Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (152 page)

suck-hole, suck-holer
n Australian

a sycophant, toady or other contemptible person. A more recent variant on the ancient notion expressed by ‘bumsucker',
arse-licker
, etc.

suck off
vb

to perform fellatio (on someone)

suck-up
n

a sycophant. The noun, used typically in workplaces and schools, is derived from the older colloquial verbal phrase ‘to suck up (to)'.

sucky
adj American

tasty, sweet

suds
n American

beer; a ‘college-boy' word

suffer!
exclamation Australian

a cry of defiance, challenge or contempt, as used by schoolchildren and adolescents from at least the late 1970s

sugar daddy
n

a wealthy older protector and lover of a young woman. Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver, in their
Dictionary of Euphemisms
(1983), date this expression to the 1920s and derive it from the American rhyming slang phrase ‘sugar and honey':
money
. While this is possible, sugar had been a term of endearment or a metaphor for affection or luxury for many years before.

‘I see Natalie's managed to find herself another sugar daddy.'
(Recorded, magazine editor, London, 1986)

suit
n

a bureaucratic functionary,
apparatchik
, corporation man. The term appeared in the 1980s and is used contemptuously or dismissively by working people and, especially, the fashionable young. In 1989 and 1990 the elaboration ‘empty suit' was heard, underlining the notion of anonymity.

‘“What the hell is that?”
“Some suit from the mayor's office.”
“Just in time for the evening news.”'
(
Cagney and Lacey
, US TV series, 1982)

sunnies
n pl Australian

female breasts

supersonic
n British

tonic
(water). The rhyming slang term was used by bar staff and drinkers in the 1990s sometimes in conjunction with
Vera Lynn
.

supes
n
,
adj
,
exclamation

(something) wonderful. A shortened version of super.

surfie
n Australian

a member of a 1960s subculture based only partly on surfing. They were the contemporaries of the British
mods
and contributed (like their American surfer counterparts) many colourful expressions to modern Australian slang.

suss
¹
adj British

suspect or suspicious

I thought it was a bit suss when they offered it to me for nothing.

suss
²
n British

1.
‘knowhow', ‘savvy'. A usage in currency since the 1970s, based on
suss (out)
.

I wouldn't worry about her, she's got a lot of suss.

2.
suspicion. The much criticised Vagrancy Act, under whose provisions (young) people could be arrested for ‘loitering with intent (to commit an arrestable offence)', was known as ‘the sus law'. ‘On sus(s)' refers to being taken into custody on suspicion of committing an offence.

suss (out)
vb British

to discern, discover, deduce or realise. A vogue expression among
beatniks
of the early 1960s (in the longer form); it had probably been in sporadic use before that. At first the phrase usually meant to perceive someone's true nature or intentions, it is now a fairly common colloquialism, often meaning no more than to ‘work out'.

I think I've managed to suss out a way round this.
She sussed him out in five minutes.

sussed, sussed out
adj British

(of a person) well-adjusted, adapted to the circumstances, self-aware or self-reliant. This more recent derivation of the verb
suss (out)
is based on the notion of
suss
in the sense of ‘knowhow'. Since the 1980s it is often in the form ‘well-sussed'.

‘This time, man, we've got it all sussed… all the albums gonna be made here, first class jobs.'
(Record bootlegger,
Oz
magazine, February 1970)

‘A post punk skatezine that's aggressive, sussed and caustic about skating UK'
(
Mail on Sunday
,
“Biz”
magazine, June 1987)

swag

1.
n
,
adj
(the quality of being)
cool
. So overused, particularly by youth in the USA, as to provoke the venom of numerous posters on e.g. Urban Dictionary website. Claimed, probably erroneously, as a 1960s acronym from ‘secretly we are gay', in its appreciative sense it may derive from ‘swagger'.

‘This used to refer to free things given away at conventions and other gatherings…No one knows what “I've got swag” actually means; though, but it is also used as a response, as an introduction, as a closing statement.'
(Online posting by N. L. Vaught, February 2012)

2.
adj British
in its derogatory sense the word was defined by one London teenager in 2011 as ‘crap, disappointing, not worth listening to, a waste of time'

a well swag soundtrack
He's just swag.

swagged-out
adj

fashionable, stylish, ostentatious

‘Dazed went uptown with the A$AP Mob to get an insight into their swagged-out lifestyle''
(
Dazed and Confused
Magazine, 14 February 2012)

swallow
n British

a drink of alcohol

Shall we go for a quick swallow?

swamp
¹
n

a poor housing estate. The term was recorded in West London in 1998.

swamp
²
adj

1.
unpleasant, disgusting. The usage's date and place of origin is unclear. It has been recorded among younger speakers in the USA and UK since 2010.

a swamp school
She's so swamp.

2. macho

swamp-donkey
n

an extremely ugly or unattractive female. A vogue term among university students since around 2000. A British origin has been claimed for the phrase, but it may be a rural North American slang word for a
moose
.

swamp one's pants
vb American

1.
to become sexually aroused. The phrase can be used of either sex.

