Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (110 page)

neck-oil
n

alcohol. Drink thought of as a physical and social lubricant by (usually hearty) drinkers.

necro
n British

an unpleasant and/or obnoxious person. In playground usage since 2000. It is a shortening of ‘necrophiliac'.

ned
n Scottish

a hooligan. The word has been in use since the 1960s: it may be related to
ted(dy) boy
. In 2004 it was a synonym for
chav
.

neddy
n British

a horse,
gee-gee
. A children's pet name appropriated by adults, particularly in the context of betting and horse-racing.

needle, the
n British

irritation, resentment, provocation. The word has been used in expressions such as ‘take the needle' (take offence), ‘give someone the needle' and
get the (dead) needle
since the late 19th century.

needle-dick
n

(someone with) a small penis. This expression (usually heard in the USA) is also sometimes used as a nonspecific term of abuse.

neek
n British

someone who is too earnest and/or not streetwise

neeky
adj British

displaying the characteristics of a
neek

neg, negg
vb British

to criticise, denigrate, belittle. The abbreviation of negative is a more recent synonym for
diss
, in use among teenagers in London in 2009.

nellie
¹
, nelly
n British

1.
an ineffectual, weak, effete or sentimental person. Often given more emphasis by phrases like ‘big soft nellie' or ‘great wet nellie'. Nellie was used until the late 1940s in the USA and Britain as a humorous or contemptuous appellation for a male homosexual.

2.
in the phrase ‘not on your nellie', the word was originally from Nelly Duff, an invented name providing a rhyme for
puff
in the sense of breath, hence life

3.
a fat and/or dowdy female. The pejorative term, used by adolescents, may derive from the 1950s children's song
Nellie the Elephant
.

nellie
²
, nelly
adj American

effeminate. The adjective, based on the earlier noun form, became fairly widespread in the late 1990s.

Nelson (Mandela)
n British

(a drink of) Stella Artois lager, playing on the name of the former President of South Africa and leader of the anti-apartheid movement.
David (Mellor)
,
Paul (Weller)
and
Uri (Geller)
are synonyms, all popular with students since the late 1990s.

OK, set up the Nelsons.

nerd
n

a gormless, vacuous, tedious and/or ineffectual person. Since the later 1970s this has been a vogue term, particularly among adolescents. It was coined in the USA in the late 1960s or early 1970s by members of surfing and hot-rodding cliques to refer to outsiders considered feeble or conformist. The word was then taken up on student campuses and by
hippies
. (An underground cartoon strip of the early 1970s portrayed nerds as a subspecies of suburban dullards.) The word nerd itself (
nurd
was an earlier alternative spelling) is of uncertain origin, but may be influenced by
turd
.

‘And the jock shall dwell with the nerd and the cheerleader lie down with the wimp and there will be peace upon the campus.'
(
Observer
, 29 May 1988)

‘“Being a nerd is chic these days,” proclaimed the tediously Teutonic Britta Hoffner from Frankfurt, Germany. “I am a nerd and proud of it.”'
(
Sunday Express
, 27 February 1994)

nerdling
n British

performing devious financial manoeuvres, ‘massaging the figures'. The word was used by City financial traders in London from the 1990s. It is a technical term from the game of Tiddlywinks, in which it means to execute a clever move that confounds one's opponents.

nerdy
adj

gormless, ineffectual, characteristic of a
nerd
. The adjective postdates the noun.

‘He favoured dark business suits, dark ties that hung straight down against his white shirts, and a short nerdy Afro.'
(
Where Did Our Love Go?
, Nelson George, 1985)

nerk
n British

a fool. An invented, mainly middle-class term which predates the (probably unrelated) American
nerd
. ‘Fred Nerk' was a fictitious personification of idiocy or small-mindedness in the 1950s.

nerts
n American

a polite alteration of
nuts

nesh
¹
adj British

weak, effete, disappointing. In northern English dialect the word means ‘cold', susceptible to cold or afraid of the cold. It comes from Old English
hnesce
meaning soft or tender.

nesh
²
vb British

to behave in a cowardly way, perform feebly

He neshed that tackle.

net-head
n

an enthusiastic user of the internet. This phrase, using the component
head
in the sense of aficionado (as in, e.g.,
petrol-head
), moved in the 1990s from being an obscure item of American jargon to being a widespread and fairly respectable designation.

‘A net-head's adventures online.'
(Subtitle to
Surfing on the Internet
by J. C. Herz, 1994)

never-never
n British See
on the never-never

new
adj British

insignificant, disappointing, dated. The ironic, dismissive term was used by George Lamb in his BBC 6 Music radio show in 2009.

