Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (118 page)

pear-shaped
adj British

awry, faulty, inadequate. This increasingly common adult colloquialism is usually heard in the phrase to ‘go pear-shaped', presumably from the image of a balloon or
football losing its spherical shape after puncturing.

‘Things were OK until Christine left and then within a short time it all started to go pear-shaped.'
(Recorded, London schoolteacher, February 1996)

peas
n British

money. The term, presumably derived from ‘p' as the abbreviation of ‘penny/pence', has been in widespread use among London teenagers since the mid-noughties decade.

pebbles
n pl

1. crack
cocaine

2.
British
steroids

pecker
n American

the penis. The term may originate as a rural shortening of woodpecker, as a euphemism for
cock
, or simply as a metaphor for an importunate member.

‘When I told him to get a-hold of himself I didn't mean for him to get his pecker out.'
(Recorded, US oilman, Norway, 1982)

peckerhead
n American

a fool, slow-witted or clumsy person. Originally used by country people, now a favourite term of abuse among college students and others. The British and Australian equivalent is
dickhead
.

peckerwood
n American

a white person. This derogatory term has been used by black and white alike and uses the southern American name for the red-headed woodpecker (the link is the reference to that bird's red neck). The term is sometimes abbreviated to ‘wood' and is often thought wrongly to be a synonym for
peckerhead
.

‘Selective breeding in the good-old-boy peckerwood, white-sheet, lynch-mob states has brought about a monster… a dog that is auditioning for the apocalypse …''
(
Lights Out for the Territory
by Iain Sinclair, 1997)

pecs
n pl American

the pectoral muscles. A word used particularly by body builders and by women admiring (or disparaging) the male physique. The shortening became widespread beyond the USA from the 1970s.

‘The guys there [California] all have great pecs, but I guess that's not the only thing.'
(Recorded, American female executive, London, 1986)

pedo
n See
paedo

pee
¹
, pee-pee
n

urine or an act of urination. The word is probably in origin a euphemistic form of the more onomatopoeic
piss
, but is reinforced by being the initial sound of
piddle
and a cognate of other European forms (such as the French
pipi
). It was not recorded before the 18th century.

pee
²
, pee-pee
vb

to urinate

(For the origins of the word see the noun form.)

pee'd
adj British

a more polite version of
pissed

pee'd off
adj

a less offensive version of
pissed-off

peek
n British

an observation cell in a prison, in the jargon of prisoners recorded in the 1990s. (The verb ‘peek' itself is not slang, being a direct descendant from the Middle English
piken
.)

peely-wally
adj British

wan, ailing. The phrase is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England, but is also sometimes used by Jamaican and black British speakers. The expression may be an elaboration of ‘pale' or derive from a personal nickname.

feeling/looking a bit peely-wally

peepers
n pl

the eyes. A humorous euphemism.

peeps
n pl

people. The term occurs in American slang, in which it may refer to one's fellow gang members or one's friends and family, and in British, where it is often a plural term of address, probably inspired by its use in the comic monologues delivered by the comedian Harry Enfield in the character of Stavros the kebab-shop owner in the 1980s. It was still in (mainly jocular or ironic) use in 2013.

peeve
n British

an alcoholic drink, alcohol. The term, used by teenagers in particular since around 2000, is often in the phrase
sconned on peeve
, that is, drunk.

peg
vb British

to throw. An item of multiethnic youth slang.
Dash
and
chob
are contemporary synonyms.

peg me that can of coke

peg it, peg out
vb

to die. The first version of the phrase is currently more fashionable than the earlier peg out, which appeared in the USA in the mid-19th century, inspired by the use of pegs in the game of cribbage (‘pegging-out' was finishing the game). The form peg out may also mean to collapse exhausted or fail in one's efforts.

pelf
n British

money. An old term, like many others (
rhino
,
spondulicks
, etc.) revived in the money-conscious environment of the later 1980s. Pelf is from the Middle English
pelfre
, related to ‘pilfer' and meaning loot.

‘Miss Smith… Cold as the Ice itself; She admires nought but Pelf.'
(
List of Covent Garden Ladies, or the New Atlantis
, pamphlet, 1773)

pen-and-ink
n
,
vb British

(to) stink. An early 20th-century cockney rhyming-slang term which has survived to the present. It can be used as a noun phrase, as in ‘there's a real pen-and-ink in here!' or as a verb, normally in a form such as ‘it don't half pen-and-ink in here!'.

pencil-dick
n American

a vulgar alternative of
pencil-neck
and
pencil geek

pencil geek
n American

a tediously studious person, a
swot
. One of many high-school and campus categorisations of fellow students;
grind
and
conch
are synonymous.