2.
to fail spectacularly or ignominiously

swap spit
vb American

to kiss, used particularly when referring to
French kissing
, in the jargon of teenagers and students

swayve
n
,
adj

(the quality of being) sophisticated, elegant, refined. The word is a mock-affected mispronunciation of ‘suave' (along the lines of the earlier British
fabe
and
mode
).

He's got loads of swayve, hasn't he?
She's très swayve.

swear down
exclamation British

an assertion or protestation of sincerity, in urban street slang. The expression was explained in 2013 by one teenage user by paraphrasing: ‘believe me…no, really, I'm telling the truth'.

sweat
¹
vb American

to put pressure on (someone)

‘No one's sweating you to join a gang.'
(Los Angeles policeman to street-gang member, ITV documentary, August 1989)

sweat
²
n British

a brutish, unsophisticated individual. The term sometimes denotes someone engaged in menial tasks and was heard in working-class speech in the 1990s.

‘No you don't ya dozy sweat!'
(
Blonde Fist
, UK film, 1994)

sweated
adj British

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

sweat-hog
n American

a physically repugnant person. A term of contempt or abuse typically applied by males, such as college students, to females.

sweaty
n British

a disco, dance or frenetic party, in the 1990s jargon of Oxbridge students

swedge
vb British

to have sex with, penetrate. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

I swedged her.

Swedish
adj

excellent. First heard in US youth slang around 2003, this may be a variant of colloquial ‘sweet(ish)' or is inspired by the notion of Swedish products and/or people being of superior quality, appearance or physique. It was recorded in use among UK university students in 2011.

sweet
adj British

excellent, acceptable. A vogue term of approval among adolescents in the later 1990s.

sweet F.A./Fanny Adams
n British

a.
nothing at all,
fuck-all

b.
a pitifully small amount. In 19th-century naval slang ‘Fanny Adams' was tinned or cooked meat, a sardonic reference to a girl of the same name who was murdered and dismembered in 1867. The name was later matched with the initials of
fuck-all
and used euphemistically in its place.

swell
n British

a well-off single woman, in
yuppie
argot of the late 1980s. An acronym (‘single woman earning lots of lolly') also recalling the dated description of a fashionable ‘person-about-town'.

swift
¹
vb British

to give false evidence, ‘bend' the evidence. A piece of police slang. A police officer who is adept at this practice is known as ‘a (bit of a) swifter'. ‘Swift it' is another form of the verb.

swift
²
adj

a.
American
alert, clever. Now heard among various social groups, the word has been used in this sense in black adult speech since before World War II.

The kid's not too swift.

b.
British
devious, cunning, deceitful. This usage has occurred in London working-class and underworld speech since the 1950s.

I thought it was a bit swift when they left me standing holding the gear.

swifty
n

an alcoholic drink, usually beer. The term has been recorded in the USA since 2000, as well as in the UK where it is probably a short form of the established phrases ‘a swift one' or ‘a swift half'.

swing
vb

a.
to behave in an uninhibitedly hedonistic way. This use of the word, originating in jazz and rock music circles, was popular in the 1960s; by the early 1970s it had been narrowed to its current sense (
see
sub-sense
b
).

b.
to engage in ‘liberated' and/or sophisticated sexual practices, particularly wife-swapping and group sex. The word is a catch-all euphemism for promiscuity, originating and still mainly heard in the USA.

swing both ways
vb

to engage in sexual relations with both men and women. A euphemism heard in the USA since the later 1960s.

swinger
n

a.
a sophisticated hedonist, a fashionable pleasure lover. This quintessential 1960s term evolved quickly into its current sense (
see
subsense
b
).

b.
a euphemism for a practitioner of wife-swapping, group sex or other types of sexual ‘liberation'. This American term was adopted by ‘adult' magazines, contact agencies, etc. in the 1970s as an acceptable designation for adultery and/or promiscuity, etc.

swish
n American

a
gay
or effeminate male. A mildly pejorative term, inspired by the actual or supposed flouncing of the individuals in question. It is used by gay as well as heterosexual commentators.

Swiss
adj

1.
American
of good quality, like a Swiss watch. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

2.
British
inferior, useless.
Viz
comic's
Profanisaurus
records this usage in 1999. It may be an irony, or just possibly related to a Victorian use of Swiss to mean bogus or exaggerated, as in a ‘Swiss Admiral'.

switched
adj British

angry, enraged. The term was in use among street-gang members and South London schoolchildren in 2010.

switched-on
adj British

a.
fashionable, alert. A vogue term of the 1960s equating with
turned-on
.

b.
excited either sexually or by drugs. A short-lived sense of the phrase, current in the mid-to-late 1960s.

switch-hitter
n

a bisexual person. The phrase is used in the USA and Australia; it is from baseball jargon, in which it denotes an ambidextrous batter.