Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (160 page)

tripehound
n British

a term of abuse, now often used affectionately but formerly used with real venom, particularly in the north and Midlands of England. The image is that of an offal-eating dog.

tripped-out
adj

a.
under the influence of LSD or a similar hallucinogenic drug

b.
exhibiting signs of euphoria or eccentricity caused by, or typical of, the use of LSD

tripping
¹
adj British

strange, weird. This adjective, unknown before the 1990s, denotes a generally bizarre situation, thing, person, etc., rather than referring specifically to the simulation of the effects of LSD.

tripping
²
n American

enjoying oneself, having fun. In the slang of black
hip hop
aficionados the 1960s term for LSD usage has been generalised.

trippy
adj

exhibiting or suggesting the euphoric, surrealistic effects of ‘psychedelic' drugs such as LSD. The word, based on
trip
, was heard from about 1967.

Listen to this – it's got a really trippy guitar solo.

trog
¹
vb British

to trek, walk energetically or wearily. An armed-services' term which passed into civilian usage in the 1970s. It is probably a blend of ‘trek' and ‘slog'.

trog
²
, trogg
n British

a simplistic, (literally or figuratively) lowbrowed person, someone of restricted intelligence or no social graces, a ‘Philistine' or ‘Neanderthal'. This shortening of ‘troglodyte' (a cave-dweller) was used in the armed forces in the early 1950s and particularly by jazz enthusiasts,
beatniks
and students in the late 1950s and early 1960s to describe those who were dull, boorish or out of touch. Since around 2000 in adolescent usage the term has denoted an unpleasant and/or unattractive female. Users have claimed it is a blend of
troll
and
dog
.

Trojan
n American

a condom. The word is a trademark name used generically in the USA in the same way as Durex in the UK.

troll
¹
vb
,
n British

(to take) a prowl, wander or
cruise
. This alternative form of ‘trawl' has existed since the 15th century. It acquired the sexual sense in the 1930s and was a vogue
gay
term of the 1960s.

‘Orton insisted the trolling fed his work; but it also fed Halliwell's rage.'
(John Lahr, preface to Joe Orton's Diaries, published 1986)

‘I don't just get married because I enjoy trolling down the aisle.'
(Joan Collins, TV talk show, 1988)

troll
²
n

1.
an unpleasant and/or unattractive person. The standard term, denoting a mythical monster or goblin, has been applied especially to females in UK and US usage since the 1990s.

2.
a malicious, anonymous online presence. As the
Guardian
newspaper commented in September 2011, ‘…technically speaking, a troll isn't someone who is merely offensive…They're people who purposefully drag an online conversation off-topic – often by being offensive, but sometimes just by being needlessly pedantic or bizarre'.

‘The boxer was so enraged with the tweets that he offered his followers a £1,000 reward if they could help him locate the culprit. Woodhouse's growing number of Twitter followers chipped in and managed to track down his troll.'
(
Guardian
, 12 March 2013)

trolleys, trollies
n pl British

underpants. A fairly rare public-school expression. It is of uncertain origin but may be related to the archaic ‘trolleybobs', a nursery version of trousers. (In her diary entry for 8 January 1934, Barbara Pym mentions buying trollies at Marks and Spencers.)

trollied, trolleyed
adj British

drunk. The term, recorded in 2001, may be derived from the phrase ‘off one's trolley' or from
trollies
in the sense of visible, undignified and/or comical under-pants.

trolling
n

behaving like an online
troll

tromp
adj British
attractive. The rare term of uncertain derivation (it might come from
trompin'
) was used in 2003 by rapper Dizzee Rascal.

trompin'
n

walking, marching or dancing exuberantly with an exaggerated stepping motion. The term combines tramp and stomp.

tronk
n British

a foolish, clumsy or contemptible person. A rare schoolchildren's and student's term, possibly related to the Australian synonym
tonk
.

troos, trews
n pl
trousers. The preferred term among many British teenagers and students since 2000.

troppo
adj Australian

unhinged, deranged, crazy. The word is an abbreviation of ‘tropical' and is usually heard in the phrase to ‘go troppo', originally referring to someone overcome by tropical heat but now generalised to mean something like
over the top
. The word originated among armed-service personnel in World War II.

trots, the
n British

an attack of diarrhoea. The expression, heard since World War I, evokes swift but controlled movement to the lavatory.

troub, troubs
n British See
trub

trouble (and strife)
n British

a
wife
. A piece of cockney rhyming slang which is still in (mainly jocular, ironic or self-conscious) use; it is now generally shortened simply to ‘trouble' by Londoners.

trough
vb British

to eat. A humorous middle- and upper-class verb evoking (but not necessarily involving) gluttony.

trounced
adj British

drunk. One of many synonyms in use among students since 2000.

trouser
¹
vb British

to pocket something. A humorous alternative term from the 1980s.

