Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (153 page)

sword
n See
pork sword

swot
n

a diligent, hard-working student. A pejorative term which has survived from the mid-19th century into modern usage. It is an alteration of ‘sweat' and, like that word, may be used as a noun or a verb. In the
USA there are many terms used enviously or contemptuously of conscientious fellow-students, among them
grind
,
pencil-geek
,
squid
and
wonk
.

‘But finally armed with a baseball bat, he intervenes when a bullying sports-star humiliates a kindly swot, preaching a sermon that converts the whole institution.'
(
Observer,
29 May 1988)

syphon the python
vb See
siphon/syphon the python

syrup (of figs)
n British

a
wig
. A piece of approximate rhyming slang invoking a laxative remedy.

‘That is not a syrup.
I've got a tenner here says that's a syrup.'
(
Only Fools and Horses
, British TV comedy series, 1989)

T
n

marihuana. An alternative form of
tea
.

tab
n

1.
a tablet, specifically a tablet or dose of the drug LSD, from the jargon of users in the late 1960s and 1970s

‘Well, the one that stopped me from doing acid forever was when I dropped seven tabs. I completely lost my mind and went to Muppetland – the whole trip lasted for about six months.'
(Zodiac Mindwarp,
I-D
magazine, November 1987)

2.
British
a cigarette. The word, probably from ‘tab-end', appeared in northern British usage before World War II but, since its use in
Viz
comic from the 1980s, has been used in other regions, mainly by adolescents.

‘He pulls out the tab… he's trying to get the packet into his top pocket …'
(Jack Docherty's talk show, Channel 4 TV, March 1997)

tabby
n

a female, especially an attractive and/or lively girl

table-ender
n

a sexual act, especially when impromptu and/or in a public place, but not necessarily on, against or under a table

table-surfing
n British

the stealing of valuables, typically mobile phones left on bar or café tables, while the owner is distracted

‘A surge in “table surfing” by criminals and snatches of valuables is driving a rise in theft offences in London, police said today.'
(
London Evening Standard
, 24 January 2013)

tabs
n pl British

the female
labia majora

tache, tash
n British

a moustache

tack
¹
n

1.
squalor, shabbiness, seediness, bad taste. A back-formation from the earlier Americanism,
tacky
. ‘Tackiness' is an alternative noun form. (Very often ‘tackiness' refers to the quality, ‘tack' to the evidence thereof.)

2.
British
cannabis. A term used by adolescents, particularly in the northeast of England, during the 1990s. It may be a shortening of ‘tackle' as used to mean equipment or heroin.

tack
²
, tak
n

cannabis. The term was used by, e.g., self-confessed
chavs
.

tacker
n British

a child. A northern English dialect word of obscure origin but possibly related to ‘thumb(tack)'. It is occasionally heard in other parts of Britain.

tackies
n pl Irish

sports shoes, trainers

tackle
n British

1.
a short form of the humorous euphemism
wedding tackle
(the male genitals). Tackle alone was used in this sense from the 18th century, if not earlier.

2.
heroin. An item of prison slang.

tacky
adj

shabby, seedy, inferior, vulgar. An American term which had existed in southern speech in the USA since the late 19th century, before being understood (in the early 1970s) and partially adopted (in the late 1970s) in Britain. The origin is not in ‘tacky', meaning sticky or viscous, but in a dialect word for an inferior horse, hence a shabby yokel. ‘Tack-e-e-e' is the last word and final verdict in the main text of Kenneth Anger's
Hollywood Babylon
(1975), an exposé of show-business scandal.

taco-bender
n American

a Mexican or other person of Hispanic origin. A derogatory term coined on the lines of
spaghetti-bender
or
bagel-bender
. (A taco is a Mexican fried bread pancake.)

tacos
n pl American See
toss one's cookies/tacos

tad
n
,
adj
,
adv

a small or slight amount, a little, slightly. An American expression now fairly widespread in British use, especially in phrases such as ‘a tad hungry'. In American English tad has been used to mean a small boy since the late 19th century. It is probably from earlier British dialect, in which it is related to ‘toad' or ‘tadpole'.

tadger
n British

the penis. A vulgarism of unknown origin (probably from a lost dialect verb) used for many years in the north of England and revived by students, alternative comedians, etc. in the 1980s.
Todger
is an alternative modern version.

tag
¹
vb
,
n

(to spray) a graffiti artist's personalised signature or motif. The word has been a colloquialism for a person's name for many years. It was adopted by teenage graffiti artists in the 1970s in the USA, whence it spread with the craze.

