Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (11 page)

bail/bale on someone
vb American

to oppress, burden or trouble someone. The bail or bale in question may derive from cotton picking, as in the words from
Ole Man River
; ‘tote that barge, lift that bale, get a little drunk and you lands in jail', or may refer to bailing as in dumping water (on). The expression is typically used by teenagers and students.

bait
¹
n

an attractive potential sexual partner. This term was used in the 1950s and 1960s, either alone or in compounds such as bed-bait and the surviving
jailbait
.

bait
²
adj

1a.
British
obvious, self-evident, annoyingly familiar

1b.
British
indiscreet, flagrant. In all its related senses the term has been in vogue among teenagers since around 2000. Sometimes it is used as a less specific allpurpose dismissal or criticism. It probably
derives from the following, earlier use in American speech.

2.
American
unsafe, high-profile. The term typically refers to the danger of being caught by the authorities. It was adopted into the language of gangs and other miscreants from the notion of
(jail)bait
and the danger of associating with it.

Man, watch out: this place is just bait

bake
n British

a hideaway or refuge. This example of the jargon of cat burglars was recorded in
FHM
magazine in April 1996 and defined as ‘a place to lay low while the constabulary run hither and thither in pursuit'. The precise origin of the term is uncertain, but it may come from the notion of the prison bakehouse as a place where inmates can withdraw or hide illicit objects.

baked
adj American

stoned
. The term usually refers to the effects of marihuana and implies a milder intoxication than
fried
.

baked bean, the
n British

the
Queen
. An authentic item of rhyming slang.

baked potato
exclamation British

the cheerful farewell, used e.g. by university students in 2011, is a rhyme for ‘see you later'. For the rhyme to work perfectly, a genuine or faux-‘cockney' pronunciation is required.

baking brownies
n American

breaking wind, farting. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

baksheesh, bakshee
n

a bribe, tip or payment. From the colonial era, the word is from the Persian
bakshish
, meaning something given.

bald-headed hermit
n American

the penis. A humorous euphemism now used typically by adolescent males, although the expression seems to have originated in educated British slang of the 19th century. (Also, perhaps coincidentally, in US slang of the turn of the 20th century, ‘bald-headed', as well as its literal sense, could mean both foolish and deceitful.)

Baldwin
n American

an attractive male. This vogue word among Californian high-school students was featured in the 1994 US film
Clueless
, with its female counterpart
Betty
and its antonym
Barney
. The choice of the proper name may be arbitrary or may be inspired by the name of a celebrity (such as Alec Baldwin, star of romantic TV mini-series and Hollywood movies).

baldy man, the
n Scottish

the penis. To ‘make the baldy man cry' is to stimulate a male to orgasm. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

ball
¹
vb American

1.
to have sex (with). An American term which, apart from a brief vogue in the
hippy
era, has rarely been used in Britain or Australia. Originally an item of black argot, it gained wider popularity in the early 1960s and, as its anatomical origin suggests, is generally a male usage.

‘Presley fired me because I balled his old lady.'
(The singer P. J. Proby, interviewed in 1965)

2.
to behave in a boisterous, fun-loving and uninhibited way; to ‘have a ball'. The term usually implies dancing, but also a degree of Bacchanalian, even orgiastic revelry far beyond that signified by the standard English (hunt or charity) ball.

‘Good golly, Miss Molly, you sure like to ball!'
(Little Richard, [ambiguous] song lyrics, 1958)

3.
to play basketball

4a.
to behave ostentatiously

4b.
to excel in a particular field

These senses of the word probably derive from black speech of the 1940s and later in which to ball meant to celebrate or enjoy oneself, itself influenced by the phrase ‘have a ball'.

ball
²
n American

a stupid and/or obnoxious person. The slang for testicle has also been used as an insult by British junior-school pupils.

ball and chain
n

a spouse, usually one's wife. This jocular phrase was heard in English-speaking areas throughout the 20th century and is still sometimes used ironically.

ball-breaker, ball-buster
n

a.
a very aggressive, dominant or demanding woman

b.
an excessively hard taskmaster or martinet

c.
an exhausting, demanding task.

Compare
ball-tearer

All these terms were adopted in Britain and Australia in the 1970s from American usage.

baller
n American

a male who is successful and/or ostentatious. This usage, originating in black
speech, probably derives from the verb
ball
and the noun
ballin'
. The word has also been used in the argot of Los Angeles gangs to mean a prominent or wealthy drug dealer. Another derivation claims that it refers to ‘ball players' who have escaped the ghetto.

ballin'
n

behaving ostentatiously. An Americanism of the later 1990s heard occasionally in the UK since 2000. The usage originated in black speech of the 1940s and has been defined as ‘…carrying on in a flash fashion, as used by
hip hop
types…'.

ballistic
adj

furious, uncontrollable. This use of the term, often in the phrase ‘go ballistic', has become a common expression since the 1990s. It probably originated, unsurprisingly, in the slang of the armed forces, where it is still common.

