Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (147 page)

to beat up, thoroughly defeat. A nursery word of the 1950s, spifflicate was coined in the 18th century (the first recorded use was in 1785 meaning to confound). It does not derive directly from any standard or dialect term, but is an invention imitating Latinate multisyllabics.

spiffy
adj

smart, dapper, impressive. A word which, since it is in mainly middle- and upper-class use, is generally considered colloquial rather than slang. It derives from the archaic 19th-century dialect word ‘spiff' (noun and adjective), meaning (a person who is) dandy or smartly dressed, which is also the origin of spiffing and
spiv
.

‘You're the best looking cop in the place. Well, you look pretty spiffy yourself.'
(
Legwork
, US TV series, 1987)

spike
n

a hypodermic syringe. An item of drug addicts' jargon dating from the 1950s. The word was used to denote an ordinary needle for many years before that.

‘When I put a spike into my vein, Then I tell you things aren't quite the same.'
(Lyrics to
Heroin
, written by Lou Reed and recorded by the Velvet Underground, 1967)

spike up
vb

to inject oneself (with a narcotic)

spill
vb

to confess, own up or reveal a secret. A racier version of the colloquial ‘spill the beans', the term is typically used in an underworld context, often involving informing on associates or otherwise betraying a confidence.

I couldn't get him to spill.

spill one's guts
vb

to confess or reveal information. An elaboration of
spill
or ‘spill the beans' used particularly by or about criminals.

They put a little pressure on him and the creep spilled his guts.

spin
n British

a search (of a home or other premises), typically by police officers. A derivation of
spin (someone's) drum
.

I think we'd better give their gaff a spin.
He's about due for a spin.

spin (someone's) drum
vb British

to make an official search of someone's house, in the jargon of the police force.
Drum
is one's home and spin provides the play on words, referring to the spinning of a drum in a fairground lottery. In the 1990s ‘spin this' was used as an expression synonymous with ‘up yours', and was accompanied by a one-fingered gesture.

spin out
vb

to become confused or disorientated

‘I was totally spun out when I found out James was cheating on me.'
(Recorded, teenager, Devon, 2002)

spit
¹
n American

a.
rubbish, nonsense,
shit

b.
nothing at all,
zip
,
zilch

‘What did he tell me? – He told me spit.'
(
Macgruder and Loud
, US film, 1985)

In both cases spit is a euphemism for
shit
, usable in fairly polite company or in the mass media.

spit
²
n See
big spit, the

spitroasting
n British

(of a pair of males) penetrating a shared sexual partner orally and from the rear simultaneously. The phrase achieved brief notoriety in 2009 when footballers were reported to be indulging in the practice.
Roasting
is a shortened form of the word.

spit the dummy
vb Australian

to lose one's temper, express one's anger. The image is presumably that of a baby expelling its pacifier in a fit of rage.

spitting feathers
n British

exhibiting extreme enthusiasm or agitation. The colourful phrase is heard particularly in armed-forces' usage and probably evokes the squawking of a frantic bird. It is one of many bird-related images in colloquial speech, such as
drop off the twig
/‘perch' and ‘sick as a parrot'.

spiv
n British

a disreputable, flashy male, typically one who lives by shady dealing rather than orthodox work. This word had existed in the jargon of racetrack habitués and petty criminals since the late 19th century, but came into its own after World War II, when it was adopted by the press and public to designate the touts, black marketeers and ‘wide boys' who flourished in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Spiv is an alteration of ‘spiff', an archaic dialect word for a dandy which also gave rise to the adjectives
spiffy
and ‘spiffing'.

‘Max Kidd was an ex-plumber made good; a total spiv down to the last camel hair in his coat.'
(TV review by Kate Saunders,
Evening Standard
, 17 May 1989)

splash the boots
vb

to urinate. A euphemism heard, particularly among drinkers, in Australia and Britain since the 1960s.

‘Excuse I, but could you direct me to the bathroom. I've got to splash the boots.'
(
The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie
, cartoon strip by Barry Humphries and Nicholas Garland, 1966)

splashy
adj British

street-smart,
cool
, impressive. The term was recorded in London in 2010.

splatted
adj British

stabbed. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

splay
¹
n American

marihuana. A word of obscure origin used by schoolchildren and students.

splay
²
vb American

to have sex (with). The vulgarism invariably applies to male sexual activity. It has been recorded in use among Californian pornographers and prostitutes and may have originated as photographers' jargon, from ‘splay-shot', employing the standard word (itself a Middle English clipping of ‘display').

splendid
adj British

excellent. The standard word was borrowed as a vogue term of approbation by British teenagers in the early 1990s.

splib
n American

an Afro-Caribbean person. A racist epithet heard since the 1980s, of uncertain origin although it is claimed unconvincingly to be a blend of
spade
and ‘liberal'. It is more likely to be a nonsense bebop or
jive talk
coinage.

splice
vb British

to have sex (with)

‘I spliced his woman while he was on bar duty downstairs.'
(
Harry's Kingdom
, British TV film, 1986)

spliff
n

1.
a cannabis cigarette,
joint
. The word, which is of uncertain derivation, originated in Britain or the Caribbean in the 1960s. In the USA it designates a joint containing both cannabis and tobacco, in the ‘English style'.