That Calvin Harris track is a bit new.

newbie
n

a newcomer or new user on the internet, in the patois of
cyberpunks
and
net-heads
.
Noob
is a more recent variant from.

‘Depending on where they show up or on how they behave, newbies are either patiently tolerated or mercilessly hazed.'
(
Surfing on the Internet
by J. C. Herz, 1994)

newted
adj British

drunk. A term based on the vulgar expression ‘as
pissed
as a newt'.

next
¹
n
,
adj British

(something) ‘crap', irritating, pointless,
random
. The origin of the usage is not clear but it may be inspired by the use of the word as an impatient dismissal or injunction to move on, as in ‘That's enough of that – next!', or a command for the next contestant in a talent contest to replace the one in view.

next
²
vb

to dismiss someone or discard something and move on, as in a TV talent contest or a speed-dating session

She got nexted.

N.F.A.
adj British

a homeless person in the jargon of the police and representatives of other authorities. The term is based on the official designation of ‘no fixed abode'.

N.F.N.
adj British

unintelligent and/or unsophisticated. An item of medical slang (reported in the
Sunday Times
‘Style' magazine, 6 October 1996) which can facetiously be written on case notes in front of patients without their understanding. It is an abbreviation of ‘normal for Norwich/Norfolk', based on the supposition that inhabitants are characteristically slow-witted and provincial.

niagaras
n pl

the testicles,
balls
. Rhyming slang from ‘Niagara Falls'. A word heard in Britain and Australia, where it has been adopted especially by students, rock journalists, etc. from the original 1950s working-class usage.

She kicked him in the niagaras.

Niall (Quinn)
n British

1.
chin

2.
(a drink of) gin. The rhyming-slang term, using the name of the former footballer and manager, was in use among tabloid journalists in 2012.

nick
¹
vb British

1.
to steal. The word has been used in this sense since at least the 1820s. The word is rare in the USA, but has been recorded in the sense of rob.

‘The doctor's had his bike nicked and his place turned over, and the only time we see the Old Bill is when they're in here getting legless.'
(
Biff
cartoon, 1986)

2.
to arrest. Nick was a colloquial term for catch from the 16th century. By the early 19th century it had also acquired this specific meaning.

nick
²
, the nick
n British

a prison or police station. This common expression dates from before World War II and postdates the verb form
nick
, meaning to arrest.

I think you'd better come down the nick and explain yourself.
He's been in nick on and off all his life.

See also
nick-bent

nick-bent
adj British

temporarily or expediently homosexual because incarcerated. A prisoners' term mentioned by the upper-middle-class former prisoner Rosie Johnston in 1989.

Nick
is a well-established slang synonym for prison,
bent
for homosexual.

nickel-and-dime
adj American

trifling, cheap, petty. Nickels and dimes (five and ten cent coins) constitute small change.

nicker
n British

£1, one pound (sterling). This common term has been in use since about the turn of the 20th century (when it also denoted a sovereign). Nicker was the name given to pieces of metal thrown down in a game and later applied, in racing, to flinging down a sovereign bet on a horse.

I made about fifty nicker on the deal, didn't I?

nick off
vb British

a.
to play truant. A synonym of
bunk off
,
wag it
or
wag off
.

b.
to skive off, do a runner

She gone and nick'd off.

niff
vb
,
n British

(to give off) a bad smell. Originally an Eastern English dialect version of ‘sniff'.

There's a terrible niff in here. ‘I wouldn't get too near to that dog; he niffs a bit.'
(Recorded, editor, London, 1988)

nifty
n British

a sum of £50. This old rhyme was revived among City traders and subsequently adolescents in general during the 1990s.

Bung him a nifty and he'll probably come across.

Nigel
n British

an upper-middle-class or upper-class male. A pejorative term since the 1960s, Nigel is thought to epitomise ostentatious young men who drive sports cars and wear flat caps and tweed jackets.

‘Naff causes of death:… racing a right Nigel from Oxford to Cambridge in a silly sports car.'
(
The Complete Naff Guide
, Bryson
et al
., 1983)

Nigerian lager
n British

Guinness beer, stout. A witticism inspired by the black colour of the brew.
African lager
is a synonym.

nigger
n

a black person. This word has been in use since the late 18th century. It is now a term of racist abuse when used by white speakers, although it can be used affectionately or sardonically between black speakers. The word is derived from
niger
, the Latin word for the colour black, via Spanish (
negro
), French (
nègre
) and the archaic English
neger
.

nightmare
adj

awful. In adjectival form the word has been in vogue among teenagers and young adults in all English-speaking areas since the 1990s, possibly influenced by the cliché ‘nightmare scenario'.