‘I totally choked; my father is going to go ballistic on me.'
(
Clueless
, US film, 1995)

ballisticated
adj British

enraged, infuriated. A more recent formation from the earlier ‘go
ballistic
', typically used by middle-class and/or middle-aged speakers.

He was totally ballisticated.

balloon
n British

a boastful or loudmouthed individual, a
blowhard
or
puff-bucket
. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

Aw, take no notice of the big balloon.

balloons
n pl

female breasts

The jocular nickname/euphemism, popular since 2000, is used by males.

balls
n pl

1.
the testicles. A predictable use of the word, balls was first used as a euphemism in Renaissance England, later becoming a standard, if coarse synonym.

2.
rubbish, nonsense. This use of the word, except perhaps as an exclamation, is surprisingly acceptable in middle-class speech (in such phrases as ‘it's all balls'), considering its derivation.

‘He was awarded a campaign medal, “but I didn't go to get mine. I wasn't interested; I thought it was all balls”.'
(Falklands war veteran quoted in the
Observer
review of
The Fight for the Malvinas
by Martin Middlebrook, 9 April 1989)

3.
courage, nerve. In this sense the word may now be applied to women in spite of the anatomical inconsistency.

4.
a mess. This is a modern, mainly middle-class shortening of
balls-up
, usually found in the phrase to ‘make a balls of it/something'.

5.
American
money, dollars. This usage was recorded in the later 1990s among adolescents.
Bollers
and
boyz
are British synonyms.

‘It's gonna cost you mucho balls.'
(Recorded, teenager, North London, June 1995)

balls-ache
n British

something which or someone who is very tedious or trying

balls-on
adj
,
adv British

a probably less common version of
balls-out

balls-out
adj

full-scale, full-tilt. A vulgar version of all-out, this fairly uncommon intensifying expression is normally used by males.

balls up
vb

to make a mess of. In this mainly British expression,
balls
performs as a regular verb (‘ballsing up' and ‘ballsed up' being conjugated forms). To ‘ball up' is an American alternative.

balls-up
n

a mess, mistake, disaster. This expression has been in use in Britain since the turn of the 20th century.

ballsy
adj

courageous, spirited. A vulgar alternative to
gutsy
. The word can be applied to either sex.

ball-tearer
n Australian

1.
a very demanding or exhausting task

2.
something spectacular or sensationally impressive These are versions of the international English
ball-breaker
.

bally
n British

a mask used by miscreants

balooba, baluba
n Irish

a.
a demented or intoxicated person

b.
an unruly and/or foolish person

Balooba was the name of a Congolese tribe, members of whom murdered a group of Irish peacekeepers in 1961. The term, first evoking someone running amok, persists although many users are not aware of its origin.

baltic
adj

cold, freezing. It is not clear where and when this usage originated, but it was recorded among US college students and UK adults from the late 1990s.

It's bloody baltic in here
!

'bama
n American

an unfashionable, unsophisticated or otherwise unfortunate person. The term, originating in
hip hop
culture and in more generalised usage since 2000, evokes a provincial bumpkin. In black speech Alabama was a generic term for the southern USA. According to one user ‘It means a person who cannot dress; a loser, backwards or unsophisticated person. It's rap-speak, short for Alabama.'

bambaclaat, bombaclaat, bambaseed
n

a.
a male homosexual

b.
a despicable (male) individual The words are based on a Caribbean pronunciation of ‘bum-cloth' as signifying both anal contact and something worthless.

BAMF
n American

someone, generally male, who deserves respect and admiration, usually for excessive behaviour and/or a provocative attitude. The letters stand for ‘bad-ass mother-fucker'.

That dude is one bamf for streaking through the library
.

bammer
n American

1.
cheap brown-leaf marihuana

2.
something or someone unimpressive or of inferior quality

bammy
n
,
adj British

(a person who is) crazy, eccentric. The term, originating as a dialect version of the colloquial ‘barmy', is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

bam-stick
n British

a foolish or crazy person. The phrase is derived from
bammy
(the dialect version of ‘barmy') and is used particularly in the north of England and lowland Scotland. The ‘stick' component may be a combining form denoting a person, or may refer to an actual stick used to pick up barm (the froth on fermenting yeast).