Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (171 page)

Woop-woop
n Australian

a very remote region. A synonym for ‘the back of beyond' or ‘the middle of nowhere', also expressed as (beyond the)
black stump
. The term was first recorded in the 1920s and was probably an imitation of a native Australian name.

wop
n

an Italian. This derogatory term originating in the USA is now common in all English-speaking areas. The word was first applied to young dandified ne'er-do-wells, thugs or pimps in New York's Little Italy in the first decade of the 20th century. It derives from the Sicilian dialect term
guappo
, itself from the Spanish
guapo
, meaning handsome.

‘“At our last New Year's Eve party, we had 65 wops, and five Brits,” says Maro.
“They behaved atrociously, all huddled up in a corner.”'
(Maro Gorky,
Harper's and Queen
magazine, November 1989)

word!, word up!
exclamation

an allpurpose term of agreement, solidarity, greeting, etc. (inspired by ‘word of honour' or ‘the good word'), which appeared first in black street culture of the late 1980s and subsequently in
rap
lyrics, where it was used as a form of punctuation. Someone asking ‘word up?' is making the informal greeting ‘How are you today and what's happening, my friend?' In the UK
The Word
was adopted first as the title of a radio programme on the station Kiss FM and then for a controversial TV youth programme of the early 1990s.

‘What do you think?'
‘Word'.
‘Enjoying wide usage this winter is my favourite word “Word”, which formerly had the sense of “listen” (as in “Word up, man, you be illin'”).'
(Charles Maclean,
Evening Standard
, 22 January 1987)

wordhole
n American

the mouth.
Pie-hole
and
hum-hole
are synonyms.

word up
vb American

to speak out, tell the truth, say something meaningful. A street slang expression from the early 1980s, originating in black speech.

worked
adj American

tired. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

working girl
n

a prostitute. A euphemism in use among prostitutes themselves as well as police officers,
punters
, etc.

‘He said that he'd just met her in a hotel, but I'm pretty sure that she's a working girl.'
(Recorded, financial advisor, London, August 2001)

works
n

a hypodermic syringe, in the language of
junkies
. The term may also apply to the other paraphernalia of drug-taking, but usually specifies the means of injection.

work the oracle
vb British

to invent an oral statement of guilt on the part of a suspect. A term from police jargon (synonymous with ‘verbal').

‘I wondered if his return was a consequence of his reluctance to verbal, to “work the oracle” as it is sometimes called…'
(
Inside the British Police
, Simon Holdaway, 1983)

worst, the
n

1.
something considered contemptible, pitiful, miserable, inferior. A straightforward application of the standard word in use among American teenagers and others.

God, that movie – it's the worst!

2.
something excellent, admirable, superlative. This sense of the word is used by analogy with
bad
in its black street and youth culture sense of good. The worst was used in this sense by adolescents in the 1980s.

wowler
n British

an alternative form of
howler

wowser, wowzer
n Australian

a spoilsport, puritan or ‘wet blanket'. A word which has been recorded in American usage, but not in Britain; wowser originated in the late 19th century and is of uncertain origin. Most suggested etymologies refer to ‘wow' as a roar or bark of
disapproval or an exclamation of shocked surprise.

wrap
n

a portion of a drug such as an amphetamine,
ecstasy
or
crack
. Measured amounts of the drug are wrapped in paper or tinfoil for sale to consumers. This term has been in use in Britain from 1989.

wreckaged
adj British

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

wrecked
adj

intoxicated by drink or drugs. A coinage which parallels such dramatic usages as
smashed, bombed, blitzed, destroyed
, etc.

wrinkly, wrinklie
n
,
adj

(a person who is) old. A popular term among adolescents since around 1980, the word is often used of (middle-aged and elderly) parents. Synonyms are
dusty, crumbly
and
crinkly
.

wrong
n British

a foolish, unfortunate or unpleasant person, a misfit. In use among adolescents since 2000.

wrongo
n American

the equivalent of the British
wrong 'un
. A fairly rare term.

wrong 'un
n British

1.
a criminal, ne'er-do-well or other undesirable character

2.
something to be avoided, a nuisance.

The term has been a common working-class colloquialism since the later 19th century.

WTF
exclamation

an expression of incredulity, outrage, indignation

The initials of ‘what the
fuck
?!' may be written and spoken.

wullong
n British

a very large penis. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

Compare
bullong

wuss
n American

a weak, feeble person and, by extension, a dupe. A word used by college students and young people from the 1960s and probably inspired by ‘puss', ‘pussy' or ‘pussy-wussy', all used as terms of endearment to a kitten.

wussy
n American

a variation (and probably the origin) of the more common
wuss

‘Come on, toxic waste won't kill you. Don't be such a wussy.'
(
Armed and Dangerous
, US film, 1986)

wu-wu, woo-woo
n American

the female genitals. An imitation nursery euphemism in adult use.

