Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (142 page)

slag tag
n British

a
tramp stamp

slam
vb British

to have sex with, penetrate. The term, like its synonyms
lam
and
lamp
, invariably refers to male sexual activity. It can be used both transitively and intransitively. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2001.

Drew's been hoping to slam her for weeks.
I slammed her.

slammed
adj British

drunk. A mainly middle- and upper-class term of the 1980s. (Certain cocktails are known as ‘slammers'; both words evoke the sudden and stunning effect of strong alcohol.)

slammer
n

a prison. An Americanism used in Britain and Australia since the early 1960s, it was originally a 1930s slang word for door, hence cell door and, since World War II, now denotes a jail.

‘You're consortin' with a criminal, so when he goes to the slammer, you go, too!'
(
Smokey and the Bandit III,
US film, 1983)

slammered
adj British

drunk. The term does not necessarily refer to the result of ingesting Tequila slammers (neat shots). An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

slamming
¹
n American

injecting heroin,
shooting up
. An item of police and underworld slang which is
interchangeable in addicts' parlance with
geezing
.

slamming
²
adj British

excellent, exciting. Like its synonyms
banging
and
kicking
, it is a vogue term of approbation in use among adolescents since the early 1990s.

slanging
n American

selling illicit drugs, usually on the street. This usage, from black American street argot in the 1990s, is found in the phrase ‘slangin' and bangin'' (banging here is
gang banging
) to describe the typical behaviour of gang members and devotees of drug subcultures. The word is almost certainly a deformation of
slinging
, which has also been used with the same meaning.

slant
n

an ‘Oriental' person. A shortening of ‘slant-eyed', used in the United States and Australia since the 1960s and more recently heard among young Londoners, e.g. young city businessmen referring disparagingly to the Japanese.

slap
¹
n British

1.
make-up, face-paint. A piece of theatrical slang which Partridge's
Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
dates to 1860 and claims to be obsolete by 1930. In fact the term was still in common currency in the theatre in the late 1980s.

We're going to need some more slap on here.

2.
a meal, feast. Derived from ‘slap-up (meal)', the term was recorded among bohemians and students in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

a good slap

slap
²
vb
,
n British

(to have) sex. In Jamaican slang the word is a contemporary synonym for
slam
. The word has also been used in this sense in the UK since around 2000.

slap-and-tickle
n British

petting, kissing and caressing. A joky and innocuous euphemism for love-play of various degrees of intensity. The phrase dates from the Edwardian era but was most popular in the late 1950s, usually in the form ‘a bit of slap-and-tickle'.

slaphead
n British

a bald person. A vogue term among adolescents from the early 1990s. The phrase may have been inspired by the comedian Benny Hill slapping the bald head of his diminutive assistant in his TV comedy shows of the 1980s.

slapper
n British

a prostitute or slut. This working-class term from East London and Essex is probably a corruption of
shlepper
, a word of Yiddish origin, one of whose meanings is a slovenly or immoral woman.

‘…it was either Posh's fault for being too thin and failing to follow her husband when he moved to Madrid; or it was Rebecca Loos's fault for being a slapper.'
(
Guardian
, 13 April 2004)

slash
¹
n British

an act of urination. A vulgar term, used generally by males. The word came into use in this sense sometime before the 1950s, but was not recorded in writing until recently. The word usually occurs in phrases such as ‘have a slash' or ‘take a slash'. Slash may be echoic (as ‘slosh' or ‘slush') or may be inspired by the standard use of the word to refer to rain driving obliquely.

slash
²
vb British

to urinate. The verb form is less common than the noun.

slate
vb

to insult, denigrate. As used by adolescents since 2000, the standard colloquialism (originally a northern English dialect word meaning to harass or hurt) has stronger, more personal overtones.

slaughter
n British

a place where stolen goods are hidden and/or shared out. This example of the jargon of cat burglars was recorded in
FHM
magazine in April 1996. It probably originated in underworld argot as ‘slaughterhouse' or ‘slaughter-yard', but the exact significance is unclear.

slaughtered
adj British

extremely drunk. A fashionable item from the adolescent drinkers' lexicon of the 1990s.

‘They [a convention of “nerds”] crammed the hotel to get slaughtered on non-alcoholic wines and beers.'
(
Sunday Express
, 27 February 1994)

sleazeball, sleaze-bag, sleaze-bucket
n American

a very unpleasant person. A socially acceptable alternative to terms such as
shitbag
, etc., popular in the late 1970s and 1980s.

sleazo, sleazoid
n

a ‘sleazy' person; a disreputable, immoral or otherwise repellent individual. These Americanisms are now heard elsewhere.

‘There were a bunch of sleazo bars on or near the Sunset Strip.'
(
www.badmags.com
, June 2005)

sledgied
adj British

intoxicated by drugs or drink. A vogue term among devotees of
rave
culture since the early 1990s and subsequently among students, it is probably based on the notion of being suddenly struck as with a sledgehammer.

slewed
adj

drunk. The word (formerly sometimes spelled ‘slued') has been used in this sense since the mid-19th century.

slice
vb American

to harass, oppress, criticise. A piece of adolescent and teenage slang of the early 1990s, almost always referring to parents or teachers.

