Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (115 page)

engaged in sexual intercourse. An unromantic euphemistic phrase which has been used increasingly in ‘polite' company in Britain and Australia since the 1960s.

on the knock
adj
,
adv British

1.
on credit or hire purchase, by instalments

2.
See
knock

3.
engaged in selling or canvassing door to door. An alternative form of
on the knocker
.

on the knocker
adj
,
adv British

going from door to door. Typically to sell something of dubious worth or to persuade the gullible to part with items such as antiques for less than their true value. A non-regional working-class term.

on the lash
adj British

engaged in drinking or otherwise having fun. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

on the money
adj

correct, accurate. The phrase, which probably originated in the US in gambling circles, is usually heard among middle-class speakers.

‘It's good when the band's on the money.'
(UK TV documentary on the band Status Quo, 18 June 1993)

on the needle
adj

habitually injecting heroin or another narcotic

She finally admitted she was back on the needle.

on the nest
adj
,
adv Australian

having sex

on the never-never
adj
,
adv British

on hire purchase, on credit, by instalments. One of many such phrases originating in the 1950s; this one ruefully reflects on the impossibility of ever getting out of debt once enmeshed.

on the nose
adj Australian

stinking, smelly, rank. The expression is either a shortening of a phrase such as ‘heavy on the nose' or an inversion of an earlier expression ‘to have a nose on (someone or something)', meaning to dislike.

on the (h)orn
adj British

(of a male) having an erection. A very common working-class and schoolboy vulgarism of the 1950s and early 1960s, now somewhat dated. ‘Horn' has been a synonym for the penis since at least the 18th century.

on the other bus
adj British

homosexual. Used typically by males, usually of other males, the pejorative or mocking phrase is a synonym for
batting for the other side
.

on the piss
adj
,
adv British

engaged in a drinking bout or habitual heavy drinking

on the pull
adv
,
adj British

looking for a sexual partner, hoping to pick up a member of the opposite sex. A working-class term in use since the late 1960s from
pull
; its predatory overtones mean that it is usually applied to males.

‘Don't bother asking – those two are out on the pull again.'
(Recorded, adolescent girl, London, 1987)

on the q.t.
adv

discreetly, secretly. A version of ‘on the quiet', first recorded in 1870.

on the razz/razzle
adj
,
adv British

engaged in boisterous celebration, on a binge. The old colloquialism (razzle probably originated as a rhyme for ‘dazzle') has been adopted by adolescents since 2000.

on the salmon
adj British

(of a male) having an erection. The phrase is a shortened form of the rhyming slang ‘on the salmon and prawn', meaning
on the (h)orn
. The phrase was used as the title of an art exhibition in the East End of London by the young artist Sarah Lucas in 1995.

on the sniff
adj
,
adv

looking for a sexual partner. This more obscure synonym of
on the pull
,
out trouting
, etc., was used by the Scottish comic character Rab C. Nesbitt in the BBC comedy of the same name, 18 November 1993.

on the up-and-up
adj
,
adv

above board, bona fide. Originally an Americanism of uncertain derivation (perhaps an intensification of upright), the term is now widely used in Britain, especially in London working-class speech.

No it's OK: he finally convinced me that the deal was on the up-and-up.

on tilt
adj
,
adv American

unsteady, unbalanced. The phrase comes from the light flashed on a pintable to say that the game has been curtailed because the machine has been forced out of alignment by overenthusiastic play. It often refers to a person who is behaving uncharacteristically or eccentrically.

on top
adj
,
adv British

(caught) in the act, red-handed. A criminal and police expression evoking the image of, e.g., a burglar on a roof, i.e. exposed.

oof
n British

a promiscuous or sexually willing female. One of a set of terms in use among male City traders, recorded by psychologist Belinda Brookes in the
Independent on Sunday
, 9 July 1995. Others included
mum
and
dragon
. The word may imitate a gasp of desire, like its 1920s' predecessor, ‘oomph' (an archaic term for sex-appeal).

open the kimono
vb American

to reveal one's secrets, disclose normally confidential information. A piece of corporate slang popular in the US and elsewhere since the 1990s.

oppo
n British

1.
an opposite number, a partner. A military abbreviation used in police, underworld and more general contexts. Most users assume, understandably (and probably correctly), that this is based on ‘opposite'. A more fanciful suggestion is that it is in fact a corruption of ‘hop o' my thumb', rhyming slang for
chum
.

