Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (109 page)

‘Him? He's a fucking namby.'
(Recorded, teenage schoolgirl, London, 1988)

2.
a committed opponent of a controversial environmental policy (such as nuclear power). This journalistic quasi-acronym of ‘not in anyone's backyard' was coined in imitation of the more common
nimby
(‘not in my backyard') in the USA in the mid-1980s.

nana
n British

a silly fool. This word was very popular among children from the 1950s to the early 1970s and is still sometimes revived; adults, too, used the term in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is a nursery shortening of ‘banana', a meaning it still retains in post-colonial nurseries in areas such as India and the Caribbean.

nancy boy, nance
n British

an effeminate man, a male homosexual. This term seems to have originated in the late 19th century, when the name Nancy, a diminutive form of Ann or Agnes, was applied indiscriminately to women as a term of affection and familiarity. The echoes of ‘nice' and ‘mince' in the rather prissy sound of the word probably went toward reinforcing its derogatory use for men. There was a vogue in the East End of London in the 1930s for male street-dancers in women's clothing who were known as nancy boys.

‘See the nancy boys do their dance.'
(Poster in satirical illustration of decadent England,
Private Eye
magazine, 1963)

nang
¹
adj British

excellent. A vogue term among London schoolchildren since the late 1990s.
Bare nang
is an intensified form.

nang
²
n Australian

1.
nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas'), or a canister containing it. These items, used for whipping cream, can be bought legally and inhaled for their narcotic effect.

Whippit
and
bulb
are synonyms.

2.
a redheaded person. The word, probably related to
ranga
, is usually pejorative.

nank
vb
,
n British

(to stab with) a knife. The term was in use among youth gang members in 2009. It is probably an arbitrary alteration of the older
shank
.
Nank up
is an elaborated form of the verb.

‘On young black slang I have been told that the new word for stabbed is “nanked”. I know it used to be “jerked”. I would have probably said “plunged” as in “he copped for him and plunged him”.'
(Recorded, white South London criminal, 2011)

nanny (goat)
n British

a
quote
. An item of journalistic rhyming slang of the 1990s.

nanty, nanti, nants
adj British

no, none, nothing. The word was in use in London working-class and theatrical slang from the early 19th century until the 1960s; this is an example of
parlyaree
, the Italian-inspired patois of actors, showmen and circus workers. Nanty originates in the Italian
niente
, meaning nothing.

narc, narco
n American

a narcotics investigator or member of a police drug-squad. The word is particularly heard among drug users referring to undercover agents. It may be influenced by, but is not directly related to, the British
nark
.

nards
n pl American

the testicles. A distorted pronunciation of
nads
, itself an abbreviation of gonads. The word is heard among pubescent and adolescent males.

narg
n British

a tediously or offensively hard-working and/or socially inept individual. The term was first recorded as part of Oxbridge student slang in the 1960s and is invariably applied to males who are typically unattractive and badly dressed. It may derive from an imitation of the drawling nasal speech seen as typical of such students.

nark
¹
vb British

1.
to inform on, betray. From the noun
nark
.

2.
to stop or to keep quiet. This cockney usage invariably occurred in the command ‘nark it!'.

3.
to annoy or affront; to needle. This expression, which was particularly popular in the 1950s and which is also heard in Australia, is derived ultimately from the Romany word
nak
, meaning nose. Nark in its modern sense is semantically related to such expressions as ‘to have one's nose put out of joint',
to get up one's nose
, or ‘poke one's nose in'. It is often heard in the form of its past participle,
narked
, meaning annoyed or affronted.

‘The trouble is, many people today they won't do anything. I got a very poor opinion of my fellow creatures, a very poor opinion. So I nark them whenever I can. I like narking people.'
(82-year-old Ted Bosley, quoted in the
Independent
, 18 May 1989)

nark
²
n British

a.
an informer. The expression originated in the 19th century as ‘copper's nark', meaning a police spy or
grass
, nark being an alteration of the Romany (gypsy) word
nak
, meaning nose.

b.
a spoilsport, teacher's pet, nuisance or toady. This more generalised usage, deriving from the previous sense, was fairly widespread in the 1950s in working-class circles and is still heard among schoolchildren.

c.
a policeman. In underworld, prison and tramp's jargon.

narked
adj British

irritated, annoyed, affronted. For the derivation of the word see the verb
nark
.

narky
adj British

irritable, upset. A working-class term used principally in the north of England.

She's been a bit narky all morning.
He's feeling narky.

narly
adj American

an alternative spelling of
gnarly

nash
n British

the vagina. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

nasties
n pl British

nursery slang for (old and dirty) underwear or swimming trunks. A narrowing of a general notion of ‘offensive objects'.

