L. Ross Washington Post (Feb. 18) “Suits Against Architects Rise by 20%,” p. E17 ! As a result, the American Institute of Architects says a growing number of professionals are following the example of their medical colleagues and “going bare,” or doing without liability insurance except where government contracts require it. 1992 Bruce Hight

Austin American-Statesman (Tex.) (Jan. 26) “Uninsured Employer Takes Risk by ‘Going Bare,’ ” p. A12 ! Going bare means going without workers’ compensation insurance. 1998 St. Petersburg Times (Fla.) (Apr. 29) “‘Bare’ in Plain Sight,” p. 10A ! Other doctors drop malpractice insurance because they have been sued so many times they cannot afford it. In either case, patients have the right to know when a doctor is uninsured or “going bare,” as the practice is called. 2005

Don Doggett Houston Chronicle (Tex.) (Jan. 8) “Workers’ Comp Gives

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Protection” (Int.) ! Employers who choose not to carry workers’ comp, sometimes referred to as going bare, face unlimited liability if an injured employee can show the employer was negligent.

go bazootie v. phr. to go crazy. Slang. This term is not common. It is probably a form of go berserk ‘to become frenzied; to go crazy’ and related to the also uncommon go bazonkers. Also see

BAZOOTY.

1988 Carol Gentry St. Petersburg Times (July 10) “Trauma Care in State a Patchwork System,” p. 1A ! Several states have assumed the role of anointing hospitals as trauma centers in areas that need them and have none. But when someone suggested a similar plan for Florida, said Alexander, the Florida Hospital Association “absolutely went bazootie.” 1992 Michael Gee Boston Herald (July 20) “Rog’s Right, But Not Bright Reaction Overshadows a Very Legitimate Gripe,” p. 78 ! I think there’s a major difference between criticizing a public figure for actions taken in public, like going bazootie on the mound during a playoff game..., and criticizing a public figure on one person’s unsupported account of a long ago private moment. 1999

Christopher Sandford Springsteen: Point Blank (Sept. 1), p. 169 ! The total bill came to $500,000. CBS’s Walter Yetnikoff “went bazootie” when he got it.

godunk n. a person who solicits free airplane trips or rides.

1938-39 Individual aviators @ N.Y. LOTJ “Aero-Manufacturing and Aviation Slang and Jargon,” p. 6 ! Godunk. Aerial hitch hiker. 1946 [“Slick” Hightower] Port Arthur News (Tex.) (Sept. 28) “At the Airports,” p. 16 ! Godunk or chisel rider—One who hangs around an airport begging for free rides.

go north with the club v. in baseball, to join a major league team (from a farm team or the minor leagues). Also go north with the team. Canada. Jargon. Sports. United States. [Baseball spring training is held in warm southern states, so to join the team as a regular player is almost always to literally go north to the team’s home city.]

[1903 Decatur Review (Ill.) (June 2), p. 3 ! Pitcher Eul, the Peoria man who has been dickering with McFarland, got in in time to go north with the team and John Mertens was left at home.] 1942 Syracuse Herald-Journal (N.Y.) (Apr. 6) “Skidding the Sport Field with ‘Skid,’ ” p. 14 ! Vance will probably go North with the club and if he does it means that infield practice will be well worth watching because his rifle-like arm is the big feature of Syracuse warmups.

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goon

1952 Jack Hand Joplin Globe (Mo.) (Mar. 21) “BoSox Will Go with Oldsters as Long as They Keep in Race,” p. 7B ! Eight survivors of the six-week training school at Sarasota are due to go north with the club. 1983 N.Y. Times (Feb. 28) “Strawberry Draws Attention” (in St. Petersburg, Fla.), p. C6 ! “He’s such a good young player,” Manager George Bamberger said, “that there’s absolutely no point in rushing him. In my mind, I don’t think he’ll go north with the club. But we expect him to make it before long, and to stay a long time.” 1987

Dave Perkins @ Dunedin, Fla. Toronto Star (Can.) (Feb. 25) “Caudill’s Forkball a ‘Slice,’ ” p. C1 ! Despite his luscious contract—Caudill made $1,233,000 for his lost season in 1986 and is signed for three more years—he needs to beat people out to go north with the team.

2004 Allen Ariza NYFansOnly.com (Nov. 21) “CD’s Phuture Phillie Phenoms...North Philly 40” (Int.) ! A player told that he has made the team is referred to as “going north with the club.”

goon v. to act like a goon; to attack (someone) with undue or unprovoked violence. Also n., gooning. Canada. Sports. United States.

1978 Allen Abel @ Uniondale, N.Y. Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) (May 1) “Leafs Muscle Beats Talent, Downcast Islanders Agree” ! In the playoffs, intimidation, gooning it up, being as vicious as you can be is a big part of hockey. 1986 Jerry Zgoda Star Tribune (Minneapo- lis-St. Paul, Minn.) (Mar. 2) “St. Louis Owner Singles Out Hospodar for Gooning” ! He criticized the NHL for allowing too much gooning.