‘Strobes then insisted on accompanying Chancellor to the prize-giving in Milan, and trousered the cheque himself.'
(
Private Eye
magazine, 17 March 1989)

trouser
²
n British

a generic term for males as sex objects. A 1980s women's version of ‘(a bit of)
skirt
', satirising the ‘predatory' male expression.

trouser bandit
n British

a male homosexual. A humorous, though pejorative, euphemism, evoking the image of a predatory or promiscuous
gay
male. ‘Bum bandit' and
arse bandit
are alternative versions.

trouser snake
n

1.
the penis. A young person's joky euphemism adopted by adults; the full version is

one-eyed trouser snake
.

2.
a disreputable or reprehensible person. This sense of the expression was typically used in the 1980s by American girls as a term of disapproval applied to males, emphasising the treachery inspired by ‘snake' rather than the sexual aspect of the image.

trout
n See
old trout

trouting
n British See
out trouting

trout-pout
n British

the result of lip-enlargement injections. The term was given wide circulation by
media comments on the TV actress Lesley Ash's cosmetic enhancement in 2001.

trub
n British

trouble. A shortening used typically in middle-class badinage.

We've been in a spot of trub recently.

true-say, true-dat
exclamation

indications of agreement, acceptance, approval. From black speech used in, e.g., street-gang code and its imitations.

‘True-say, but what can you do about it? Nothing!'
(Recorded, contributor to
www.wassup.com
, November 2003)

trump
vb British

to
fart
. The term, popular since the late 1990s, is based on the noun
trumpet
.

trumpet
n British

a
fart
. A children's word which enjoyed a vogue in the late 1980s.

‘Lucy did a trumpet.'
(Recorded, 10-year-old boy, Devon, 1986)

trunk
¹
n

1.
American
the backside. By analogy with the trunk (UK: boot) of a car. The term has been popular since 2000, sometimes in the phrase ‘junk in the trunk', i.e. a ‘packed' or very prominent posterior.

2.
also
trunker
or
trunky
the penis. By analogy with either the trunk of a tree or an elephant's trunk.

Man, I slammed my trunk into her.
He gave her a trunky.

trunk
²
vb

to have sex (with), penetrate. Derived from the noun form, the usage was recorded in 2004.

He claims he trunked her.

trus'!
exclamation

a declaration of sincerity and/or a request for agreement. The shortening, roughly equivalent to ‘believe me!', was recorded in youth usage in the UK in 2010.

trust
¹
n British

money. The slang usage, possibly from trust-fund, has been in vogue since around 2000.

trust
²
vb British

to lend (money)

Trust me a Pavarotti, will you?

T.T.F.O.
phrase British

an item of doctor's slang, as written facetiously on a patient's medical notes. The letters stand for ‘told to fuck off'.

t-to-t ratio
n American

an expression from medical slang recorded in 2007, the letters stand for ‘tooth to tattoo ratio'. Supposedly the lower the ratio, the higher the likelihood of extreme intoxication and/or a severe or unusual motor vehicle accident.

tub
n

1a.
a boat

‘Can't this tub go any faster?'
(
Friday 13th part VI
, US film, 1986)

1b.
a car, truck, bus, etc.

2.
a ‘tub of lard'; a fat person. A widespread colloquialism.

tube
n

1. the Tube
the London Underground railway system, from the tubular construction of the tunnels. This nickname dates from the turn of the 20th century.

2.
the hollow formed by a breaking wave. A surfer's term from which the term of approbation,
tubular
, is derived.

3.
Australian
a can of beer. (
Tinnie
is a slightly later synonym.)

‘Alex Buzo, who is minder of the Australian language among his other activities, records that it is 20 years since he last heard beers referred to as tubes.'
(
Observer
magazine, 13 December 1987)

4. the tube
television, from the cathode ray-tube

5.
British
a person. A vogue word among teenagers in the late 1980s; it was a synonym for
dude
, although it sometimes had the added sense of someone foolish or gormless.

6.
British
a stupid, clumsy person. The term, which often refers to someone who is naïve and/or inept, was said in a 2004 posting on
Urban Dictionary
to be a Scottish shortening of the phrase
tube steak
. On the same site a 2005 posting claims it as American and derived from tuber.

‘I feel a bit of a tube.'
(Posting on
b3ta
website, 4 January 2012)

tube it
vb American

to fail an examination, test, task, etc. This common campus expression is based on the colloquialism ‘down the tubes' in the sense of lost or ruined

tube steak
n American
the penis. A euphemism heard in
hip
circles in the 1980s, from black street usage of the 1970s. It was originally a jocular term for a frankfurter sausage.

tubular
adj

an allpurpose term of teenage approbation, deriving from riding the
tube
as being the highest form of surfing experience. Like many 1960s surfing terms this expression (often intensified as ‘totally tubular') was adopted by
Valley Girls
in the later 1970s and subsequently became a vogue usage in international English in the 1980s.

tuchis
n American See
tush

tuck, tucker
n
food. The first version of the word is typical of British public-school vocabulary, the second Australian. Both date from the 19th century and probably derive from the verb to ‘tuck in(to)', which originally implied the humorous notion of tucking food surreptitiously into oneself or behind one's clothing.