‘You might have to show your wu-wu.'
(Hollywood agent quoted in ITV documentary,
Hollywood Women
, December 1993)

wuzzock
n British

a version of
wazzock

wylin'
n

the term was defined by a UK adolescent in 2002 as follows: ‘…behaving very badly, drinking too much and shooting people! Hard-livin' R 'n' B types would go out wylin''. It is almost certainly the same word as the
wilding
of the 1980s.

X
n

1.
a kiss. A teenagers' term, from the use of the letter x to symbolise a kiss at the end of a letter. The word is used in phrases such as ‘give us an x' or, as an affectionate exclamation, ‘x, x, x!'.

2.
the drug
ecstasy

x-out
vb

a.
to cross out, cancel

b.
to kill, eliminate,
rub out

(The phrase is pronounced ‘ecks-out'.)

x-rated
adj

a.
salacious, taboo, extremely daring or pornographic. Often used nowadays with at least a degree of irony, the expression is an extension of the categorisation applied to films deemed suitable only for those over 18.

We had this real x-rated date
!

b.
terrifying, horrifying, dreadful. A second sense inspired by the term's application to horror films.

She's got this x-rated boyfriend.

xtc
n

an alternative spelling of
ecstasy
(the amphetamine-based disinhibiting drug), in vogue in the late 1980s

yaas
exclamation See

yass yack
vb
,
n See
yak

yacka, yacker
n See
yakka

yackers
n British

money. A variation on
ackers
, in mainly working-class usage.

yaffling irons, yaffling spanners
n pl British

cutlery such as knives, forks and spoons as used at the table. The humorous phrase is widespread in the armed forces and derives from the archaic dialect term
yaffle
, probably imitative in origin, meaning to consume or eat voraciously.

Grab your yaffling irons and let's get scrumming!

yah, yaah
n
,
adj British

(someone who is) ex-public school, a
hooray
. The term, particularly popular in Edinburgh since the early 1990s, derives from the class's characteristic drawling of the word ‘yes'.
Rah
is a synonym.

yahoo
n

a lout, oaf. The word, imitating a wild shout, was used by Jonathan Swift in
Gulliver's Travels
as the name of a race of brutish humans. The modern usage varies slightly in the English-speaking countries. In Britain the word often denotes a boisterous, inconsiderate youth, and is used of
hoorays
, students, etc.; in Australia the word generally equates with
yob
; while in the USA the word may depict a stupid and/or coarse person.

yah-yo
n American

cocaine, in the street language of the late 1990s. It was included in so-called
Ebonics
, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996.
yak, yack

1.
vb
,
n
(to indulge in) incessant talk, idle chatter. The word imitates the sound of monotonous, grating and/or inane speech. Nowadays variants of the verb form such as ‘yak away' or ‘yak on' are often preferred.

‘How much longer are you going to be yakking into that damn phone? We're late.'
(Recorded, middle-class woman, Bristol, 1989)

2.
n
a laugh, joke or instance of humour.
Yok
is an alternative form, favoured in fashionable journalism.

3.
n
the yak
American
cognac, brandy. The use of the term reflects a vogue for expensive cognacs among US
rap
and
hip hop
stars, such as Busta Rhymes and Puff Daddy, from 2002.

yakka, yacka, yacker
n Australian

work. The word is a native Aboriginal proper name.

yakkety-yak
vb
,
n

(to indulge in) incessant talk, idle chatter. An elaborated form of
yak
heard especially
in the USA and enshrined in the pop song of the same name (written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and a worldwide hit for the Coasters in the late 1950s). The term often denotes gossip as well as chatter or talk.

ya mamma, ya mam
exclamation

defined by a UK teenager in 2004 as ‘a way to diss someone or to answer an insult'

yammer
vb

a.
to wail, complain or jabber fearfully

b.
to talk or shout insistently

Yammer is probably a modern descendant of an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning ‘to murmur or lament'. Its use is reinforced by the influence of words like yell and stammer and, in the USA, by the similarity to the German and Dutch
jammeren
, which means to whine or lament and derives from the same Old Germanic root as the English cognate.

yang
n American

the penis. This term may be an alteration of the more established
whang
, influenced by the verb to ‘yank', or is perhaps a shortened form of the post-1970s expression
yinyang
(itself possibly containing the Chinese
yang
, meaning masculine principle).

‘Hanging around toilets waiting for some poor guy to reach for a cop's yang by mistake.'
(
The Switch
, Elmore Leonard, 1978)

yangyang
n American

a variant form of
yinyang

yank (off)
vb

(of a man) to masturbate. A fairly rare but geographically widespread term.

yank (someone around/someone's chain)
vb American

to mislead, deceive, harass or irritate someone. The image on which the expression is based is that of a chained or leashed animal or prisoner being thoughtlessly or maliciously jerked about or led in different directions. (Phrases commencing with
jerk
are used in the same way.)

Yank, Yankee
n