1994 Worker’s Vanguard (NYC) (July 8) “Reformists Cover for Teamster Bureaucracy” in Usenet: misc.headlines (July 13, 1994) (PNEWS) “[WV] 603 Teamsters Article” ! He got his group off the ground by gooning leftists and militant workers on behalf of the San Francisco labor tops during the 1983 Greyhound strike. 1994 Adrian Dater @ Lakewood, Colo. Denver Post (Colo.) (Sept. 4) “Green Mountain Stuns Thornton” ! Thornton coach Nate Leaf said his team played almost as well and was the victim of some rough Rams play, particularly on star halfback John Carroll. “They were ‘gooning’ him,” Leaf said. 2004

Jeff Coen, Glenn Jeffer Chicago Tribune (Aug. 5) “Teenager Held in Fatal ‘Gooning’ ” (Int.) ! The group of teenagers called it “gooning,” authorities say, slang for the beating in the street of unsuspecting people they perceived to be drunk or elderly or otherwise defenseless.

goonda tax n. money extorted as ‘protection’ or to permit passage on public thoroughfares, or paid as a simple bribe. Crime & Prisons. India. Money & Finance. Pakistan. [The Hindi and Urdu term goonda can be translated as rascal or ruffian and even as goon,

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but there is no evidence to indicate that the English goon comes from goonda or vice versa.]

1996 @ Sialkot Dawn (Karachi, Pakistan) (Sept. 10) “Police-Outlaws Battle Near Sialkot Continues” in Usenet: soc.culture.pakistan (Sept. 10, 1996) Hassan Naqvi “Muqabla Continues with Terrorists of Punjab”

! All the murders committed by the duo are reported to have been linked with their activities of collecting “goonda tax” at the general bus stands of Narowal district. 1999 Times of India (Mar. 19) “Man Accused in Magarasa Homicide Arrested” (in Kanpur) ! The man accused in the Magarasa massacre was arrested by the police on Wednesday morning from the same locality while he was engaged in extorting goonda tax from shopkeepers. 2002 Jatinder Sharma @ Rohtak Tribune (Chandigarh, India) (Feb. 13) “Mining Mafia: Ex-CM Seeks Probe” (Int.) ! Addressing newsmen here today, Mr. Bansi Lal described the extortions as “goonda-tax.” 2004 Times of India

(Oct. 7) “Cops Net Ranchi Don in City Hotel” (in Kolkata) (Int.) ! A notorious criminal based in Ranchi, he patronised the word “goonda tax” (or GT in police parlance) to a good extent in the city, having collected Rs 2 crore over the past six months.

gorilla dust n. bluffing, posturing, or making hollow attempts at intimidation. Animals. Politics. [The 1998 quote accurately describes the origins of the term.]

1986 Warren Brown Washington Post (Dec. 9) “Smith, Perot All Smiles at Encounter,” p. D1 ! More than 7,000 people showed up here today to witness what one business publication billed as a “clash of titans.” But the actual event amounted to little more than a cloud of what one of the combatants called “gorilla dust.” 1998 Hinduism Today (Kapaa, Hawaii) (Aug.) “Is India’s Nuclear Threat Mere Gorilla Dust?” (Int.)

! When two male gorillas confront each other, they’re too canny most of the time to actually fight, so they resort to the tried-and-true political tactic of intimidation. Both scurry about in a frenzy, grimacing menacingly, beating their chests and tossing clouds of dirt into the air. It’s a serious encounter, full of powerful and primitive energies, a test of testosterone. Soon one becomes convinced that the other could win the threatened physical engagement, and retreats. It’s called gorilla dust, and nations stir it up all the time. 2003 Zig Ziglar Ziglar on Selling (July 31), p. 205 ! The sales professional recognizes false objections as “gorilla dust.”

grandmother cell n. a neuron that is said to fire when a person recognizes a single individual. Biology. Science. [Jerome Lettvin is often credit with coining this term, but that has not been verified.]

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This term is directly tied to a theory of neurology that posits that individual brain cells contain individual memories, as opposed to each memory being stored across a matrix of cells.

