Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (106 page)

The term, which is most often heard in American speech and applied to males, is the Hebrew word for ‘bastard'.

mondo
adj British

excellent, admirable. The American combining form was adopted as a synonym for such vogue terms of approbation as
top
in around 1991.

That new video-game is mega-mondo.

mondo-
combining form American
an allpurpose combining word which in Italian and Spanish means ‘world (of)' and in American English means ‘a situation of…' or ‘a state of affairs characterised by…'. The word is then followed by the defining word, usually with a mock-Latin ‘o' ending as in ‘mondo-sleazo', ‘mondobozo' or ‘mondo-cheapo'. This pattern derives from the 1963 Italian documentary film
Mondo Cane
(translated as ‘A Dog's Life') which acquired cult status and inspired first intellectual wits and later college students and
Valley Girls
to coin similar phrases.

Monet
adj American

attractive at a distance but not when seen at close quarters. This vogue pejorative term from the language of Californian high-school girls in the 1990s (it features in the 1994 US film
Clueless
) is applied to the appearance of persons and occasionally objects. It is based on the notion of Impressionist paintings.

‘To her character Cher Silverstone would have therefore been a “Monet” – which means OK from a distance but a mess close up.'
(
Sunday Times “Style”
magazine, 22 October 1995)

money
adj American

cool
. A fashionable term since the
yuppie
era.

You're so money and you don't even know it.

mong
n British

an idiot, clumsy fool. A shortened form of ‘mongol', itself a term (for those suffering from Down's syndrome) now considered offensive. Mong was a vogue term of abuse among London schoolchildren in the early 1970s and was still in use in 2004.

mong'd, monged, monged out
adj British

a.
intoxicated and incapacitated by drugs. The words, fashionable in 1990s
rave
culture, are based on ‘mongol(oid)'.
Gurning
and
sledgied
are similar terms.

b.
hung-over or suffering from a drugs
comedown
. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

mongrel
n

a.
a despicable person. This use of the standard word dates from the 1700s. It is now particularly prevalent in Australia and New Zealand.

‘They call themselves journalists but they're a bunch of bloody mongrels.'
(Recorded, Australian reporter, London, November 2004)

b.
Australian
a person of mixed race. A racist term of abuse since the 18th century.

moniker, monniker, monicker
n

a name, nickname or alias. No definitive history of this word has been established. What is known is that it has existed in various spellings since the mid-19th century and that it was first used by tramps, vagrants and other ‘marginals'. The three most likely derivations are from ‘monarch', ‘monk' or ‘monogram', but none of these is provable nor is there any clear connection with the (Saint's) name ‘Monica'.

‘Christened by his father – a heavy duty John Wayne and Cowboy fan – with the name WAYNE WANG. Would this split-cultural, cartoon moniker destine the baby to grow up, leave Hong Kong and end up in California directing an all-American film… and a violent one at that?'
(
I-D
magazine, November 1987)

monkey
n British

1.
£500. A raffish term in use among gamblers, street traders,
spivs
, etc. The origin of the term is obscure; it has been in use since at least the early 19th century and, confusingly, is also used to refer to sums of £50 or, on occasion, £50,000.

‘My client is not the kind of man to be satisfied with a mere monkey for his services.'
(Arthur Daley in
Minder
, British TV series, 1987)

2.
an inferior or menial. Inspired by such images as the organ grinder and his monkey, the word is used to refer dismissively or contemptuously to underlings or errand-runners, etc.

‘I'll deal with this myself; the monkeys downstairs can take care of the calculations.'
(Recorded, accountant, London, 1986)

monkey's
n British

a damn. A word invariably heard as part of the dismissive or defiant expressions ‘don't give/care a monkey's'. The term is an abbreviated form of undefined but presumably offensive phrases such as ‘monkey's
fart
/
fuck
/
balls
'.

‘I'm sure they'll be saying terrible things about us, but quite frankly I couldn't give a monkey's.'
(Recorded, university lecturer, London, June 2005)

monkey suit
n

a uniform, particularly one which is thought to demean the wearer. Typically applied to bellboys, doormen, etc. dressed in absurd or confining outfits, the term derives from the practice of dressing monkeys in such clothing for carnival displays.

monniker
n

an alternative spelling of
moniker

monster
n British

an unattractive and/or unpleasant person. Defined as ‘someone who looks disgusting and smells', this is an item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

monster!
exclamation British

excellent. A popular expression of enthusiasm or admiration, mostly heard among middle-aged speakers in the 1990s.

-monster
combining form

a.
American
a personification of a threat or irritation, as in ‘rack-monster' (exhaustion) or ‘pavement monster' (bumps or holes in a road surface)

b.
an epitome or outstanding example, as in ‘beer monster',
shag-monster

monstering
n British

(a) chastisement, ‘dressing-down' or harangue. A word which occurs predominantly in middle-aged usage in a professional context and among members of the armed forces.

