Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (31 page)

‘“I can't handle the shit anymore”. “You're bush-league, that's why”.'
(
Pay Dirt
, US film, 1992)

business

1.
n
a hypodermic syringe. A drug user's euphemism.

2.
n
an act of defecation. To ‘do one's business' was a nursery expression epitomising Victorian notions of duty and hygiene.

3.
n
the business
British
a thrashing, a thorough dressing down or beating up

We gave him the business. He won't try that again.

4.
adj
the business
British
the very best, the acme of excellence

You should try some of this gear – it's the business.

busk it
vb British

to improvise. From the standard English ‘busker', referring to a wandering street musician. Busk it at first was a musician's, later a theatrical performer's, term, referring to improvisation (‘I don't know it, but if you hum a few bars I'll busk it'), but is now widely used in other forms of endeavour, such as business. The word ‘busk' seems to have originated in an 18th-century borrowing from a Latin language: the Spanish
buscar
, meaning to search or the archaic French
busquer
, meaning to cruise, etc.

If they don't accept our agenda we'll just have to busk it.

buss, buss out, bust out
vb

to express oneself, especially forcefully and/or publicly. The term, which can also be used transitively to mean show off, is fashionable in
hip hop
and
rap
culture.

‘Sometimes I act individually and buss out with my own lines [improvisations].'
(Recorded, contributor to
www.wassup.com
, November 2003)

‘Buss that jacket.'
(Recorded, London student, 2003)

buss juice, bust juice
vb British

to ejaculate. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded since 2000.

bust
¹
n

1.
an arrest, especially for possession of illicit drugs. An item of
hippy
jargon which originated in the early 1960s and which by the late 1980s had become a common enough colloquialism to be used in the written and broadcast media. In American

burner
n

street-gang and underworld usage the word already had the sense of ‘catch in the act' by the late 1950s.

‘The busts started to happen. People started to go to prison. People started to die. But by then you were too far in.'
(Female ex-drug addict,
Independent
, 17 July 1989)

2.
American
a spectacular achievement or successful coup. A teenage term of approbation of the late 1980s, coming from the jargon of basketball, where it means a good shot.

3.
a wild party or celebration

4a.
Australian
a break-in, burglary

4b.
a break-out, an escape from prison

bust
²
vb

1.
to arrest, especially for possession of illicit drugs. In the USA the word was being used in this sense by the 1950s.

‘And then I went and got busted, my old mother was disgusted. I'm never ever going to be trusted, by anybody anymore.'

(Lyrics to “Busted” by the Bonzo Dog Band, 1970)

‘What I say [is] if guys get busted in North Africa and end up in their shitty prisons they got to be dumb in the first place.'

(Letter to
Oz
magazine, June 1969)

2.
American
to demote. The word is used in this sense in armed-forces jargon, as in ‘busted down to sergeant'.

busta
n

a key term from the
rap
and
hip hop
lexicon, defined in 2000 as ‘a man who thinks he is the best but is in fact the opposite'

What a busta, I can't believe he thought he could hit on me!

busted
adj

1.
caught out

2.
ugly. Used in street-gang code and its imitations since around 2005.

Your face is like busted.

bust on (someone)
vb American

a.
to punish, attack, kill someone. An item of youth slang of the late 1980s. Christian Brando, son of the actor Marlon Brando, was reported by his sister Cheyenne to have said he was going to bust on her boyfriend, Dag Drollet, whom he was later convicted of shooting and killing.

b.
to criticise, harass
Quit bustin' on me, will you?
Her parents are always busting on her.

bus up
vb

to attack, beat up. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000. It is probably an Afro-Caribbean pronunciation of ‘bust up' or imitation thereof.

busy
See
get busy

but
n British

friend. Used in street-gang code and its imitations since around 2010. It may be an altered form of
buddy
.

butch
adj

a.
tough, strong and assertive. The term is now often used humorously or to express mild derision; it probably comes from ‘Butch' as a male nickname first heard at the end of the 19th century in the USA, which in turn probably derives from butcher.

b.
assertively masculine in behaviour and/or appearance. The term, typically applied disapprovingly or derisively, is used about heterosexual women, lesbians and
gay
men. During the 1950s the word had a narrower sense of a ‘masculine' (active) rather than a ‘feminine' (passive) partner in a homosexual relationship, or of a lesbian who behaved and dressed like a man; in this sense butch was also used as a noun.

butcher's
n British

a
look
. Nearly always in the phrases ‘have a butcher's' or ‘take a butcher's (at this)'. From the rhyming-slang expression ‘butcher's hook', which is at least eighty years old and is still heard in the unabbreviated form.

butch up
vb

to become more assertive, tougher or more masculine. The expression, heard since the early 1980s in Britain, is often used as an exhortation, normally to a man who is behaving in a weak or cowardly way. (The antonym is
wimp out
.)

