Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (132 page)

ruff
adj See
rough

ruffen
n British

a tough, street-wise male. The alteration of ‘ruffian' or ‘rough one' has been used by teenagers and young adults, in praise or ironically.

Saying that I feel like a ruffen, LOL.

rug
n

1a.
a toupee, wig. A predictable pre-World War II jocularism which probably originated in theatrical slang.
1b.
the female pubic hair

2.
See
cut a rug

rug bug
n

an alternative form of
rug rat

rugged
adj

1.
Australian
suffering from bad luck

2.
British
excellent, powerful. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

rugger bugger
n British

a hearty (usually boorish) sportsman. The expression became popular from the 1960s primarily to denote the stereotypical rugby-club mentality.

rug-muncher
n American

a lesbian.
Carpet-muncher
is an alternative version of the pejorative term as used by males.

rug rat
n

a child. A phrase which, like the synonymous
ankle-biter
, has become popular, especially in young middle-class families, since the 1980s.
Rug bug
and ‘carpet rat' are alternative forms. The phrase was popularised by its adoption as the title of a US TV cartoon in the mid-1990s.

ruined
adj American

drunk, often pronounced ‘ruint'. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

ruler, the
n British

an impressive, admirable individual. A key term in the adolescent language of status since the late 1980s. ‘The boss' and ‘the man' were earlier colloquial synonyms.

‘Chris Evans is the ruler, seriously he is so rad, totally funny, he knows what's up (nice shirts) and when he is not presenting the show, it sucks.'
(
Phat
magazine, 1993)

rumble
¹
n

a fight, especially a planned streetfight or brawl involving gangs. An American expression used by teenage neighbour-hood gangs since the 1950s, the word has subsequently been picked up in other English-speaking areas.

rumble
²
vb

1.
to fight. The word, like the noun form, originated in the slang of American urban gangs of the 1950s. It has since been appropriated and generalised by other adolescents in the USA, UK and Australia.

‘If you wanna stop us then you'll have to come and rumble us.'
(
The Firm
, British TV play, 1989)

2.
British
to uncover (a deception), to be disabused. Now a fairly widespread colloquialism, rumble, like ‘tumble', in this sense originated in the 19th century. Rumble probably derives from the archaic ‘romboyle', meaning to search for a wanted fugitive or suspect (a 17th-century term of unknown origin).

We better get out of here – we've been rumbled.

rummage
¹
vb British

to raid and/or search (premises). The specialised sense, deriving from the standard colloquialism, has been used by police and criminals since the 1990s.

‘It's going to be rummaged tomorrow.'
(
River Police
, ITV documentary, 15 September 1995)

rummage
²
n British

a sexual act. The word is pronounced with a long ‘a', perhaps in imitation of French. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

rummaging
adj British

having sex. The word is pronounced with a long ‘a', perhaps in imitation of French. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

rumpo
n British
an act of sexual intercourse. A ‘smutty' euphemism first popularised by the fictitious folksinger and specialist in innuendo, ‘Rambling Sid Rumpo', played by Kenneth Williams in the Kenneth Horne radio comedies of the 1960s. In the 1980s the term was seen as an acceptable suggestive euphemism. It derives from ‘rump' as an archaic verb meaning to copulate and from the noun as a synonym for
tail
,
arse
, etc.
Rumpty-tumpty
and
rumpy-pumpy
are elaborated forms.

‘Susannah Hoffs is writing a “steamy” romance novel. Packed with intrigue and rumpo, it will, she claims “put Jackie Collins in the shade”.'
(
Smash Hits
magazine, November 1989)

rumpty-tumpty, rumpy-pumpy
n British

an act of sexual intercourse or sexually related ‘naughtiness'. Quasi-nursery elaborations of
rumpo
, used typically by disc jockeys, TV comedians and tabloid journalists since the 1980s.

‘And if they were to temporarily stray from marital fidelity, where would they turn for a bit of royal rumpy pumpy?'
(
Viz
comic, May 1989)

run
¹
n

1.
American
a rally by Hell's Angels, usually involving a lengthy mobile debauch

2.
an initial euphoric sensation following the ingestion or injection of a narcotic, particularly heroin; a
rush

‘When I'm rushing, on my run/And I feel just like Jesus's son.'
(“Heroin”, the Velvet Underground, 1967)

run
²
vb British

to denigrate, humiliate. A term reflecting the ritualistic status games of adolescent gangs, it is probably an abbreviated form of the colloquial meaning of ‘run down'. The term was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994.

run game
vb British

to work as a prostitute or behave promiscuously. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

She runnin' game.

runners
n pl British

trainers, sports shoes, in playground parlance. The word is also used in this sense in the Republic of Ireland.

running
adj

intoxicated by drugs. The term, coined by analogy with
buzzing
and
rushing
, particularly applied to those under the effects of amphetamines,
crack
or, later,
ecstasy
.

run off
vb British

to start to cry/weep

‘Kylie runs off'
(Headline in the
Sun
newspaper, 4 March 2011)

run off at the mouth
vb American

to talk excessively, to say more than one should. Usually used in an accusatory way, for instance to someone who betrays secrets.

runs, the
n British

an attack of diarrhoea. The expression is based on both the notion of runniness and running to a place of relief. A more sedate alternative is
the trots
.