See also
geek
¹
1b

pencil-neck
n American

an earnest, unattractive, excessively studious male. A derogatory term, suggesting the appearance of a scrawny individual, which has been used as a synonym for
nerd
,
grind
, etc.
Pencil geek
is an alternative form.

pendoo
n British
a South Asian person displaying gaudy, unsophisticated tastes in clothing, accessories, etc. The jocular and/or derogatory term, typically applied to Sikhs, equates roughly to the white
chav
and was celebrated on websites from 2003

‘Ali G and his band of pendoos aint got nuttin on us.'
(Online posting by Asian gangsta, 2005)

peng
adj British

attractive. One of the most popular vogue terms of approval in youth slang since around 2000 and still in use, sometimes also as a collective noun, in 2014. Some claim that it is originally Jamaican, a shortening of ‘kushempeng' meaning a high-grade strain of marihuana, referenced in a 1983 song. Others think, improbably, that it is an abbreviation of ‘penguin', the bird being thought quintessentially cute.

Jessie's proper peng.
There's loadsa peng about.

Compare
deng

penguin suit
n

formal male evening dress; a dinner suit

penny stamp
n British

a
tramp
. This old example of London rhyming slang was still in use in the 1990s, now referring to homeless persons in general.
Paraffin lamp
is an alternative.

pep pill
n

a tablet of amphetamine or a similar drug. This term was used in the 1940s when stimulant drugs such as caffeine and benzedrine were taken to combat fatigue and sleep.

percussive maintenance
n

striking something in an attempt to make it work. A jocular term used especially in the medical and other technical fields.

percy
n

the penis. One of a number of personifications of the male member which include
peter
,
dick
,
willie
,
John Thomas
, etc. The word principally functions as part of the phrase
point percy at the porcelain
.

perk
vb Australian

to vomit. A variant of
puke
, perhaps influenced by the phrase ‘to perk up' or the word ‘percolate'.

perp
n American

a wrongdoer, felon. An abbreviation of ‘perpetrator' used by law enforcers.

‘They've ID'd the perp, but they can't touch him.'
(Recorded, journalist, Pocatello USA, November 2004)

perpetrate
vb American

a.
to put on a show of confidence, self-assurance

b.
to dissimulate, pretend Both usages of the word probably originated in black speech.

personals
n pl Australian

lingerie, (female) underwear. An adult euphemism used both facetiously and seriously.

I wouldn't hang your personals out here in full view.

Peruvian marching powder
n

cocaine. A jocular middle-class American euphemism of the mid-to-late 1970s
which was probably too long and unwieldy to gain a wider currency.

perve
¹
, perv
n

a lascivious or perverted person, a ‘dirty old man'. A shortening of ‘pervert' heard since the 1960s.

See also
optic (nerve)

perve
²
, perv
vb Australian
to behave lasciviously. From the noun form.

pervy
adj

perverted or lascivious

pesterous
adj Caribbean

irritating, troublesome

peter
n

1.
the penis. A personification and predictable euphemism dating from the 19th century (if not earlier) and mainly used by adults.

‘Absence makes the peter fonda.'
(Caption to nude photograph of Peter Fonda,
Oz
magazine, 1969)

2.
a safe. In the jargon of the underworld peter originally meant a trunk or strongbox, later a safe. The word was being used with this sense as early as the 17th century, perhaps inspired by some sort of biblical pun, now lost.

peter-man
n British

a safecracker. An underworld and police term in use for the last few decades or so. Peter is an old word for a safe or strongbox.

Pete Tong
adj British

wrong
. The rhyming-slang expression, using the name of a star club DJ, has been in use since around 1998 and was used in the title of a 2004 film.

Oh God, it's all gone Pete Tong!

petrol-head
n

a car enthusiast. The term is heard both in Britain and Australia and was given wider currency in Britain from the 1990s by its usage in motoring magazines and such television programmes as BBC TV's
Top Gear
.

pew
n British

a chair. A colloquialism usually heard in the verb form ‘take a pew': sit down. This humorously elevated version of chair arose around the turn of the 20th century.

P.F.O.
adj British

injured as a result of drunkenness. Jocular medical shorthand for ‘pissed, fell over', e.g. as recorded as a mock diagnosis in a patient's notes.

Compare
P.G.T.

P.G.T.
adj British

assaulted while drunk. Jocular medical shorthand for ‘pissed, got thumped', e.g. as recorded as a mock diagnosis in a patient's notes.

phat
adj

excellent,
hip
. The re-spelling of
fat
(itself alternatively derived from its use in the phrase
fat-city
or from the fat tyres favoured by
low-riders
, etc.) was an emblematic term first in hip hop and
rap
circles and then in other youth subcultures such as surfers, skateboarders and skaters, etc. (A magazine named
Phat
catering for rollerbladers and computergame fans was briefly published in Britain in 1994.) In this spelling the word, which some authorities claimed was actually based on ‘emphatically', had no comparative or superlative forms to compare with ‘fattier' or ‘fattiest'.

phat garms

phreak
vb

to hack into a telephone, telecommunications or computer system, in the patois of
cyberpunks
and
net-heads
. The term is a later back-formation from ‘phreaker', the designation for the first hackers who interfered with the US telephone system for fun, in search of knowledge or for profit.

phudi, phudu
n