Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (107 page)

moss-back
n American

an elderly person. The term is often applied affectionately in family slang to an older relative. Synonyms are
cotton-top
and
frost-top
.

mother
n American

1.
an abbreviated and euphemistic version of
motherfucker
. This version, more common than the full form, is often used appreciatively rather than pejoratively. It is sometimes spelled
muthah
in imitation of black or southern pronunciation. The word is probably used to refer to objects and animals as often as humans.

Man, that was some big mother.
Did you get a look at that mother?

2.
a male homosexual, particularly a man in a dominant, protective or influential relation to younger males

motherfucker
n American

a.
a despicable person. The most common term of strong abuse in the American vocabulary. (Euphemistic forms such as ‘mother-raper', ‘mother-jumper' or just
mother
are sometimes substituted.) The expression, naming the ultimate in degeneracy, originated among poor blacks.

‘Oedipus was a motherfucker.'
(Graffito, Euston station, London, 1972)

b.
an awesome or appalling thing, situation, etc.

one motherfucker of a mess

motoring
n British

making good progress, performing well. A driver's expression of the 1970s (meaning moving at speed) which became generalised in the 1980s to mean roughly the same as the American
cooking
.

OK, great, now we're motoring!

motormouth
n American

a person who talks excessively, a ‘fast-talker'. A popular term from the mid-1970s, it originated in black ghetto slang. The word was later applied to amphetamine users, disc jockeys, comics and
rap
artists.

mott
n British

the female sex organs. A vulgarism still widely used (by men) in the 1960s, but now rare. It is from the French
motte
, meaning mound, used by 19th-century pornographers among others.

motzer, motza
n

(an instance of) good fortune, surprising luck. The words, heard in British and Australian speech, are versions of the Yiddish name for an outsize cookie, itself related to
mazel
: good luck.

mouldies
n British

parents, older persons. The abbreviation for the colloquial cliché ‘mouldy oldies' was in use among teenagers in 2008.

mouse potato
n British

a modern version of a couch potato. ‘Someone who spends all their time at home surfing the internet'.

mousetrap
n British

a Japanese person. An item of cockney rhyming slang (for
Jap
) which probably originated during World War II, but is still heard, for instance, among City financial traders in London.

mouth-breather
n

a primitive, brutish person. The phrase is used contemptuously for those considered thuggish and/or moronic, evoking the image of a shambling, open-mouthed, slack-jawed creature, invariably male.

mouthpiece
n

a lawyer, specifically one's defence counsel or legal representative. A term used, particularly by the underworld, since the mid-19th century. The word is sometimes extended to refer to any spokes-person.

‘A deliberate slip of the tongue gets a laugh. A sergeant begins a question: “When a defendant has got a mouthpiece – sorry, I mean solicitor…”.'
(
Inside the British Police
, Simon Holdaway, 1983)

mouthy
adj British

talkative, boastful or verbose. A pejorative working-class term.

moxie
n American

spirit, vim, courage, enterprise. Moxie was the trade name of a soft drink on sale in the USA in the 19th century (probably based on a local Amerindian place name). The drinks company used the advertising slogan: ‘What this country needs is plenty of Moxie!'.

Mozart
adj Australian

drunk. The word is one half of the rhyming-slang phrase ‘Mozart and Liszt':
pissed
. The British equivalent is
Brahms (and Liszt)
.

mozzer, mozza
n

luck, good fortune. This seems to be the main surviving variant among many words (‘mozz', ‘mozzle', ‘mozzy') deriving from the Yiddish
mazel
: a cookie blessing the consumer with good luck. The words have existed in British working-class speech since at least the 1880s and later became part of Australian usage, usually in the forms
motzer
or
motza
.

‘That was a bit of mozzer – all six at one stall.'
(Recorded, Newbury, 1989)

Mr/Mister Sausage
n

the penis. An adults' imitation nursery-word of the sort which has enjoyed a vogue since the mid-1980s, particularly in middle-class British usage. The playwright Mike Leigh used the term in dialogue ascribed to a
yuppie
couple in his 1988 feature film,
High Hopes
.

…, much?
American

a catchphrase used in written and spoken form in order to register a sarcastic or ironic comment

‘I HATE when people say e.g jealous much? Or tired much? I remember hearing it in sex and the city movie when Samantha says “wax much?” and I hated it then. Now people actually say it in RL! Bleugh.'
(Posting on Mumsnet website, 13 May 2012)

muckamuck, (high) mucky-muck
n American

a person in authority or a VIP, especially a self-important one. The term originated in the 19th century and apparently derives from an Amerindian phrase meaning ‘plenty to eat'.

‘Fuck you. It [a concealed gun]'s in Mr Chancellor's name. He got it okayed by the muckamucks.'
(Jonathan Kellerman,
Over the Edge
, 1987)

mucker
n

a friend, ‘mate', pal. The term is said to have originated in armed-service usage as a longer expression, ‘mucking-in pal' or ‘mucking-in spud', soon shortened to mucker. The word survives mainly in the speech of hearty males.

