Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (37 page)

a chicken. This is an alternative pronunciation of an old dialect term, imitating the clucking of hens, which gives
chuck
in British English.

‘I hope your chooks turn to emus and kick down your dunnee.'
(Rural Australian curse)

choom
n Australian

an English person. Now usually pejorative, the term seems to have appeared during World War I and was probably an imitation of the northern English pronunciation of ‘chum'.

choong
¹
, chung
n Australian

a Chinese person. A derogatory racist term which may be an imitation of Oriental speech or a deformation of
chink
or
jungle bunny
.

choong
²
, chung, chong
adj British

attractive, excellent. An important vogue word in multiethnic youth slang since the beginning of the noughties decade, it first typically referred to physically attractive individuals, operating as a synonym of
buff
and
fit
, later being generalised as an allpurpose term of approval. Like its other synonym,
peng
, the word probably originated among drug users as an adjective referring to a strong strain of marihuana or the extreme state of intoxication resulting from smoking it.

One chung fone
Man, dat Kellee is bare choong, bruv.

choongting
n British

someone or something attractive, excellent, admirable, from the adjective
choong
and (faux-) Jamaican
ting

choot, chut
n

the vagina. The terms derive from Hindi
chooth
or may be alterations of the standard word
chute
.

chop
¹
n

a cut-down, customised motorcycle. A shortening of
chopper 2a
.

‘Sarah belongs to the distinctly laid back, Harley-Davidson inclined “lifestyle” bikers. Soon she will be appearing on a customised 550 cut-down “chop”.'
(
Independent
, 6 April 1988)

chop
²
vb

a.
to attempt to seduce

That guy was chopping me all evening.

b.
to succeed in seducing,
pull

Man, I chopped her at last.

c.
to have sex

I just want to chop.

In all these senses the term has been used, mainly by males, since around 2000.

chopper
n

1.
a helicopter. This was probably originally a children's version of the longer word, reinforced by the sound and scything action of the rotor blades. It was adopted by adults in World War II.

2a.
a customised motorcycle, usually one having high
ape-hangers
and lengthened front forks, as ridden by Hell's Angels. It is derived from ‘chopped hog' or chopped (meaning cut down, altered). Nowadays it is often shortened to
chop
.

3.
British
the penis. A working-class vulgarism dating from at least the 1940s and still heard.

choppers
n pl

the teeth. A lighthearted term used all over the English-speaking world, often referring to false teeth.

a new set of choppers

chops
¹
n

the mouth or jaws. The word has been heard since the 18th century, before which it was usually in the form ‘chaps', referring to the jaws of animals.

chops
²
vb British

to talk too much or to cheek. In playground usage.

chop shop
n American

a customising workshop for cars or motorcycles. To
chop
in this case means to cut down or alter.

chopsy
adj British

garrulous, inclined to talk out of turn, argumentative,
mouthy
. From the use of
chops
to designate the mouth or jaws.

‘Spurs have turned into a really chopsy team since Venables took over.'
(Recorded, Welsh football supporter, London, 1989)

chore
¹
vb British

to steal. The term, used typically by travellers,
chavs, townies
, and other speakers particularly in rural areas of the UK, is a Romany word, probably originally from Urdu.

chore
²
n British

a thief. The noun probably postdates the verb form.

choredy
adj British

stolen, from the verb
chore

chow
n

1.
food. The word is about a century old and derives either from the Far Eastern pidgin English term ‘chowchow', meaning a mixture, or from
jiao(ze)
(pronounced ‘jowzer'), which is Mandarin Chinese for a dumpling.

2.
a Chinese person. The term is usually used derogatively.

3.
British
a vulgar person. This is a social designation possibly based on the greeting/farewell ciao! It was defined as a ‘person who wears lots of gold and speaks with an almost cockney/Essex accent'.

chow down
vb American

to eat, sit down to a meal, ‘tuck in'. From

chow
meaning food.

‘While we're here let's chow down, hey?'
(
Real Men
, US film, 1987)

Christian Slater
adj British

later
. The rhyming slang borrows the name of the Hollywood actor.

Christmas!
exclamation

an inoffensive euphemism for Christ, mainly used by British and Australian speakers

Christmas-crackered
adj British

exhausted, worn out. Rhyming slang for
knackered
; a less common version than
cream-crackered
.

chrome
n American

a gun. A term from the argot of street gangs.

chrome-dome
n

a bald person. A humorous derogatory term referring to the polished sheen of a hairless head. In their 1977 book,
The Boy Looked at Johnny
, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons consistently referred to the balding musician Brian Eno as a chrome-dome.

chronic, cronic, kronik
adj American

excellent, powerful. One of many appropriations of negative words as vogue terms of approbation in adolescent speech, such as
bad, wicked, brutal
, etc. Chronic appeared in the late 1990s.

