Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (128 page)

rattle someone's cage
vb

to provoke, disturb, rouse. A phrase in mainly working-class usage which, like others (‘drop off the perch', ‘sick as a parrot', etc.), uses the imagery of a caged bird or animal. The expression usually forms part of a provocative rhetorical question ‘who rattled your cage?', addressed to someone suddenly roused to anger or indignation.
Yank (someone around/someone's chain)
is an American alternative.

rattly
n

a female. The word was used by British adolescents in 2001.

raunchy
adj

sexually provocative, earthy, risqué; lustful or lust-inducing. The word probably took one of its original meanings, ‘ripe' or over-ripe in the metaphorical sense, from the Italian
rancio
, meaning rank or rotten, although a British dialect origin has also been posited. Until the late 1960s raunchy was mainly in American usage.

rave, rave-up
n British

a wild party, dance or occasion of abandoned behaviour. A usage originating in bohemian circles in the late 1950s. In the early 1960s the word was taken up by
mods
and shortly thereafter by the media and the older generation, who still employ the term. More recently still the
acid house
youth cult adopted the word to refer to their (typically large-scale and movable) celebrations, sometimes specified as
orbital raves
(those within reach of the M25 motorway). By 1990 schoolchildren were also using the word as a synonym for a party.

raver
n British

an unrestrained, hedonistic person. An archetypal 1960s term which originated in the 1950s among bohemians and
beatniks
, when it was applied to frequent attenders of all-night parties and jazz clubs, etc. In the later 1960s the already slightly dated word epitomised
hippy
abandonment to euphoria. Since 1986 the term has referred to devotees of
rave
culture.

raw
adj British

a.
crazy

b.
angry

A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

rawk
n British

a variant spelling of rock (music), heard from 2004 and intended to suggest self-conscious enthusiasm or mockery thereof

‘I guess I'm really into rawk.'
(Recorded, student, Reading, UK, June 2005)

raw meat
n

a euphemism for the sex organs or sexual activity, heard in the late 1960s and 1970s

razoo
n Australian

a very small sum of money, ‘a brass farthing'. A word said to be of Maori origin, used in negative phrases such as ‘I haven't got a brass razoo' or ‘without a razoo'.

razz
vb

to tease or deride. A word which is currently more popular in Australia and the USA than Britain (although it features in British public-school argot). Razz was originally a theatrical shortening of
raspberry
and the verb is still used in theatrical parlance to mean jeer. In modern usage it often appears to have overtones common to ‘rag', ‘rouse' and
roust
.

RBF
n American

a grumpy expression displayed, typically unintentionally, by females. The letters stand for
resting bitch face
, an expression popular in the fashion industry, among lifestyle journalists and on social media sites in 2013.

RDC
phrase

a dismissal, expression of indifference. The initials, usually written but sometimes verbalised, stand for ‘(I) really don't care'.

readies
n pl

cash, banknotes, money. A shorter and racier version of the phrases ‘ready cash' or ‘ready money'.

‘It was always the same old story. “I've no money on me. Have you any readies, Al?” They must think we're a bit daft up North.'
(
Guardian
, 12 December 1987)

ready, the ready
n

money, cash. This is currently a less common form (except in the USA) of the plural
readies
. Ready or the ready was in fact probably the original form of the term, first recorded in the 17th century.

rear-end
vb

to ruin, damage. The figurative use of the phrase probably derives from the colloquialism referring to a car collision, with possible suggestions also of sexual activity.

‘The guys upstairs rear-ended him good.'
(Reported, New York office worker, September 1995)

rear-gunner
n British

a male homosexual. One of many pejorative synonyms in use among heterosexuals since the 1980s. The phrase was used on more than one occasion in interviews by the
punk
singer John ‘Johnnie Rotten' Lydon.

recce
n British

a reconnaissance or reconnoitring. An armed-service shortening (pronounced ‘reckie'), which has been generalised in civilian usage to mean a preliminary check or look around.

recco
n Australian

recognition, peer-group respect. An abbreviation heard among young adults and adolescents.

rectum rider
n

a male homosexual

red
adj British

suffering the after-effects of smoking marihuana or of another drug. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

red-arse
n British

a new army recruit. In the early 20th century the term referred specifically to a Guardsman (whose jacket was red).

red-assed
adj American

furious, irate

red biddy
n British

cheap red wine or methylated spirits as drunk by tramps or derelicts. Biddy, originally a diminutive of Bridget, was an affectionate name for a woman, preserved in the colloquial term ‘old biddy'.

red-eye, the
n

an early-morning or overnight flight or train service. The expression, which refers to the tired appearance of the passengers, originated in the USA where it was a nickname given to coast-to-coast flights.

red-heat
vb American

to harass, importune, pursue

red-high
adj British

delighted, ecstatic. The term was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994.

red-inker
n British

a recorded arrest. A ‘score' in the tally of arrests for a particular officer or police station, in the jargon of the police force.