There you are, Keith, me old mucker.

mucky duck
n British

an unattractive female, defined on the Student World website in 2001 as ‘an ageing slapper'

mucky pint
n British

a combination of Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur and other alcoholic drinks. The reference is to the muddy colour and slightly viscous consistency as compared with a pint of ale or lager. The term has been in use among students and younger drinkers since 2000.

mudfish
n

an ugly or unattractive female. One of many pejorative synonyms in use among UK students since 2000.
Mutt
,
munter
and
swamp-donkey
are contemporary alternatives.
mudskipper
n
a synonym for
mudfish mudsucker
n American
an unpleasant or despicable person. A term of abuse coined to echo the syllables of the more offensive
motherfucker
.

muff
n

the female sex organs and/or the female pubic hair. This euphemistic use of the standard word for an enveloping hand- or ear-warmer made of fur (deriving ultimately from the mediaeval Latin for mitten,
muffula
) originated in the 17th century and is still current, although less common than in the 1950s and early 1960s.
muff-diving
n
cunnilingus. A jocular coinage based on the long-established use of
muff
to denote the female genitals.

muffins
n pl American
female breasts.
Baps
is a British synonym.

muffin-top
n

a bulging midriff. The term, heard in 2006 especially in reference to obesity among younger people, evokes the shape of the muffins sold in coffee-shops which bulge over paper holders.

mug
n

1.
the face. The word has had this meaning since the early 1700s; it derived from the practice of making china drinking-mugs decorated with grotesque human faces.

2.
a fool, dupe. This use of the word was inspired by the image of the victim as an open-mouthed receptacle.

muggins
n British

a victim, dupe or ‘loser', especially when referring to oneself. The word is an embellishment of
mug
(and is also an authentic, if comic-sounding, surname). It is now so common as to be an innocent colloquialism rather than true slang.

And muggins here was left holding the bill.

mug (someone) off
vb British

to make a fool of, take advantage of. An item of London working-class speech dating from the 1950s.

‘She's taken the mickey and mugged me right off.'
(Gangster Ronnie Kray, quoted in the
Sun
, 5 October 1993)

mugwump
n American

an important, powerful person. This now rather dated word is invariably used facetiously or pejoratively and is especially applied to someone who has power and influence but is a maverick or unreliable. It is from the Algonquin Indian
mugquamp
, meaning a chief.

mule
n

a carrier of illicit drugs across frontiers and/or through customs, a transporter of contraband; someone hired to do this rather than the owner of the drugs. The term was first used by smugglers, then later by law enforcers.

‘He used to go over and buy the stuff, then pack it, but it was always brought in by mules.'
(Recorded, London, 1989)

mulga
n Australian

an unpleasant situation, experience, etc.
Mulga
is a native Australian synonym for acacia and originally denoted an inhospitable or deserted region of bush. ‘Mulga-madness' is an archaic term for the mental disorientation experienced by outbackers.

mulled
adj British

drunk. An inoffensive term heard predominantly outside the London area.

muller
vb British

to destroy, ruin, confound. The term is said to derive from the German surname ‘Muller', perhaps referring to a footballer who scored against England in 1970, or to a manufacturer of armaments. The word became very widespread from the later 1990s in all areas and age groups.

They absolutely mullered us.
We were mullered big time
.

mullered
adj British

a.
destroyed

b.
intoxicated by drink or drugs. A popular term among adolescents from the 1990s, it is an elaboration of the earlier
mulled
.

c.
exhausted

The term is said to derive from the German surname ‘Muller', but pronounced as if English.

mumblefucker
n British

an irritatingly clumsy, inept or fastidious person. A term heard in the early 1970s. There have been other invented terms, with a similar lack of meaning, playing on the comical overtones of the syllables employed;
fucknuckle
is an example.

mumbler
n British

a UK synonym for the earlier Americanism
camel toes
. The word refers to the notion that ‘lips are visibly moving but no sound is heard'.

mumping
adj British

scrounging, soliciting favours, begging. A word dating from the 17th century which survives in police and underworld argot. It used to refer to the activities of beggars and vagabonds; it is now often applied to the reciprocal favours encouraged by police officers in contact with local people. The word is descended from the Dutch
mompen
, meaning to cheat.

mumsy
adj British

the older generation's colloquialism to describe a woman who is unglamorous and ‘motherly' has become a fashionable categorisation for a younger generation for whom the maternal aspect is probably less important than the suggestion of fussiness, unfashionable appearance, asexuality, etc.

munch
n British

food. A recent usage posted on the internet by
Bodge World
in February 1997.

munchied
adj

hungry. The term is derived from the older notion of
(the) munchies
, but does not necessarily refer to peckishness induced by cannabis consumption. It was recorded among middle-class London students in 2002.