‘Don't forget to pack some nasties if we're going anywhere near a beach.'
(Recorded, social worker, London, 1986)

nasty
¹
n

1.
a sex organ, the genitals. A childish word used humorously by adults in phrases such as ‘as dry as a nun's nasty': thirsty.

2.
a sexual act. A synonym of the coy or euphemistic
naughty
.

nasty
²
adj American

excellent, impressive, skilled. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

That guy is nasty on the handball court.

natch
adv

naturally. A shortening used in
hip
talk.

nathan
n American

nothing. The name is substituted in black street slang and campus usage.

natty
adj

impressive, admirable,
cool
. A vogue term in Jamaican youth patois, particularly in the phrase ‘natty dread', but usable as an allpurpose term of approval. It derives
from a shortening of ‘natural', referring in Rastafarian terms to someone following the laws of God and nature, perhaps influenced by the standard English adjective meaning trim or smartly-dressed (which itself is probably a variation of neat).

naughty
¹
n

an illicit act, usually referring to sex and typically occurring in phrases such as ‘have a (quick) naughty'. The coy expression, which sometimes also refers to a crime, is heard in both British and Australian speech.

naughty
²
adj British

a.
criminal, corrupt. A typical piece of understatement from the argot of police and the underworld. This tendency is characteristic of London working-class speech (
spanking
, meaning a (severe) beating-up, would be another instance).

b.
impressive, daring. A fashionable usage in working-class speech, generally among adults, from the late 1980s; the word is used to indicate admiration or approval as in ‘That's a well-naughty looking bird'.

nause
n British

a.
a nauseatingly unpleasant person. A middle-class term popular in the mid-1960s and now very rarely heard. It has been suggested that this word is in fact a variation of ‘Noah's', short for ‘Noah's Ark', 1950s underworld rhyming slang for
nark
. As nauseate and nauseous were both fashionable terms in middle-class British and American use in the early 1960s, they would seem more likely origins.

‘She was going out with a policeman; God, he was a real nause.'
(Recorded, student teacher, London, 1965)

b.
a nuisance, an unpleasant situation or task. ‘Nauseate' had a (now obsolete) slang sense of bother, irritate or infuriate in the 1950s, whence this usage. The concept is rendered in modern speech by the colloquial expression to
get up one's nose
.

nause (someone) out
vb

to disgust, nauseate. The term is used by adolescents on both sides of the Atlantic, although often in Britain minus the ‘out' component.

nauticals
n pl British

haemorrhoids,
piles
. An item of jocular rhyming slang (on ‘nautical miles') used in
Viz
comic in the 1990s.

Ooh, me nauticals!

NBD
exclamation American

a self-deprecation or dismissal, usually ironic. The initials stand for ‘no big deal', usually written or said playfully or sarcastically.

neat
adj American

an allpurpose term of approval which became popular among teenagers in the mid-1960s and has survived. It is often ridiculed by sophisticates as evidence of naïve or gushing enthusiasm. The word occurred with this sense in the slang of jazz musicians, the ‘smart set' and adolescents as long ago as the early 1920s.

‘You're a neat girl.
So are you – I mean… you're a neat guy.'
(
Blue Velvet
, US film, 1986)

nebbish, nebesh, nebech
n

a fool, an ineffectual, clumsy or pathetic person. The word entered English speech from Yiddish in which one of its meanings is a pitiful nonentity or ‘loser'. The ultimate origin of the word is the Czech adjective
nebohy
, meaning unhappy, unfortunate or diseased.

‘A nebech is more to be pitied than a shlemiel. You feel sorry for a nebech; you can dislike a shlemiel.'
(
The Joys of Yiddish
, Leo Rosten, 1970)

neck
¹
n

cheek, impudence, daring,
chutzpah
. This sense of the word is at least 100 years old, originating in rustic northern English speech. It survives principally in the form
brass neck
, a synonym for ‘bare-faced cheek'.

‘I tell you, she's got plenty of neck: she walked out [on her husband] and then told him to move out.'
(Recorded, housewife, London, 1988)

neck
²
vb

1.
to kiss, embrace and pet. An American euphemism dating from the early years of the 20th century.

2.
British
to drink, ingest. The raffish verb, probably a back-formation from the drinkers' catchphrase-injunction ‘Get this down your neck!', became fashionable from the early 1990s. It was adopted by members of the
acid house
and
rave
subcultures who referred to ‘necking E's' (swallowing tablets of
ecstasy
).