‘If you go to one of the big guys of hip hop art and they have not heard of your tag, you are nothing. But if they've seen it and like it then you are bad.'
(15-year-old graffiti artist,
Evening Standard
, 11 November 1987)

tag
²
vb

1.
to hit or knock out

2.
to kill, especially by shooting. In the latter sense the term was used in the cult US 1993 film
Reservoir Dogs
.

tagger
n

a graffiti artist. From the use of
tag
to mean one's name or pictorial signature.

tail
n

a.
a woman or women seen as (a) sexual object(s). The word usually occurs in phrases such as ‘a bit/piece of tail', tail being a euphemism dating from the 14th century for the less polite
arse
or
ass
.

b.
(particularly in Caribbean or
gay
usage) a man or men seen as (a) sexual object(s)

‘She spend all her time chasin' tail!'
(Recorded, Trinidadian student, London, 1988)

tail-end
n British

the penis. Confusingly, since the term usually denotes the backside, it may also, particularly in the northeast of England, refer to the male member.

tailpipe
n American

the anus. A US teenagers' term. This predictable use of the word (‘exhaust-pipe' in British English) is possibly influenced by the car driver's experience of having another driver ‘up one's tailpipe', i.e. driving too close.

taint
n British

the perineum. The vulgarism is an alteration of the observation ‘it ain't one thing or the other', i.e neither genitals nor anus.
Barse
is a synonym.

Taiwan
n British

an upper second or 2.1 (‘two-one') honours degree. A student nickname on the lines of
Desmond
,
Pattie
,
Douglas
, etc. coined in the mid-1980s. A
made-in
is a synonym from the same source.

take a bath
vb

to suffer a financial loss or commercial setback. A piece of business jargon that has become fairly widespread. The image evoked seems to be of a drenching rather than just washing.

take a dive/tumble/fall
vb

to deliberately lose a boxing match or other contest. Expressions in use since the inter-war years, originating in the USA.

take a dump
vb See
dump

take a leak
vb See
leak

take a pill
vb American

to relax, luxuriate. The phrase was popularised by the 1992 US film
Wayne's World
.

take a pop (at)
vb

to attack, hit, lash out at. A phrase popular in working-class London speech in the late 1980s.

‘Now you're taking a pop at my business partners.'
(
EastEnders
, British TV soap opera, 1988)

take a powder
vb

to leave (quickly), go away. A now dated expression originating in the USA in the 1920s. The powder in question refers to a laxative or stimulant medicine.

take a raincheck
vb

to accept a postponement, put something off to a future date. An Americanism which entered international English in the mid-1970s. The raincheck in question was originally a ticket stub entitling the holder to entry to a ball game at some future date if the fixture is rained off.

take berties
vb British

a.
to behave in a presumptuous or intrusive way

b.
to take advantage (of someone)

You can stay but just don't go taking berties.

The jocular phrase, used by university students from the later 1990s, is a shortening of the colloquial ‘take liberties'.

take down
vb American

to kill or immobilise. A ‘tough-guy' euphemism.

take names
vb American

to act resolutely and/or primitively, chastise. The image evoked is that of an authority figure noting the names of miscreants. The phrase is often placed after
kick ass
.

Listen, you're going to have to go in there and kick ass and take names!

take one's lumps
vb American

to suffer misfortune or harsh treatment

take out
vb

to kill or destroy. A military euphemism which came to public notice in the USA during the Vietnam War. The term was subsequently appropriated for use in the context of crime and law enforcement.

‘You got a couple of options: piss off out of town, or take him out, mate.'
(
Blackjack
, Australian TV crime drama, 2004)

take the mick/mickey/michael
vb British
to mock, deride, poke fun at. These expressions are milder versions of
take the piss
. Unbeknownst to most users, they employ rhyming slang; Mickey is short for a mythical ‘Mickey Bliss', providing the rhyme for
piss
. ‘Michael' is a humorous variant. The phrases, like their more vulgar counterpart, have been in use since the 1940s.

take the piss (out of someone)
vb British
to mock, deride, poke fun at. This vulgarism has been in widespread use since the late 1940s. The original idea evoked by the expression was that of deflating someone, recalling the description of a self-important blusterer as
all piss and wind
.

take the shame
vb British

to accept the blame (publicly and/or wholeheartedly) or face the criticism of one's peers. A key phrase in the playground vocabulary of London teenagers since the later 1970s. The concept is from black speech; ‘shamed-up' is another derivation from the same source.

talent
¹
n British

attractive potential sexual partners. A generic term first applied before World War II to women and men. Since the mid-1960s female speakers have also applied the word (sometimes ironically) to desirable males.

Let's check out the local talent.

talent
²
adj British

excellent. An adjectival use of the noun, heard among schoolchildren since the 1990s.

talk dicks
vb

to speak in an elegant way, talk ‘posh'. Dicks may be an alteration of diction.

talking-brooch
n British

a police-officer's personal radio, also known as a
squawker
and
batphone
. An item of police slang recorded by the London
Evening Standard
magazine, February 1993.

talk on the big white telephone
vb

to vomit in a toilet. This colourful expression probably originated among US college students, like the synonymous ‘kneel'/
pray to the porcelain god
.

tall poppies
n pl Australian

‘over-achievers', persons of prominence. The expression originates in the 1930s when the Lang government threatened to enforce tax laws which would ‘cut off the heads of the tall poppies'.