Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (120 page)

ping

1.
vb British
to shoot or wound by shooting. An item of underworld slang from the early 1990s, the word is echoic, imitating the sound of a small-calibre gunshot or a ricochet.

2.
vb
,
n
(to send) an electronic message (to), contact. A widely used (and, by many, disliked) item of workplace slang. The word was first used in relation to sonar signals, later for computer messages.

Ping me, will you, as soon as you get this message.
I got a ping from Farrell.

pinhead
n

a.
a fool, idiot

b.
a person with a small head and a (proportionately) large body

pink
¹
adj

a code or facetious term for
gay
adopted from the heterosexual lexicon by the male homosexual community for ironic or semi-ironic self-reference. (The Nazis affixed pink triangles to homosexuals.)
Lavender
is a similar usage.

pink
²
n American

the female genitals. This term, which arose in the language of pornographers, prostitutes, etc., was picked up in show-business jargon in such phrases as ‘surrender the pink' (the title of a book by the actress Carrie Fisher) and the name
Kissing the Pink
adopted by an early 1990s rock band.

pinko
¹
n
,
adj American

(someone with) liberal or left-of-centre politics or ideas. The image is of a watered-down ‘red' (someone with extreme left-wing beliefs).

pinko
²
adj
,
n Australian

(intoxicated by) methylated spirits, which are often dyed pink

pink oboe
n British

the penis

pins
n pl

legs. The word was first recorded in this sense in 1530 when pin was synonymous with (wooden) peg.

I'm a bit unsteady on my pins.

pipe
n

1.
American
a gun. An item of street jargon used especially by adolescent criminals in the 1990s.

‘Teachers report that teenagers talk about “packing a barrel” or “chilling someone with a pipe”.'
(
Sunday Times
, 31 August 1992)

2.
British
a telephone, particularly a mobile telephone, in the jargon of truck-drivers and rescue services

3.
American
a very easy task, programme of study, etc. This usage is probably based on the earlier phrase ‘pipe course', used on campuses to describe an undemanding study option. The relationship to the standard sense of the word is unclear.

pipe one's eye
vb

to weep. This phrase is now almost obsolete, except in self-consciously fanciful speech. Although ‘pipe your eye' has been interpreted as cockney rhyming slang for
cry
, the expression had been recorded as early as the beginning of the 19th century (before either cockney rhyming slang or the use of the word cry to mean weep were widespread). Connections have been drawn with plaintive, tear-provoking pipe music or the more prosaic image of water-works, but the precise origins of the term remain uncertain.

piper
n American

a
crack
smoker. A term of the late 1980s.

piss
n

1.
urine or an act of urination. An echoic word with cognates in other European languages (
pisser
is the French verb) which has been in use since the Middle English period. Its level of respectability has varied; originally it was a generally acceptable term, by the 18th century a vulgarism, and by the mid-19th century virtually taboo. Since the 1960s it has been possible to use the word in public, although
pee
is preferred in polite company.

2.
British
alcoholic drink. In this sense the term usually occurs in the phrase
on the piss
.

3.
weak beer

4.
nonsense

5.
See
take the piss (out of someone)

piss about/around
vb

a vulgar version of ‘mess about'

piss all over (someone)
vb

to thoroughly defeat, humiliate or overwhelm. The image is taken from the literal behaviour of animals or humans ritually signalling victory.

piss and wind
n See
all piss and wind

piss-ant, pissant
adj American

trifling, paltry, insignificant. Although a fairly strong indicator of contempt or dismissal, this word is not treated as a taboo item in the same way as other compounds containing
piss
. The word is originally a rustic noun (also rendered ‘piss-mire') meaning an ant. The piss element refers to formic acid.

piss-artist
n British

an habitual or accomplished heavy drinker, a drunkard. A term used sometimes with contempt, sometimes with admiration.

pissed
adj

1.
British
drunk. This usage came into the language at some unrecorded date early in the 20th century. It presumably originally referred to the incontinence of a helpless inebriate, or else to the equation of alcohol itself with urine. This sense of the word is rare in American English, but was encountered e.g. in the 1980s parlance of East Coast sophisticates.

‘If you look at all the slang words for “drunk”, you'd think we were permanently pissed.'
(Recorded, London student, February 2002)

2.
American
upset, angry,
pissed-off

When I told him to go he got really pissed. I was pissed at her for making me go through all that grief.

pissed-off
adj

angry, irritated, disappointed, upset. Like the verb to
piss (someone) off
, this usage emerged at the time of World War II.

‘Well… people who bought from our competitors are probably pretty pissed off. The plastic should be worn through just about now!'
(Record bootlegger,
Oz
magazine, February 1970)

piss-elegant
adj American

smart, refined or fashionable. This (fairly mild) vulgarism implies either that the elegance in question is excessive or pretentious or simply that the speaker is envious or disapproving.

pisser
n

1.
something annoying or disappointing. Originally an Americanism, the term spread to Britain in the mid-1970s.