2.
an operation, particularly a military operation (a surgical operation is simply an ‘op')

optic (nerve)
n Australian

a sexually perverted or lecherous individual. The phrase rhymes with
perve
.

oracle
n See
work the oracle

oral
n

oral sex, fellatio, cunnilingus

orange squash
n British

money. Rhyming slang for
dosh
, in use among City traders and others in 2003.
Rogan (josh)
is a contemporary synonym.

orchestras
n pl British

the testicles. The word is late 19th- or early 20th-century rhyming slang from ‘orchestra stalls' (a category of theatre seating):
balls
. It is invariably used literally rather than figuratively.

order of the boot, the
n British

(notice of) rejection, dismissal or refusal. The humorous expression, based on the more exalted Order of the Bath, Order of the Garter, etc., is normally employed in the context of a sacking or a rejection by a lover. This form of words has largely supplanted the earlier ‘order of the push'.

orifice
n British

an unpleasant and/or stupid person. The derogatory term is in use in the armed forces and on campus, for instance.

original
adj British

excellent, acceptable. A vogue word of approval first used among black British gangs and later adopted by schoolchildren in the mid-1990s.

original gangster
n American See
O.G.

O RLY?
phrase

an expression of disbelief. The reference is to an internet meme or image macro known as the ‘O RLY owl', featuring a photo of a snowy owl with a quizzical expression, first posted in 2001.

ornamental
n British

an Oriental person, in student parlance. The term is usually descriptive rather than derogatory or racist.

ort
n Australian

the anus, buttocks. An old term of uncertain origin which was still in use among younger speakers, for instance, in 2011.

O.S.
adv Australian

overseas

Charlene's gone O.S.

ossifer
n

a police officer. A facetious and/or provocative deformation of the standard word, often said in imitation of the slurred speech of a drunk. It occurs all over the English-speaking world.

O.T.F.
adj British Jewish

the initials stand for ‘of the faith'. The phrase is used euphemistically by Jews and non-Jews and is also occasionally used by other users in the London area to mean ‘one of us'.

other, the
n

sexual intercourse or other sexual misbehaviour. A common euphemism probably deriving from the phrase ‘this, that and the
other', coyly referring, like ‘hanky-panky', to unnameable activities. Until the late 1950s the other often signified homosexual activity as opposed to orthodox sex. Nowadays phrases such as ‘a bit of the other' are usually heard in a heterosexual context.

‘He asked me if I fancied a bit of the other, so I told him yes, but only if the bit belonged to some other bloke.'
(Recorded, London, 1965)

O.T.T.
adj British

outrageous, wild and uncontrolled. A shortening of the late 1970s catchphrase

over the top
, given wider currency by its adoption as the title of an anarchic TV comedy show in the early 1980s. It often occurs in phrases such as ‘go (completely) O.T.T'.

oudish
adj British

excellent,
wicked
. The term of approval has been used by teenagers since the 1990s. Its origins are obscure.

out
¹
adj

living or behaving openly as a homosexual. The result of having
come out
(of the closet). A term from the
gay
lexicon.

Bruce is out.
She's been out for some time now.

out
²
vb

1.
to reveal or denounce as being a homosexual. The term, originally an obscure item of
gay
jargon, became famous in the 1980s as the practice of public naming of
closet cases
gathered momentum.

2.
to knock unconscious, beat up. A term from the lexicon of
teddy boys
and
mods
.

outasight
adj

superlative, excellent, sensational. The phrase ‘out of sight' was probably used first in this sense by jazz musicians and their
beatnik
imitators in the late 1950s in the USA. Outasight, like the earlier
way-out
and the coeval
far-out
, used the image of something far from the ordinary or far outdistancing its rivals. The expression was popular among the
hippies
of the late 1960s and in the jargon of soul music.

outfit
n See
fit
²
1

outlaw
¹
n

a gang member. The word has been adopted by gangs in many different milieus, including the American
biker
gangs of the 1950s and, more recently, the black street gangs of the USA and urban Britain.

outlaw
²
adj American

exceptional, outstanding. A teenage expression, originally a term of approbation from the street, where outlaw is a term used of gang members by themselves.

‘Outlaw dress.'
(
Broadcast News
, US film, 1987)

out of it
adj

euphoric and/or semi-conscious after ingesting drink or drugs. A fashionable shortened version of
out of one's head/skull/box
which spread from the USA to other English-speaking areas around 1971.

‘Her main hobby these days seems to be getting out of it as often as possible.'
(Recorded, female rock singer, Devon, 1986)

out of one's head/skull/box
adj

a.
crazy, deranged

b.
intoxicated by drugs or drink

These terms became widespread in the mid-1960s, before which synonymous phrases (with the exception of ‘out of one's mind') usually began with ‘off'. When the Rolling Stones called their 1965 album
Out of Our Heads
the phrase was still a little-known Americanism. The ‘box' version has been fashionable in Britain since the mid-1970s.

out of one's pram
adj British

out of control, crazy. An alternative form of
off one's trolley
, the term has overtones of a childish tantrum or loss of temper rather than true insanity.

out of one's tree
adj

a.
crazy, deranged

b.
intoxicated by drugs or drink

A colourful variation on
out of one's head
that is typically American and Australian. The implication is of someone volubly or energetically crazy or
high
and chattering like a monkey.

out of order
adj British