I sure wish the rents would quit slicing me.

slick up
vb

to make oneself look attractive, elegant, prepare oneself to impress. From the earlier colloquial sense of slick as smart or glib.

slide
vb American

to leave, depart. A vogue term, like
jam
,
jet
,
bail
, etc., probably originating among street gangs and subsequently in use among adolescents on high-school and college campuses.

It's time to slide.

slide out
vb British

to depart, run away. The phrase, probably a version of the Americanism
slide
, was in use among London teenagers in 2010.

slider
n British

a shirker, idler. Probably a clipped form of the word ‘backslider', this late-1990s usage was defined on the internet by
Bodge World
in February 1997 as ‘someone who manages to get out of doing work'.

slime
¹
vb

1.
to behave in a devious, sycophantic or ingratiating way. A usage popular among adolescents and young adults from the 1980s.

2.
Australian
to ejaculate

slime
²
,
slimeball, slimebucket, slimebag
n

a despicable person; popular terms of abuse or distaste in the 1980s

sling
vb
,
n

(to pay) a bribe. The Australasian term is the equivalent of the British
bung
.

slinging
n See
slanging

sling off
vb Australian

to denigrate, criticise

sling one's hook
vb British

to leave, go away. This term, which originated and largely survives in working-class speech, is either of nautical or mining origin. It dates from the second half of the 19th century.
Hook it
is a racier alternative.

We don't want you here. Go on, sling your 'ook!

slip it to someone
vb British

to have sex with someone. A version of the more common vulgar euphemism,
slip someone a length
. The phrase is generally employed by men and usually implies a casual and surreptitious coupling.

slip someone a length
vb

to have sex with someone (from the male point of view). A euphemism originating in the 19th century.

slit
n

a.
the vagina

‘A vagina indeed! Admittedly, some people did call it a slit sometimes.'
(
Nice Work
by David Lodge, 1988)

b.
a female. The word in the plural was adopted as the name of a British all-girl
punk
group in 1977.

slizzered
adj American

drunk. The term, recorded since 2003, has been used in song lyrics by OutKast and Ke$ha among others.

Sloane Ranger, Sloane
n British

a young upper-middle or upper-class person, educated at a public school and affecting certain well-defined modes of dress and behaviour. The phrase was applied to a recognisable subcategory of British youth displaying characteristics of what used to be known as the ‘county set'. The equivalent of the American
preppies
and the French
B.C.B.G.s
(for ‘bon chic, bon genre'), Sloane Rangers were defined and described by the journalists Peter York and later Ann Barr in articles in
Harpers and Queen
magazine and publications such as
The Official Sloane Ranger's Handbook
(1982). The first time the words appeared in print was in October 1975, but Peter York was not the originator of the expression. It was used by bar-room wits of the early 1970s to refer to would-be ‘men about town' frequenting Chelsea pubs, only some of whom were
the upper-class youths (then known solely as
Hooray Henrys
) later so described. The source of the pun, the Lone Ranger, was the dashing cowboy hero of a 1950s TV series; Sloane Square is in Chelsea.

‘The appalling Sloane Ranger look. Worn by strapping, horsey girls aged 20 going on 53. Other components: striped shirts, a tame string of pearls, impenetrable pleated skirt, blue tights and prissy shoes. Printed headscarves optional. Thick ankles mandatory.'
(Description of female Sloane Ranger, Judy Rumbold,
Guardian
, 11 December 1989)

slob
n

a coarse, slovenly and/or lazy individual. This word had existed for many years in Anglo-Irish speech where it denoted a fat, slow child (probably from
slab
, Irish Gaelic for mud). Coincidentally a similar word, apparently of Slavonic origin and rendered as
zhlub
or
shlub
, exists in Yiddish. It means an uncouth person, but is probably derived from a root form related to the Czech
zlobit
, meaning to get angry.

slob out
vb

to relax, behave in a lazy or disinterested way. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

slope
n

an ‘Oriental' person, especially a Vietnamese. This derogatory term, deriving from ‘slope-eyed', moved from the US to Australia in the 1970s.

‘The newest “new Australians”, as anyone who looks foreign is called, are the Lebanese and the Vietnamese, the “slopes”.'
(
Observer
magazine, 13 December 1987)

Compare
slant

slope off
vb

to leave, depart surreptitiously. This colloquialism derives from the 19th-century slang use of ‘slope' to mean decamp or sneak away. The term originated in the USA. It is either from the Dutch
sloop
, meaning to steal away, or from the standard verb.

sloshed
adj

drunk. One of the most common and least offensive terms in British usage since the late 19th century. It is also heard in the USA.

slosher, slusher
n

a promiscuous and/or disreputable female. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

slot
n

a.
the anus. In
gay
parlance.

b.
the vagina

slumped
adj British