Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (170 page)

a successful sexual encounter. A euphemism employed by university students since 2000. A synonym is
action gagnée
.

wino
n

an alcoholic or habitual drunk. A term particularly applied to vagrants. (In the USA cheap domestic wine is the standard means of intoxication for tramps and poor alcoholics.)

wipe
vb

1.
to kill or destroy. A racier version of the standard phrase ‘wipe out'.

2.
Australian
to snub, ignore or
blank (someone)
. This usage was prevalent in the 1950s.

3.
American
to be repellent, inferior or worthless. A more recent synonym of
suck
and
blow
, in use principally among adolescent speakers.

‘This planet both wipes and sucks – in that order.'
(
Third Rock From the Sun
, US TV comedy, 1995)

wiped out
adj

1a.
exhausted

1b.
intoxicated by drink or drugs

2.
devastated, ruined, defeated

These senses of the phrase are all based on the standard meaning of annihilate or massacre.

wipe out
vb

a.
to fall off a board or be capsized by a wave. A surfer's term.

b.
to fail, particularly in a decisive and/or spectacular way

The second sense is a transference of the first, which came to prominence during the surfing craze of the early 1960s.

wipe-out
n

a failure, particularly a sudden and/or spectacular one

wired
adj

1.
tense, edgy, manic. The word combines the notion of highly strung with that of electrified. It arose among amphetamine (and later cocaine) users in the 1970s, originally in American speech. The word was subsequently adopted in the USA in a non-drug context to denote someone over-stimulated or anxious.

‘Frankie man you're all wired, you're all pumped up – you know you're not thinking straight.'
(
Satisfaction
, US film, 1988)

2.
American
well-connected, integrated in a social or information network

wiseacre
n American

a know-all, insolent or smug person. The word is an anglicisation of the Dutch
wijssegger
(literally ‘wise-sayer', originally meaning soothsayer).

wiseass
vb
,
n American

(to behave as) a know-all, an irritatingly smug or insolent person. This vulgar version of ‘wise-guy' has been heard since the early 20th century. (The word wise has flourished in American speech because of reinforcement from the synonymous Dutch
wijs
and the German
weise
.)

wiseguy
n American

a member of a mafia family or organised crime syndicate. This item of East Coast US criminal jargon was made famous by Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s.

‘It was a glorious time. There were wise-guys everywhere.'
(
GoodFellas
, US film, 1990)

wisenheimer
n American

an alternative spelling of
weisenheimer

witches' knickers
n pl

discarded plastic bags blown on to trees, bushes, fences, etc. The term, from the resemblance to underwear hung out to dry, is heard in the UK and Ireland

with-it
adj

fashionable. A vogue term of the early to mid-1960s which, in its sense of stylish or up-to-date, is still used by the middle-aged in particular, but now sounds dated. It derived from the phrase ‘get with it', an essential item of pre-World War II
jive talk
and post-war
beatnik
parlance. In its sub-sense of ‘on the ball' or in touch with events, the phrase may be used by speakers of all ages.

‘The “Galerie 55”… has a madly with-it cabaret of saucy “chansons paillardes”.'
(
About Town
magazine, September 1961)

witten
n British

an alternative term for
dingleberry

wizz
¹
, whizz
n British

amphetamine sulphate,
speed
. The term, which dates from the later 1970s, is used by the drug abusers themselves.

wizz
²
vb American

to urinate. An echoic term.

‘What can I do?
Wizz in one of the empty beer bottles in the back.'
(
Dumb and Dumber
, US film, 1994)

wob
n British

a piece, chunk, lump. A term in mainly middle-class usage since the 1980s. It is a coinage presumably inspired by
wodge
, ‘gob(bet)', ‘knob', etc.

wobblefats, wabblefats
n American

an obese person. A term of abuse heard mainly among adolescents.

wobble off
vb British

to leave, depart. The term, which does not necessarily imply moving slowly or unsteadily, was recorded in 1999.

Why don't you wobble off and get the car?

wobbler, wobbly
n British

a bout of erratic, neurotic or extreme behaviour. The term usually occurs in the phrase
throw a wobbly/wobbler
. The wobbling in question is probably the unsteadiness or trembling of a disturbed or uncontrolled subject and the usage may have arisen among medical or psychiatric personnel. The word has been widespread since about 1980.

wobbly eggs
n pl British

temazepam tablets, in the parlance of young drug users in the 1990s. The gelatin-covered capsules of a tranquilliser are roughly ovoid, and both they and their users can be said to wobble.

wodge, wadge
n

1.
British
a lump or slice. The word is a blend of ‘wad' and ‘wedge' and has been in use since at least the mid-19th century.