‘Living in a world where nothing boring ever happens is a real pisser.'
(
The Young Ones
, BBC TV comedy, 1982)

2.
a toilet

pisshead
n

1.
British
a habitual drunkard,
piss-artist

2.
American
an unpleasant person,
shit-head

pissing-match, pissing contest
n American

a competitive display, especially a futile one. The term, inspired by the common male pastime of competing to urinate farthest or highest, is used typically to describe displays of masculine aggression or rivalry.

‘Look sister, I don't want to get into a pissing contest with you, just tell me where the command bunker is.'
(
Screamers
, US film, 1996)

piss in someone's pool
vb American

a vulgar alternative to
rain on someone's parade

piss in the wind
vb

to do something futile, make a doomed attempt. A vulgar version of such colloquialisms as ‘whistle in the wind/dark'.

piss it
vb British

to succeed effortlessly. A term probably deriving from
piece of piss
: a ridiculously easy task.

‘They told Sophie the entrance exam would be a bugger, but she absolutely pissed it.'
(Recorded, personal assistant, London, 1989)

piss off
vb

to leave, go away. This vulgarism was in use throughout the 20th century, particularly in British speech. The word piss has no specific significance, but adds intensity and often overtones of exasperation, both where used descriptively and as an instruction.

‘You got a couple of options: piss off out of town, or take him out, mate.'
(
Blackjack
, Australian TV crime drama, 2004)

piss (someone) off
vb

to irritate, anger, annoy or provoke someone. This phrase entered the English slang lexicon around the time of World War II and was probably more prevalent in American speech than British until the 1970s.

It really pisses me off the way she just assumes I'm going to pick up the pieces.

piss on someone's chips/sandwiches
vb British

more vulgar synonyms for the American phrase
rain on someone's parade
. The latter version was used by the standup comedian Jo Brand in 1994.

piss-poor
adj

dreadfully bad. Piss is used here as an intensifying addition. The phrase was earlier used to mean destitute. Since the late 1970s it is in fairly widespread use, particularly in journalistic circles where it denotes ‘of miserable quality', pitiful.

piss pot
n

a chamber-pot, potty

piss-take
n British

an act of mockery, parody. A common back-formation from the phrase to
take the piss (out of someone)
.

piss-up
n British

a drinking bout, drunken celebration. A vulgarism generally used neutrally or with cheerful overtones rather than disapprovingly.

‘Bob Bee, for Hawkhead Productions, has secured the ultimate television commission: to organise a piss-up in a brewery.'
(
Independent on Sunday
, 1 April 1990)

pissy
adj

insignificant, trivial, inferior

pissy-fit
n British

a tantrum, fit of bad temper. Recorded in use by Leicester University students in 2011, it is a variant of
hissy-fit
.

pistol
n American

an attractive, active or powerful person. Used of and by both sexes as a term of admiration, the word need not have sexual connotations, but in modern usage often does.

Isn't she a pistol?

pit
n

1.
a bed. A popular word in the armed services since before World War II, now in general use.

2.
any dirty, sordid or unpleasant place. A more recent alternative to dump, a synonym for
tip
.

See also
pits, the
;
throttle pit

pitcher
n British

a market trader who sells his or her wares by way of an ostentatious performance.

Compare
lurker
;
rorter

pith
n British

a variant form of
piff 2

pits, the
n

an unpleasant, disgusting and/or unbearable place, situation or person; the worst place, situation or state of affairs imaginable. This Americanism has become widely used throughout the English-speaking world. It is, in origin, said to be a shortening of armpits.

‘This review has nothing to do with the world of mountaineering and in a sport where there is a wealth of first-rate literature, this “offering” can only be regarded as the pits.'
(Reader's letter,
Sunday Times
Books supplement, October 1989)

pit stop
n

a.
a pause in a drinking bout in order to visit the toilet

b.
a pause in a journey or other activity for alcoholic refreshment Both senses are humorous adaptations of the pit stops made by racing drivers in order to undergo refuelling, a change of tyres or running repairs.

Placido
n British

a £10 note or the amount of ten pounds, a pun on ‘tenner' using the name of the tenor Placido Domingo. Synonyms are
Pavarotti
,
Ayrton (Senna)
.

plank
n

1.
British
a dull-witted person, someone who is as ‘thick as two short planks'. The term was used by the late Princess Diana, referring to herself.

2.
a solid-bodied electric guitar. A musician's term of the 1980s; playing such a guitar is known as
spanking the plank
.

plant
n American

marihuana. The term was recorded in 2001.

plastic
adj

(usually of a person) artificial, shallow, insincere. A
hippy
buzzword of the 1960s, borrowed from
beatnik
usage to castigate the conformist and materialist world of the
straights
as well as the legions of ‘weekend' hippy imitators. The word submerged during the 1970s, but by 1990 was back in use in British playground slang.