1975 Gunther S. Stent Science (Mar. 21) “Limits to the Scientific Understanding of Man,” vol. 187, no. 4181, p. 1056 ! The Grandmother cell.... Should one suppose that the cellular abstraction process goes so far that there exists for every meaningful structure of whose specific recognition a person is capable (for example, “my grandmother”) at least one particular nerve cell in the brain that responds if and only if the light and dark pattern from which that structure is abstracted appears in its visual space...? 1983 Robert Walgate, Wallace Immen Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) (Apr. 1) “Stripes of the Auditory Cortex Register Tones Somewhat Like Keys on a Piano Brain ‘Hears’ Stereo Sound,” p. E10 ! In vision, the search for a “granny cell”—a cell that fired only when you saw granny (or some other such complex object)—proved fruitless, so we are probably not going to detect a “Bach cell” or a “Stravinsky cell” in the auditory cortex. 2005 Roxanne Khamsi Nature.com (June 22) “Jennifer Aniston Strikes a Nerve” (Int.) ! The brain would contain a separate neuron to recognize each and every object in the world. Neurobiologist Jerome Lettvin coined the term “grandmother cell” to parody this view, as it would mean that the brain contains a specific cell to recognize one’s own grandmother.

granny f lat n. a separate apartment built on a lot already containing a home. Architecture. Colloquial. United States.

1978 Robert Sheppard Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) (Jan. 23) “House Leaps Three Centuries and an Ocean,” p. P25 ! One of the two barn-like structures that until recently still stood in the English countryside now forms a four-car garage with upstairs servants’ quarters, guest house or teen room. (The builders also suggest it would make an ideal granny flat.) 1987 Sandy Rovner Washington Post

(Apr. 14) “Age-Speak 101: How to Tell a NORC from a DRG,” p. Z25

! Granny Flat: A separate, self-contained unit designed for temporary installation on the side or in the backyard of an adult child’s home.

2005 Kellie Schmitt, Dan Stober Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) (Mar. 27) “P.A. Considers Allowing More ‘Granny’ Units” (Int.) ! As part of sweeping zoning changes, the city council will decide next month whether to increase the number of homesites that could add garage apartments or cottages, commonly referred to as granny or inlaw units.

grayshirt v. to not participate in a college sport (for a season) while still retaining eligibility. Sports. United States. A similar—but not

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identical—term is redshirt. The differences depend on the sport and the league.

[1992 Jorge Valencia, Maureen Delany Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) (Oct. 1) “Poly Star Plays Bigger Than He Looks,” p. C8 ! But he injured his left knee and took a grayshirt year (going to school part time without losing a year of eligibility).] 1993 Carl Sawyer Orange County Register (Calif.) (Dec. 4) “Bowl Games a Feast for Scouts,”

p. C12 ! Even before deciding on Orange Coast, I knew I was going to grayshirt. I have dyslexia (a reading-learning disability), and I felt that I needed to take some classes and learn what college is all about before I tried playing ball. 2005 Gentry Estes Ledger-Enquirer

(Columbus, Ga.) (Jan. 9) “Tide Builds to 85 Scholarships” (Int.)

! Three players off the Crimson Tide’s 2004 signing class were forced to grayshirt this season, meaning they could enroll in school, but there simply wasn’t enough room to officially add them to the team until 2005.

green GDP n. a reconciliation of a nation’s economic record with its environmental record. Environment. Money & Finance. [GDP = Gross Domestic Product.]

1990 Michael McCarthy Times (London, Eng.) (Apr. 30) “Government May Have to Make ‘Green’ Reports to the United Nations” ! The commitments...include environmental systems of national accounting to show “green GDP” as well as the merely financial balance sheet, a determined campaign on energy efficiency, and a public commitment to “reduce the harmful effects of the transport sector.” 1994 J. Steven Landefeld, Carol S. Carson Survey of Current Business (Apr. 1) “Integrated Economic and Environmental Satellite Accounts,” p. 33

! Work on the natural resources satellite accounts was given added impetus and extended in scope in 1993 when President Clinton, as part of his April 21 Earth Day address, gave high priority to the development of “Green GDP measures [that] would incorporate changes in the natural environment into the calculations of national income and wealth.” 2004 Xinhuanet (China) (Apr. 2) “China’s ‘Green GDP’ Index Facing Technology Problem, Local Protectionism” (Int.)

! The “green” GDP, considered an echo of China’s newly raised “scientific concept of development,” requires adjusting the traditional national GDP to account for the degradation of both natural resources and environment.

griefer n. an online game player who willfully and habitually disrupts game play. Entertainment. Technology.

2000 Usenet: rec.games.computer.ultima.online (Aug. 14) “Re: Scamming” ! Being your standard UO griefer, he laughed at us and refused

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to return it, and there was quite a long standoff. Fortunately, this was a newbie griefer, and said he would sell me the 1600 wood back for 500 gold. Of course, upon handing over the 500, he wouldn’t drop the wood, so several people paged GMs. About a minute later *poof* someone appears asking where the scammer is. Of course by then we had told him that we had paged the GMs, so the griefer handed over the wood. 2001 Usenet: alt.games.everquest (Nov. 19) “Re: Is DAOC Really THAT Good?” ! If someone as generally mild-mannered...as me could grief with such ease, imagine what dedicated griefers could do.... To the true griefer, time wasted is irrelevant. They are preventing you from doing what YOU want to do—that’s satisfaction enough. 2002 Alex Pham L.A. Times (Sept. 2) “Bullies Give Grief to Gamers Internet,” p. A1 ! Frerichs is what the online world calls a griefer—someone who plays to make others cry. They stalk, hurl insults, extort, form gangs, kill and loot. Although a tiny percentage of the millions who play online games, griefers are prolific in sowing distress and driving away thousands of paying customers. 2004

