Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (22 page)

The term boff came to temporary prominence in Britain in 1974 when newspapers reported it as current among the upper-class set of which Lord Lucan (fugitive and alleged murderer) was a member. This gentle-sounding word, with its suggestions of ‘puff', ‘buff' and ‘buffer', next appeared as a convenient euphemism employed in US TV series, such as
Soap
, of the late 1970s and 1980s, where verisimilitude would demand a more brusque alternative. It is unclear whether the word is American or British in origin or a simultaneous coinage. It may derive from its nursery sense of ‘to hit'.

boff
²
n

1.
British
the backside, buttocks

‘A kick up the boff.'
(
Only Fools and Horses
, British TV comedy series, 1989)

2a.
American
a successful joke

2b.
American
a hearty laugh Both senses of the word are part of the jargon of the entertainment industry and are probably imitative of an explosive chortle, or else like ‘biff' denote a ‘hit'.

3.
British
a
swot
. The word is probably a shortening of the colloquial ‘boffin'.

‘Some took so much pride in never being seen with a book, they had virtual slaves carry their books to and from school…the
worst thing you could be was a “boff” or an “anorak”.'
(
Independent
, 17 November 1996)

4.
British
a sweet. In this sense the word has been used by schoolchildren since 2000.

Crash me some boffs
.

boff
³
adj American

a variant of the vogue term
buff

‘You sure look boff to me.'
(
California Man
, US film, 1992)

boffo
adj American

excellent, first-rate. A piece of jargon from the entertainment world (derived by most experts from ‘box-office') which has entered popular journalese.

boffola
adj
,
n American

an uproarious joke or laugh. The word is a form of
boff
with the Spanish
-ola
suffix denoting large-scale or extra.

bog
n British

a mess, disaster. The word occurs in the phrase ‘make a bog of (something)', popular in the 1980s.

bog(s)
n British

a toilet. A widespread vulgar term, probably coined by students or servicemen in the 19th century in the form of ‘boghouse' to describe foul communal lavatories. The term is used in Australia, too.

‘“I ran into Shane,” said Spider Stacey, “at a Ramones gig at the Roundhouse. He was standing on top of the bog, for some reason.”'
(
Evening Standard
, 17 March 1988)

bog (up)
vb British

a.
to make a mess of, spoil. Usually heard in the form ‘bog it' or ‘bog it up'. A term especially popular in public schools and the armed forces.

b.
to make the end of a cigarette or
joint
wet and mushy while smoking it

bog-all
n British

a synonym for
fuck-all
,
bugger-all
, ‘naffall', etc.

bogan
n Australian

a member of a social group first identified by journalists in the 1970s, consisting of uneducated working-class young adults, roughly the equivalents of US
trailer trash
and the more recent UK
chavs

‘Identifying a Bogan is not difficult. Males sport a distinctive hair growth called a “mullet”…Female Bogans are entrusted with the raising of multiple offspring.'
(
www.effect.net.au
, September 2004)

bogart
vb

to monopolise or fail to pass on a
joint
or cigarette during communal smoking. This popular
hippy
term of the late 1960s was prompted by the actor Humphrey Bogart's habit in films of keeping a cigarette in his mouth for long periods. The verb originated in the USA and quickly spread to other English-speaking areas.

‘Don't Bogart that Joint.'
(Song title, The Holy Modal Rounders, featured on the soundtrack to the film
Easy Rider
, 1969)

bogey
n

1.
British
a police officer. Probably from the notion of the ‘bogey man'.

2.
an enemy aircraft or other enemy presence; a service term from the notion of the ‘bogey man'

3.
British
a piece of mucus from the nose

bogging, boggin'
adj British

stinking, filthy, disgusting. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England, and is probably based on
bog
in the sense of toilet.

‘My jeans are just boggin'.'
(Singer Sharleen Spiteri, 2000)

boggo
adj
,
n British

standard, ordinary (merchandise). This variation of the colloquial ‘bog-standard' has been recorded among adult speakers since the 1990s.

‘It makes me laugh all this fuss in the papers about Porsches and Mercs being what we're after – we're coming for your boggo stuff.'
(Car thief, quoted in the
AA Magazine
, 1995)

bog in
vb Australian

to begin (a meal), to eat with relish. A vulgar alternative form of the colloquial ‘tuck in'.

bog off
vb British

to leave, go away. Nearly always used as an aggressive exclamation or instruction. A vulgar term that existed in armed-service use before becoming a vogue successor to
naff off
around 1980. In spite of the brusque nature, the phrase is not taboo and is used by women.

‘If he's going to treat her like that he can just bog off.'
(Recorded, secretary, York, 1981)

bog-roll
n British

a.
a toilet roll

b.
paperwork or a computer printout

bog-trotter
n British

an Irish person. A pejorative term heard since the 17th century. The alternative form ‘bog-hopper' is sometimes used in the USA.

bogue
adj American

1.
suffering from drug withdrawal. An obsolescent term of unknown origin from the jargon of narcotics addicts.