redneck
n American

a rustic bigot or boor. This now familiar expression became well known in the late 1960s when it was extended from the original sense of a rural white southern farmer (with a neck red from being bent to the sun or from anger) to include all opponents of liberation or the counterculture.

red Ned
n Australian

cheap red wine. The Australian version of
red biddy
.

reds, red devils
n pl American

capsules of Seconal, a barbiturate used by drug abusers, from the colour of the capsules

‘The use of “reds” or barbiturates for highs (lows would be more descriptive) seems to be increasing again.'
(
Dr Hip Pocrates
(Eugene Schoenfeld), 1969)

red sails in the sunset
adj

menstruating. A phrase, taken from the title of a popular song, which has been used (almost invariably by men) since the 1960s.

Looks as if she's red sails in the sunset.

reeb
n British

beer in
backslang
. A word which was heard in the 1950s and which survives in limited use (among young market-workers for instance).

reefer, reef
n

a.
a marihuana cigarette, an earlier term for a
joint
. A word which fell out of favour with cannabis smokers in the late 1950s but which was perpetuated by the media and law enforcement agencies.

b.
marihuana. A famous and risible American anti-drug film of 1936 was entitled
Reefer Madness
. In origin the word is a corruption of
grifa
, the Spanish slang for marihuana.

reek
vb

a.
American
to be repellent, inferior or worthless. A vogue term of disparagement or denigration among American adolescents since the 1990s. It is a synonym for
suck
, stink and
wipe
.

Like it totally reeks!

b.
British
to stink, be offensive. Young users reported the term as fashionable slang in 2010, not realising that it is standard English.

Ethan's room reeks.
That new song reeks.

reem, ream
adj British

excellent. The old London slang term, of uncertain origin but claimed by some to be an alteration of cream, others of remarkable or supreme, achieved fresh prominence from 2010 when used in the reality TV series
The Only Way is Essex
.

‘The TOWIE cast are all household names now especially among teenagers who buy music online. In the single, Joey can be heard belting out phrases such as, “I wanna look reem, smell reem, be reem”…'
(
News of the World
, 18 June 2011)
‘I saw someone with a bag that said “Don't be jel, be reem”'
(Posting on
Mumsnet
website, 12 May 2012)

reestie
adj American

unpleasant, obnoxious. The word can be applied to persons or objects and is characteristically used by adolescents. It is probably a blend of
reek
and
beasty
.

regs
adv British

regularly, often

regulatin'
n British

fighting, from black speech. Synonyms are
mixin'
,
startin'
,
tanglin'
.

reh teh teh
phrase

a facetious re-casting of ‘etc, etc (etc)' used by younger speakers in writing and speech, typically to indicate impatience or boredom or a lack of anything to say, e.g. in postings on Bebo or Twitter social networking sites

‘I thought that social mobility and all that reh-teh-teh was a good thing.'
(
Guardian
, 27 July 2013)

reject
n

a term of abuse popular among British schoolchildren since the 1980s

rello
n Australian

a relative, relation

We're having the rellos over.

renk
vb

1.
to become furious

2.
to be repellent

The word, of uncertain derivation, has been used in both senses by UK adolescents since around 2000.

rentals
n pl American

parents. A version of
parental unit(s)
, also rendered as
rents
or
units
. The expressions became fairly well known from the later 1980s.

I'm going to be in deep doodoo when the rentals see this.

rent boy
n British
a young male prostitute. A
gay
slang term of the later 1960s that moved into common currency following press revelations
of scandals in the 1980s. Young, sometimes homeless (and often heterosexual) rent boys frequented the Piccadilly area of London from at least the 1970s.

rents
n pl

parents. Originally a term in use among American teenagers, this clipping, typical of youth slang of the late 1980s and early 1990s, was adopted by other English-speaking adolescents in the 1990s. A synonym is
units
.

The rents are away for the weekend.

rep
¹
n

a shortening of ‘reputation', used especially to denote (appreciatively) a reputation for violence or sexual prowess or (pejoratively) promiscuity. The word, typical of the clippings popularised first by American adolescents from the late 1970s, has moved from the language of street gangs and
rappers
into schoolchildren's usage since the late 1990s.

He's gotta protect his rep.
If she goes on like this she's going to get a rep for skeezing.

rep
²
vb

to impute a reputation to someone

‘Yea there are Asians that rep us bad, but other than that we're nice good-hearted peepz.'
(Recorded, contributor to
www.wassup.com
, November 2003)

represent
vb

to perform or behave creditably. It is often in the form of an exhortation on the lines of ‘well done', ‘keep up the good work'. It is said to be inspired by phrases such as ‘you are a fine representative of your family/group/race'. The term was popular in UK hip hop and R 'n' B circles from 1999.

reptiles
n pl

journalists, reporters, the press in general, especially those from the gutter press. A usage popularised by its appearance in the
Dear Bill
letters featured in
Private Eye
magazine in the 1980s.