Wow, this sure is some chronic blow.
‘Try some of this cake – it's chronic.'
(Recorded, London student, 2003)

chubbette
n

a ‘well-built' or shapely young woman. A vogue term of the early 1980s among some American and British speakers.

chubby
n American

an erection. An item of teenage slang often heard in the phrase ‘crack/pop a chubby'. It may derive from the earlier synonym

crack a fat
.

‘Hi boys, don't pop a chubby on our account.'
(
Meet the Applegates
, US film, 1991)

chuck
¹
n

a term of endearment literally meaning chicken in northern English speech. It was originally a rural dialect term imitating the sound of clucking (
chook
in modern Australian English).

chuck
²
vb

1.
to vomit. A moderately respectable euphemism probably abbreviated from the more common
chuck up
.

2.
to throw out; specifically in police and underworld jargon to reject (an appeal), dismiss (a case) or acquit (a defendant)

3.
British
to stop, desist. In this sense the word has been used particularly in working-class slang of the north of England.

‘Chuck hassling me, will ya!'
(
Your Cheating Heart
, British TV drama, 1990)

4.
to eat excessively. In this case the verb is synonymous with ‘chuck out' or
pig out
.

5.
to
fuck
. The variant form is used euphemistically as an exclamation or intensifier.

‘They say it is, is it chuck!'
(Gary Crowley,
The Beat
, British TV music programme, 25 October 1993)

6.
South African
to leave, hurry away
Let's chuck.

chuck a cheesy
vb Australian

to grin. The colloquial cliché ‘a cheesy grin' has given rise to this more recent expression, in use since the mid-1980s among adolescents.

chuck a hissie
vb British

to become enraged, lose control. Heard since 2000, the phrase derives from the earlier
hissie(-fit)
.

chuck a mental
vb

to become enraged, agitated, disoriented. The term was featured in the Australian soap opera
Neighbours
in 1991, and is also in use among British and Scottish schoolchildren.

chucklehead
n American

a foolish, silly or eccentric person

chuck up
vb

to vomit.
Upchuck
is a later variant form.

chuddie
n

chewing gum. In the form ‘chuttie' the term was first recorded in American speech as long ago as the 1920s; it was very probably originally a nursery form of the verb to chew. In the late 1990s it became a vogue term among UK adolescents.
Chuffie
is a synonym.

chuddies
n pl British

underwear. The term seems to have originated in South Asian speech and has been popularised by TV comedy series such as
Goodness Gracious Me
and
The Kumars at No. 42
. By 2004 it was also in use in school playgrounds among other ethnic groups.

Eat/kiss my chuddies!

chuff
n British

1.
the anus, backside. A word which has been heard since the 1940s and which is
innocuous enough to use where other synonyms are taboo. The etymology of the word is obscure, but it may be from the dialect meaning plump (which is related to
chuffed
meaning pleased).

‘As tight as a badger's chuff.'
(
Room at the Bottom
, British TV series, 1988)

2.
a
fart
. A schoolchildren's and students' vulgarism recently popularised by
Viz
comic.

See also
chuffing

chuff-chuff
n British

a synonym of
chuffer

chuffed
adj British

delighted, pleased. The word's meaning stretches from flattered to excited. It probably originates in northern English dialect (meaning puffed-up and proud) and is still most frequently heard in the North and Midlands. Embellished forms are ‘dead chuffed', ‘chuffed pink' and ‘chuffed to arseholes'. The TV soap opera
Coronation Street
, which is set in the north of England, has ‘chuffed to little mint-balls'.

chuffer
n British

a train. A quasi-nursery word used facetiously by adults.

‘I'm catching the chuffer down to Bath.'
(Recorded, journalist, 1987)

chuffie
n British

chewing gum. An alternative form of

chuddie
, heard in school playgrounds since 2000.

chuffing
adj British

a polite or disguised form of
fucking
as an intensifying adjective. It is heard most often in the north of England.

chuff-nuts
n pl British

another term for
dingleberries

chug
vb

1.
British
to drink (alcohol). A coinage, derived from the drinkers' toast or chant ‘chug-a-lug', fashionable among young people in London from the late 1980s.

‘Sloane Rebs all support Chelsea FC, and can be seen every other Saturday lunchtime “chugging brew” and getting hammered at any number of pubs in the Fulham Road, before charging down to Stamford Bridge for a “frightfully good game of footy”.'
(
I-D
magazine, November 1987)

2.
American
to throw away, reject. The term was recorded in 2001.

chummer
n British

a male homosexual. The term, recorded among schoolboys in 2000, is possibly influenced by
bum chum
and
bummer
.

chummy
n British

a term of address used typically by police officers to or about suspects. This condescending word is representative of the menacing use of terms of endearment, understatement, etc. favoured by London police and underworld.

I think chummy here has got something he wants to tell us.

chump
¹
n British See
off one's block/chump/crust/head/nut/onion