‘In one confrontation, Montgomery, the group's chief executive, delivered such a “Hitlerian monstering” to a senior executive that she was reduced to tears.'
(
Sunday Times
, 30 March 1995)

monty
See
full monty, the

moo
n British

a woman, particularly a stupid or unpleasant woman. It has been claimed that the comedy script-writer Johnny Speight invented this abusive term for his 1960s television series
Till Death do us Part
to avoid the BBC ban, in force at that time, on the use of the word
cow
. In fact the word already existed in London working-class vocabulary from at least the 1950s.

moobs
n pl

male breasts. The term, recorded in 2004, is formed from man or male and
boobs
.

Maps
is a contemporary synonym.

‘TOWIE's James Argent flaunts his moobs in the mud as he attempts to fight the flab at boot camp.'
(
Daily Mail
, 12 November 2012)

mooch
¹
vb

a.
to hang around, linger aimlessly, idle

b.
to cadge, sponge, take advantage of (one's friends)

‘I've been mooching off you for years and it's never been a problem until she showed up.'
(
School of Rock
, US film, 2003)

The word has been in use since the 19th century in both senses and has formed part of the lexicons of tramps, criminals,
beatniks
and the fashionable young of the 1980s in both Britain and the USA. Its origin is uncertain.

mooch
²
n American

a cadger, sponger, scrounger. A back-formation from the verb.

moody
¹
n British

a.
a sulk, fit of bad temper or sullenness. A popular working-class expression of the late 1970s, usually in the form ‘throw a moody'. Moody was a popular allpurpose cockney term for negative, fake or false in the earlier 20th century and ‘doing a moody' used to mean acting suspiciously.
Later, a moody signified a simulated fight or quarrel.

b.
a lie. A word which usually occurs in criminal or police usage, sometimes in the form ‘old moody'.

Listen we don't need old moody, give us the names.

moody
²
adj British

illegal, counterfeit, of dubious value, quality or provenance. A London working-class term which, from the late 1980s, began to spread into fashionable youth parlance.

They accused him of selling moody gear off his stall in the market.

mook
n American

a term of abuse of uncertain meaning and unknown origin. It may be a variant form of
mooch
or even
mug
.

‘It's very nasty to call a person a honky mook.'
(Steve Martin,
All of Me
, US film, 1984)

moolah, moola
n

money. A humorous word imported into Britain from the USA before World War II. It is an invented term, probably in imitation of Amerindian, African or other foreign languages, as is the more recent British synonym,
womba
. Like most slang terms for money, moolah underwent something of a revival in the late 1980s.

‘Many congressmen arrive in Washington expecting to get rich – if not quick, at least before they leave. The art is in finding ways to get the moolah without contravening the various laws and rules of ethics.'
(
Observer
, 12 June 1989)

moon
¹
vb

to exhibit the buttocks publicly, typically from the window of a moving car. A term and practice popular with American teenagers since the 1950s. It has been a common practice among young male students in Britain from at least the late 1970s. (Moon refers to the white globes on display.)

‘And it's hard not to warm to Panic's bare-faced nerve – mooning in discos, lifting a wallet and rifling through it insolently in full view of the impotent owner.'
(
Independent
, 12 January 1988)

moon
²
n British

1.
a foolish, irritating or obnoxious person. The word has been used in this sense by young schoolchildren (perhaps by analogy with ‘loon' or ‘buffoon') for many years. Since 2000 it has been adopted by some adolescents, sometimes evoking strong dislike.

2.
a month (of a prison sentence or remand). The term featured in the prison letters of Blake Fielder-Civil, singer Amy Winehouse's then husband, which were published by the
Sun
newspaper in July 2008.

moonrock
n American

a mixture of
crack
and heroin

moose
¹
n

an ugly or unattractive female. A vogue term, in use among British adolescents in the later 1990s, which has been defined as ‘someone who looks disgusting and smells'.

moose
²
adj British

1.
unpleasant, boring, ugly. The adjectival usage postdates the noun.

2.
excellent. In this sense the word was recorded in South Wales in 2000.

moose-knuckles
n Canadian
a synonym for
camel toes

moosh
n

an alternative spelling of
mush

moreish, morish
adj British

appetising, tempting. This predominantly middle-class colloquialism, applied to anything edible, is a pun on ‘moorish' (as in architecture), dating surprisingly from the 18th century.

more-time
exclamation

‘see you later'. The expression, which was used by London teenagers in the 1990s, may originate in black speech.
Later(s)
is a synonym.

moriarty
n British

a
party
. A fairly rare item of rhyming slang employing the name of the arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes, later reinvented as a dastardly villain in the BBC radio comedy show
The Goons
in the 1950s, from when this usage dates.

Mork and Mindy
adj British

windy
. The rhyming-slang term, still heard after 2000, uses the title of a US comedy TV series of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It's a bit Mork and Mindy out this morning.

mortal, mortalled
adj Scottish

drunk. The expression ‘mortal drunk' (i.e. hopelessly or dangerously) was in use from the early 19th century.

moshing
n British

dancing in a packed scrimmage to heavy metal,
hardcore
or any other fast, loud rock
music. This activity, which is more a form of energetic communal writhing than dancing, was adopted by fans of hard rock during the late 1980s as a successor to
slam dancing
,
headbanging
or the characteristic playing of imaginary guitars (‘air guitar').