Rupert
n British

an officer or officer cadet. A pejorative term in armed-forces' usage. The proper name was chosen as supposedly being quintessentially upper-class.

rush
n

1.
the initial heady or euphoric sensation consequent on taking a mind-altering drug. The word is used especially, and most literally, of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines; it generally refers to the sudden effects of a drug injected intravenously or taken through the mucous membranes rather than the more gradual onset attendant upon smoking or swallowing. The term is sometimes extended to refer to any exciting or stimulating action or situation.

‘When you inhale real hard, even before you exhale you're starting to feel the rush. It just goes straight to your head quicker than any other drug, and a better rush than any other drug.'

(Crack smoker,
Independent
, 24 July 1989)
2.
defined by a London schoolboy as ‘when lots of people beat up one person'

There was a rush down there.

rust-bucket
n

an old dilapidated or shoddily manufactured car. The term was earlier applied to ships and aeroplanes.

rusty sheriff's badge
n British

the anus

sabbing
n British

an act of sabotage. A word used by animal-rights activists and hunt saboteurs in the 1980s.

‘Meeting to discuss sabbing tactics.'
(Campus announcement, Essex University, 1986)

sack
¹
vb British

to discard or reject. Used in this sense and generalised from the colloquial meaning of dismissal from one's job, the term was popular in adolescent slang of the 1990s, often in reference to ‘dumping' a partner.

I think we should sack the whole idea.
Tina's planning to sack Martin, but she won't admit it if you ask her.

sack
²
n

1.
a bed. The word was probably first used of hammocks in the 19th century.

See also
sad sack

2.
the scrotum

sack it, sack it off
vb British

to forget, disregard (something or someone). As used by adolescents since 2000, the term may be inspired by the colloquial ‘sack' as dismiss, or the image of disposal in a bag.

sackless
adj

1.
(of a female) flat-chested

2.
incompetent, vacuous. The word is used in this sense particularly in the north east of England. It is said to derive from a Norse word meaning innocent or naïve. An annoyingly inefficient person is often described as a ‘sackless wonder'. The term is also used in the USA.

‘R– C– is a gutless, sackless pansy who has never failed to shy away from a challenge in his life.'
(Recorded, US internet sports chat room, 9 July 2004)

sack out
vb American

to go to bed, (lie down and) sleep. A colloquialism based on the long-established use of
sack
to mean bed.

sack time
n

a.
bed time. An armed forces and prison usage, carried over into civilian colloquialism.

‘Lift that weight drag that woodbine/lights out mate sackarooni time/lights out sack time.'
(
36 Hours
, poem by John Cooper Clarke, 1980)

b.
time spent sleeping

sad
adj British

unfortunate, unattractive, unexciting. This standard word was appropriated as an allpurpose vogue term of dismissal, disapproval, etc. among adolescents and younger children in the early 1990s, shortly afterwards crossing over into adult speech. (The bouffanted Tory minister Michael Portillo, for instance, was said to have ‘sad hair'.)

‘I hate myself when I find myself using “sad” in all its repulsively contemporary glory… basically it's no more than the latest linguistic expression of the bullying, teasing ways of school – it refers to kids with glasses, trainspotters, slow learners …'
(Paul Stump,
Guardian
, 8 November 1992)

saddo
n British

a pitiable, contemptible or unfortunate individual. An elaborated form of the fashionable adjective
sad
in adolescent usage throughout the 1990s.

‘What sort of chronic saddo really believes that the best days of his life were spent in the mud at Woodstock or fighting on Brighton beach.'
(Julie Burchill,
Sunday Times
magazine, 28 November 1993)

sad sack
n American

an unfortunate, characteristically depressed or confused individual. This term originated before World War II and was subsequently widespread in armed service slang to describe a misfit or pitiable person (normally male). The name was
given to a popular cartoon character of the 1950s.

safe
adj British

good, fine. The standard meaning was extended in schoolchildren's slang at the end of the 1980s to encompass anything positive. The word is thus used as an allpurpose term of approbation, often as an exclamation. ‘Safe' in this generalised sense probably derives from its over-use by petty criminals and gang members.

safety
exclamation British

the word is used in youth slang as an interjection expressing approval, an elaboration of the long-established
safe

sag (off)
vb British

to play truant. The verb, which can be used transitively or intransitively, became well known after reports of the abduction and murder of the toddler James Bulger by truanting boys in 1993. Partridge dates ‘sag' in the sense of absenting oneself from work to the 19th century, and in the sense of truancy to the Merseyside of the 1930s.

‘In the first interview child A admitted “sagging off” school with B and going to the Strand precinct, but denied taking James.'
(
Evening Standard
, 2 November 1993)