butt
n

the backside, buttocks. In the USA, butt is the most common colloquial term for this part of the body. Although slightly vulgar and generally the monopoly of male speakers, butt, unlike
ass
, is permissible in ‘polite society' or broadcasts. It is rarely heard in Britain or Australia. Butt is historically related to ‘buttocks' and in British, Australian and American English is still used to denote the thick end of something, such as in the butt of a cue or a rifle, or simply the end, such as in a cigarette butt.

butta
adj British

a.
(of, e.g., a task) easy, painless

b.
(of a person) suave, seductive, ‘smooth' A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

butter
adj American

a.
attractive, beautiful, stylish

b.
lucky, fortunate An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

butterball, butterbutt
n American

a fat person, a
lard-ass

buttered
adj British

drunk. Heard on campus in 2010.

butterface
n American

a female with an attractive body but an unattractive face. The expression is a conflation of a comment such as ‘She's got a good figure, but her face is…'.

butters, butter
adj British

ugly. A term from black Caribbean usage that was adopted by UK adolescents from the mid-1990s. It is probably related to ‘buttocks'.

‘It's not surprising she got upset; they were calling out at her, “Hey, butters!”'
(Recorded, London schoolgirl, 1994)

buttfuck, butt-fuck
n American

a.
a male homosexual. A heterosexual term of abuse.

b.
a despicable or contemptible person Both senses of the term play on the idea of someone who will submit to anal intercourse.

buttie, butty
n British

a sandwich. From Liverpool working-class slang (a shortening of ‘buttered bread'). The term spread throughout Britain in the 1960s, largely through the influence of the ‘Mersey boom'.

a chip buttie

See also
buddy

buttinsky, buttinski
n American

someone who interferes, someone who ‘butts in'. A humorous imitation of a Yiddish or a Slavic surname. The jocular
-ski
suffix is popular among high-school and college students, for instance.

‘This is probably not any of my business, in fact I'm sure that it's not my business, and you're probably going to get very mad at me for being a buttinski, but I really couldn't live with myself if I didn't say something.'
(
Moonlighting
, US TV series, 1989)

butt-load(s)
n American See
ass-load(s)

buttmunch
n

a foolish, irritating individual. An Americanism also heard in the UK since 2000.

button
n

1a.
the clitoris. An obvious reference which has been recorded in English since 1879. It gave rise to the now archaic ‘buttonhole' for the vagina.

1b.
the chin. Most often heard in the phrase ‘right on the button', used of a punch that finds its target.

2.
a section of the peyote cactus resembling a button, ingested for its hallucinogenic effect

button it
vb

to shut up, keep quiet,
zip one's lip
. A shortening of
button one's lip
which is heard as a peremptory imperative.

button one's lip
vb

to shut up, keep quiet

butt out
vb American

to stop interfering, keep out, leave somewhere. Usually in the form of an instruction to remove oneself, butt out is a fairly mild, if brusque expression. The
butt
component is interesting in that it is probably inspired by ‘butt in', in which case it derives from ‘butt' meaning to strike or push with the head. (It is commonly assumed to derive from
butt
, meaning the backside.)

buttplug
n American

a slightly milder version of
buttfuck
. A term of abuse among schoolchildren.

‘Sit on this, buttplug!'
(
My Science Project
, US film, 1985)

butt-ugly
adj American

a stronger version of the colloquial ‘plug-ugly'

butt-wad
n

a foolish and/or contemptible person. The insult, originating in the USA, employs the widespread combining form
-wad
.

buy it
vb

to die or meet disaster. A euphemism often ascribed to airforce pilots in war comics and films. It may derive from the expression to buy or pay dearly (i.e. with one's life) or may be a shortening of the American
buy the farm
.

I'm sorry, Madge, but Archie's bought it.

buy the farm
vb American

to die. An expression which is said to have originated with barnstorming or fighter pilots. The farm in question is either a ‘worm farm' (i.e. a grave) or an ironic reference
to a symbol of retirement (if a pilot survived he would often literally buy a farm).

buzz
¹
n

1.
a rumour. A usage now so widespread as to be a colloquialism rather than slang.

2.
a pleasurable sensation, stimulation. In the jargon of drug users, especially the
beats
and later the
hippies
, the word referred to a surge of lightheadedness, a
rush
or
high
. It sometimes also refers to the use of alcohol.

buzz
²
vb

1.
British
to become intoxicated from sniffing solvents. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England. (
Huff
is an American synonym.)

2.
to experience a sense of exhilaration, a
rush
or
high

buzz-crusher
n American

a killjoy or ‘wet blanket'. A teenage vogue term of 1988.

buzzed, buzzing
adj

excited, exhilarated, stimulated

buzzin'
adj

1a. cool, hip