David Becker CNET (Dec. 13) “Inflicting Pain on ‘Griefers’ ” (Int.) ! As online-game companies court new and wider audiences, many are running into an old problem: “griefers,” a small but seemingly irradicable set of players who want nothing more than to murder, loot and otherwise frustrate the heck out of everyone else.

Gringolandia n. the United States of America. Mexico. Spanish. United States. [Mexican Spanish gringo ‘Yankee; English-speaking North American’ + landia (suffix indicating ‘place’)]

1953 Fisgona El Informador (Guadalajara, Mexico) (Mar. 8) “Indiscretas,” p. 6 ! Ruth Román, la luminaria yanki que filma en nuestros estudios, al lado de otros astros del cielo fílmico de Gringolandia, perdió su bolso en los estudios Churubusco. 1969 Robert Berrellez

Daily Times (Salisbury, Md.) (May 2) “U.S. Tied Closely with Problems Facing Mexico,” p. 27 ! Many Mexicans believe their country has become, in the age of decolonization, a colony of the United States. Some call it Gringolandia. 2004 Dane Schiller Express-News (San Antonio, Tex.) (Nov. 21) “If Called a ‘Gringo,’ See If It’s Said with a Smile” (Int.) ! Even in worst-case scenarios, it is a few notches less antagonizing than other words for people from the United States, known as gringolandia, or gringo land.

gronk n. a general term of derogation for a man, especially one considered weak, stupid, or brutish. Australia. Derogatory. Slang.

1987 R. Gibson Courier-Mail (Australia) (June 17) “Nine DoubleHeader on Crime and Corruption” ! They talk about the “gronks”— those prisoners who don’t shower or carry any personal dignity. 1987

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Michael Cordell, Bernard Lagan Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (Nov. 21) “Inside Our Jails” ! Alexander was labeled a “gronk”— young, slow, and an easy target for sex. According to Steve, a 30-year- old who served four years in jail for more than 10 bank robberies, “a gronk is someone who can’t flow with the normal stretch, they’re a bit slow on it or whatever.” 1999 John Stapleton Australian (Mar. 24) “Where the Final Price Is High Indeed,” p. 14 ! Those were the days when myth said heroin was just another drug, a creative juice, before methadone and dereliction, before decent people turned into evil little gronks, before so many talented people died. 1999 Adele Horin Sydney Morning Herald (Apr. 21) “Giving It the Hard Cell,” p. 17 ! In a letter Armytage later wrote to the then Minister for Juvenile Justice, Faye Lo Po, he listed examples of the racial abuse the youths alleged

they had been subjected to. “You black c—, you got no ticker.” “Come on, you black gronk, hit me.” And “Shut up, you black mutt.” 2002

MX (Melbourne, Australia) (July 2) “Language Grows as Teens Go Sik,” p. 9 ! Today, anything that is cool is sik while a gronk is someone who might previously have been called an idiot. 2002 Peter Brala @ West Pennant Hills Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia) (July 4) “Teenage Vernacular,” p. 28 ! The work “gronk” does not have its genesis in ethnic youth. I first encountered this term while working as a psychologist in the NSW prison system in the mid-1980s. This term has gained a more widespread usage since then. 2004 The_Brick

Wanna Be Big Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Forums (Mar. 1) “Gronk in the Gym Rant” (Int.) ! In Australia the term “gronk” was originally used to describe prison inmates. Now the term is used to describe wannabe mama’s boy thugs, derelicts and general idiocy in people. Anyway I was at the gym which I have been a member of since it opened, where I know almost every hardcore trainer including the manager and staff when this gronk tried to “own” me. 2004 Niyi Awofeso Journal of Mundane Behavior (Millersville, Pa.) (June) “Prison Argot and Penal Discipline” (Int.) ! Not unexpectedly therefore, most argot terms relating to prison health workers had unflattering connotations. For instance, the argot term “gronk” is remains [sic] in current use in Australian prisons in describing health workers perceived as insensitive to prisoners’ health and welfare interests. 2004 Lara Zamiatin Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (Oct. 31) “The House of Gronk” (Int.) ! Delaveris was immediately hooked on prison lingo— and particularly taken with one word, “gronk,” which has myriad meanings. In prison parlance, it’s a derogatory term for inmates used by prison guards. Linguists, however, are divided. Some suggest it means “sex slave”; others say that it refers to a Neanderthal or a brutish person with limited intellect.

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