2.
a stupid person. The word is used in this way by teenagers.

split
¹
vb

to leave. A piece of American slang that came to Britain in the
hippy
era, it is a shortening of the earlier
beatnik
term ‘split the scene' (from the notion of separating oneself from a group or gathering).

split
²
n British

a female. This highly derogatory term is short for ‘split arse' and was popularised by the comedian Roy ‘Chubby' Brown.

‘Lesley Morris, 23, said sailors called the WRENS sluts, slags, splits and turtles.'
(
Daily Mirror
, 4 February 1997)

splosh
n British

1a.
a woman or women in general

1b.
an act of sexual intercourse

Both these related uses are vulgarisms popular in London working-class parlance since the late 1970s, often in the form ‘a bit of splosh'.

2.
money. This sense of the word is now almost obsolete, but existed in the vocabularies of cockneys,
spivs
and their upper-class imitators in the 1950s.

splurt
vb British

to leave, run away. The term, whose etymology is uncertain, may be an altered form of
split
. It has been used by gang members and schoolchildren since the late 1990s.

spod
¹
n British

1a.
smegma

1b.
seminal fluid

A vulgarism which was in use among adolescents in the 1990s.

2.
a clumsy, dimwitted or socially unacceptable person. The term is applied to school misfits by fellow pupils and was reported to be in current use at Eton in the September 1989 issue of
Tatler
. In the 1990s it was defined as a synonym for
narg
in Oxbridge student slang.

spod
²
vb British

to engage in meaningless activities when supposedly doing a job. Posted on the internet by
Bodge World
in 1997.

spogs
n pl British

sweets. A schoolchildren's term heard mainly in the north of England.

spon
n British

1.
money. A clipped form of
spondulicks
, fashionable in certain circles since the late 1980s.

‘We're going to have to go round to Bill's to pick up some spon.'
(Recorded, self-employed decorator, London, 1988)

2.
a fool. This childish term of abuse or disparagement has been obsolete since the early 1960s. It was almost certainly a survival of the early 19th century use of spoon to mean a simpleton.

spondulicks, spondoolicks
n

money, wealth. A lighthearted term which was obsolescent by the 1960s (having originated in the USA in the 1850s), but which, like other synonyms for money, was revived in the 1980s (compare
rhino
,
pelf
, etc.). It originated as a learned witticism, borrowing the Greek term
spondylikos
; pertaining to the
spondylos
, a seashell used as currency.

spong
adj British

silly. The word was in use among younger teenagers in 2009.

spoof
vb Australian

to ejaculate.
Spuff
is a variant form.

spooge
n American

sperm. The word is an invention based on the standard term and used by children and adolescents.

spook
n American

1.
a black person. The reference is either an ironic one to the subjects' black colour (as opposed to the white of spectres) or to their ‘haunting' of certain locations.

2.
a spy, secret agent. This usage may be a simple reference to unseen ‘ghosts' or may derive from the fact that many World War II agents were recruited from the Yale secret society, the ‘Skull and Bones'.

‘In 30 beautifully crafted novels during the past 16 years, he [Ted Allbeury] has revealed details from the real world of spooks that have been struck from others' memoirs.'
(
Sunday Times
, 17 December 1989)

spooky
adj British

eccentric, crazy. An item of youth slang recorded in the 1990s which may have originated in black usage.

That Linda's well spooky.

spoon
n British

1.
a person from a privileged and/or wealthy background. The word became fashionable among young City financial traders in the early 1990s, used either contemptuously or teasingly by working-class speakers of their upper- (or sometimes middle-)class fellows. It derives from the expression ‘born with a silver spoon in one's mouth'.

2.
a stupid, ‘thick' person.

See also
mong
;
minghawk
;
scrag
²
;
spliff

spooner
n British

an unpleasant and/or obnoxious person. In playground usage since 2000.

sport girl
n Caribbean

a prostitute or promiscuous female

spot (someone)
vb

a.
American
to pay for, lend or advance money to. This usage of spot probably derives from gambling or sports jargon in which it means to specify odds or conditions.

Spot me a twenty will you?

b.
to lend or give. The older adult colloquialism has become a vogue term among British adolescents since 2000.

Can you spot me a cig?

spout off
vb British

to talk volubly, pompously or out of turn. A post-1970 version of the earlier ‘spout' or the more literary ‘spout forth', suggesting the outpouring of words. Spout off, like ‘mouth off', is usually used intransitively and is more disparaging than the earlier forms.

sprang
vb Caribbean

to steal or borrow without permission. Recorded in Trinidad and Tobago in 2003. Synonyms are
bandit
and
raf
.

sprankious, sprankshious
adj Caribbean