2.
money. In this sense, recorded in 2002, the word is probably a variant from of
wedge
.

wog
n

1.
British
a foreigner. The word was first used to refer to dark-skinned inhabitants of other countries and is still usually employed in this sense. First recorded in the late 19th century, some people believe the term is derived from the initials for ‘Westernised Wily Oriental Gentleman', a condescending euphemism supposedly applied to Indians or Arabs working for the British colonial authorities. An equally plausible source is the word ‘golliwog' (originally ‘golliwogg'), denoting a black doll with curly hair; a character invented by the children's writer Bertha Upton in the late Victorian era. The word is common in Australia and not unknown in the USA.

‘The only reason I was opposed to them calling me a wog was because I realise that in this country the word is used adversely against dark-skinned people.'
(Marsha Hunt,
Oz
magazine, July 1969)

2. the wog
Australian
an alternative version of
wog gut

wog gut
n

an upset stomach, diarrhoea, a
gyppy tummy
. A World War II armed-services term surviving mainly in Australian usage, also in the form ‘the wog'.

wok
¹
vb

to have sex (with), penetrate. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

wok
²
n British See
chimney-wok

wokking
n

smoking
crack

wolf
n

a predatory male. This word has been used since the early 1900s in the USA to denote an aggressive womaniser and, in the
gay
and criminal subculture, an aggressive, promiscuous and/or violent male homosexual. Since the 1960s the
heterosexual sense has been adopted in other English-speaking areas.

‘A self confessed wolf, with the morals of a tom-cat.'
(The judge in the Argyll divorce case, speaking in March 1963)

womba
n British

an alternative spelling of
wamba

wombat
n

1.
American
an eccentric and/or grotesque person. The name of the bear-like Australian marsupial has been used in this way since the late 1970s, probably because of the animal's exoticism and comic-sounding name.

2.
an incompetent, ineffectual and/or irritating person. In internet and office slang the term is an acronym, the letters standing for ‘waste of money, bandwidth (or brains) and time'.

womble
n British

a foolish, clumsy or unfortunate person. Since the appearance of the books and television puppets of the same name in the early 1970s, the word has been appropriated, particularly by schoolchildren, to refer to someone considered feeble, contemptible or a misfit.
Gonk
and
muppet
, both names of grotesque creatures, have been used with the same connotations.

‘She hangs around with wombles.'
(Recorded, schoolgirl, London, 1986)

wombled
adj British

drunk. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

wonga, wong
n British

money. A common expression since the 1990s (in the 1980s
wamba
was probably more widespread), this may derive from the 19th century use of the Romany word
wongar
, which literally denotes ‘coal', to signify money in the argot of travellers, peddlers, etc.

wonk
n American

a
swot
, in
preppie
and high-school jargon. The word is probably an arbitrary coinage, although it may possibly derive from the British taboo term
wanker
.

woo, wooshious
adj

excellent. A vogue term of 2003 and 2004.

wood
n

1.
American
a shortened form of
pecker-wood

2.
British
an erection, as in
get wood

wooden
adj British

‘incredibly
wafty
': part of ‘Lamby's lingo', the slang promoted by BBC 6 radio presenter George Lamb in 2009

My dad's old mobile phone is well wooden.

woodentop
n British

a uniformed police officer. A term of mild derision used by plain-clothes detectives and disseminated through TV police shows. The Woodentops were a family of puppets featured on British children's television in the 1950s. There is also an obvious parallel with ‘woodenhead', meaning a fool.

‘You'd better get your uniform cleaned – you'll be down among the woodentops next week.'
(
Rockcliffe's Babies
, British TV police series, 1989)

woodie, woody
n American

1a.
an American estate car or station wagon. Wooden exterior trim was a feature of the models manufactured in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

1b.
any vehicle used by a surfer for transporting people and boards to the beach. Old or customised estate cars were originally favoured for this purpose.

‘I've got a 34 wagon, and we call it a woodie/You know, it's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goodie/Well it ain't got a back seat or a rear window/But it still gets me where I want to go.'
(
Surf City
written by Jan Berry and Brian Wilson, recorded by Jan and Dean, 1963)

2.
an erection. The same notion is conveyed by the British expression
get wood
.

woof
¹
n British

an attractive woman. The word, posted on the internet as an item of new slang in March 1997 by
Bodge World
, may be a variant form of
oof
.

woof
²
, woofter
n British

variant forms of
poof
and
poofter
heard since the mid-1970s

woof (one's custard)
vb

to vomit. The word is echoic (in colloquial usage it may also describe ‘wolfing down' food).

woofie, woofy
n American

(someone who is) stylish, in the know. The word is probably somehow related to the black slang concept of ‘woofing' (itself derived either from the imitation of a dog's bark or from ‘wolf'), as used to describe
someone who is behaving in a boastful or intimidating manner.

wool
n American

1.
the female pubic hair

2.
women considered as potential sexual partners. Used in this sense the term is a vulgarism, particularly among middle-aged males.

She sure is a good-looking wool.

woop
adj See
whoop

woopsie
n British

an alternative spelling of
whoopsy