2a.
worthless, counterfeit. From underworld usage.

2b.
unpleasant, insincere. An adolescent term.

2c.
inferior, ersatz. A vogue term among adolescents, it is a shortening, like the two preceding senses, of
bogus
, itself a key item of fashionable youth slang.

bog-up
n British

a mess, a badly improvised job. A more vulgar form of ‘botch-up' and
bodge-up
.

bogus
adj American

unpleasant, unacceptable. The standard meaning of bogus (the word is said to have been the name of a counterfeiting machine) was adapted in adolescent usage to become an allpurpose vogue term of disapproval.

‘Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey'
(Title of US film, 1991)

bog-wagon
n Australian

a private van, particularly one which has been customised and/or decorated inside. Like
shaggin' wagon
, it sometimes denotes a vehicle equipped for seduction.

BOHICA
phrase

an ironic exhortation or invitation to submit to humiliation, usually by a superior, or oppressive organisation. The initials, used in office slang and originating in the USA, stand for ‘bend over, here it comes again'.

boho
adj

bohemian, often in the sense of scruffy and/or irresponsible. This Americanism was fashionable from the late 1980s among London journalists.

bohunk
n American

an East European immigrant. This old term deriving from Bohemian/Hungarian is offensive and occasionally still heard. It is synonymous with ‘oaf'.

boiler
n British

a woman. A contemptuous, derogatory term, implying a lack of both attractiveness and intelligence, commonly used by young working-class males. The phrase ‘dodgy boiler' suggests the extra possibility of sexually transmitted diseases. The word in this sense originated pre-World War II when it referred to an older woman with the dimensions and explosive attributes of the contraption. An alternative derivation is from ‘boiler' as used to denote a tough or scrawny chicken.

boiling the ocean
phrase

carrying out a very onerous task for little or no result. A long-standing item of workplace slang.

boink
vb American

to have sex (with),
fuck
. A 1980s variation of
bonk
, sufficiently inoffensive to be used in TV series such as
Moonlighting
.

bokoo
¹
adj American

very. This facetious adoption of the French
beaucoup
(‘much' or ‘many') probably originated in black bebop or white Cajun usage, but by the 1990s was fashionable among
hip hop
aficionados and white adolescents. (Some authorities claim alternatively that it was adopted by US servicemen from the French-speaking Vietnamese. The same French word appeared in British slang after World War I in the form ‘boko', now obsolete.).

The program was, like, bokoo boring
.

bokoo
²
n American

a large quantity or a number of items. The noun form is probably less common than the adjectival.

She said how much did you want and I said, bokoo
.

bold
adj British

flamboyant, daringly fashionable. A vogue word of the mid-1960s, originating as a
camp
code word for a fashionable or overt
gay
. The word was adopted by
mods
as a term of approbation in 1965 and was used as the name of a chain of men's boutiques.

bolid
n British

hashish. The word is an alteration of the earlier
solid
, in use among students in the south of England in 2002.

bollers
n British

money. The term is probably a humorous alteration of dollars, perhaps influenced by
boyz
. It may mean simply money or a large quantity of money, as in ‘He's got bollers'. The term was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994.

bollixed, bollixed-up
adj

ruined, messed up. A derivation of
bollocks
which, in American English, is used as a less offensive version of ‘ball(s)ed-up'.

bollock
¹
n British

a ball (in the sense of a dance). A
Sloane Ranger
witticism said quite unselfconsciously by girls as well as boys, Hunt bollocks and Charity bollocks being regular features in the annual social calendar.

bollock
²
vb British

to chastise, severely scold or dress down. The word has been used in this way since the early years of the 20th century.

bollocking
n British

a severe telling-off, chastisement or dressing-down

‘He was all set for giving me a bollocking for parking where I shouldn't.'
(
Guardian
, 12 December 1987)

bollock-naked
adj British

completely nude. A more vehement version is ‘stark bollock-naked'. In spite of its etymology, the expression may on occasion refer to women.

bollocks

1.
n pl
the testicles. A version of this word has existed since Anglo-Saxon times; in Old English it was
bealluc
, a diminutive or familiar elaboration of
bula
, meaning ball. For much of its existence the word, usually spelled ‘ballocks', was standard (if coarse) English.

2.
n pl British
rubbish, nonsense. Often used as an exclamation or in expressing derision or dismissal such as ‘a load of (old) bollocks', this sense of the term has existed since the early 20th century.

‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.'
(Title of LP, 1977)

See also
bollock
¹

3.
n
,
adj
the bollocks
British
(something) excellent. A shortened form of
the dog's bollocks
, used by younger speakers since around 2000.

bollocksed
adj British

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

bollocky
adj Australian

a variant form of
bollock-naked

bollox, bollocks
adj British

bad. An adjectival form of the earlier noun, used by younger speakers since 2000.

bolt
vb American

to leave, go away. A
Valley Girl
and teenagers' expression usually denoting a leisurely departure.