Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (50 page)

dog
¹
n

1a.
an ugly, unpleasant or unattractive woman or girl. This sense of the word was in common use in the USA from the 1950s. It was adopted by British speakers in the mid-1970s.

1b.
American
something unpleasant or worthless. Expressions in which ‘dog' signifies distaste or contempt are almost all American in origin, presumably reflecting the cliché that the British are a nation of dog lovers. Nevertheless there are occasional instances of this sense in British English.

This car's a dog!

1c.
a company or share that performs badly on the stock exchange, a worthless
piece of stock (these are also known as
bow-wow
stocks)

2.
British
a wig, toupée. The word usually implies a ragged, ill-fitting or generally unconvincing hairpiece. It has been in use among teenagers at least since the early 1970s.

3a.
a rogue, (likeable) reprobate. A 19th-century usage, now a colloquialism usually surviving in the form ‘(you) old dog!'.

3b.
a promiscuous male. The term of disapproval was heard in the UK in 2013.

4.
British
a
dog-end

5.
Jamaican
a gun.
Puppy
is a synonym.

6.
See
dogs

dog
²
vb American

to abandon, reject, get rid of. The word in this sense has been used by teenagers and college students since the late 1980s.

‘Dog the dorm rules now!'
(
A Different World
, American TV series, 1987)

dog (and bone)
n British

a
telephone
. An example of rhyming slang which is still used today. It is usually used of the appliance rather than the action.

Get on the dog to him and find out when he's coming.

dog (it)
vb British

to play truant. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

dog-and-boned
adj British

stoned
. A cannabis smoker's term from the 1960s and early 1970s, now heard in the form
doggo
.

dog and pony show
n

in business slang a complicated and contrived display or presentation, typically also disappointing, embarrassing or pointless

dog-ass
adj American

worthless, inferior, bad. A vulgarism in use for instance among military personnel and college students since the 1950s.

dog-box
n British

a mess, a confused situation. An item of middle-class family slang heard in the 1990s.

dog-end
n British

a cigarette end. The word usually describes a stubbed-out butt, rather than a partly smoked cigarette put aside for later relighting (a
dimp
or
docker
). It has been in use since at least World War II.

dog-esse
n American

an obnoxious and/or unattractive woman. A supposedly humorous synonym for
bitch
.

dogfood
n

in business slang an undistinguished low-priced product intended for mass consumption. ‘Eat your own dogfood' is an admonition to sample or use one's own products, services or methods.

(all) dogged-up
adj

dressed smartly or extravagantly. The term is probably inspired by ‘decked out' or ‘dolled up', or by the expression

dog's dinner
.

I don't want to have to get all dogged-up just to go out to dinner
.

dogger
n British

a truant. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England, and derives from the earlier verb to
dog (it)
.

doggett
vb British

to scrounge. An arcane piece of London rhyming slang. Thomas Doggett, an actor, on the occasion of George I's accession in 1715, endowed a prize for an annual race for Thames watermen between London Bridge and Chelsea. The prize for the race, which is still rowed, is a coat and badge, hence ‘Doggett's Coat and Badge':
cadge
. The word is also used as a noun to mean a scrounger.

‘He's meeting me at the Hong Kong. He's only trying to doggett a Chinese [meal].'
(Recorded, pensioner, Bristol, 1989)

doggie-do/dos
n

a.
dog excrement

b.
something worthless and/or repellent Both meanings are used, generally facetiously, among adults, though the term originated as a nursery word.

doggie-fashion, doggy-fashion
adv

(sexual intercourse) involving penetration from the rear

They like to do it doggy-fashion
.

dogging
n British

a (hetero)sexual practice whereby strangers meet at prearranged or well-known rendezvous such as car parks to have sex
in situ
. The term was popularised in 2003 when the footballer Stan Colly-more admitted engaging in dogging. It derives from the notion that participants – or voyeurs who spy on them – pretend to be ‘walking the dog'.

‘Mick Philpott told the jury he and his wife went dogging – having sex with strangers
while others watch – on occasion in nearby Allestree.'
(Daily Mail, 13 March 2013)

doggo
adj

1.
American
worthless, inferior, bad. A variation of
dog-ass
.

2.
British
intoxicated by marihuana. This unusual term derives from a now obsolete piece of rhyming slang
dog-and-boned
:
stoned
, perhaps reinforced by the immobility and furtiveness implied in the colloquial phrase to ‘lie doggo'.

dog it
vb American

to perform badly, fail to do one's best. A campus and high-school expression from the 1970s.

If you dog it again this time, you're off the team
.

dog out
vb American

to get
(all) dogged-up

dogs

1.
n pl

1a.
the feet. Of obscure origin, this usage has persisted in British and American usage at least since World War II. It usually implies tired, sore feet.

‘Ooh, that feels better – my dogs are barking today!'
(
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
, US film, 1987)

1b.
slippers, shoes or boots

1c.
American
trainers. An item of black street-talk that was included in so-called
Ebonics
, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996.

2.
n pl
the dogs
British
greyhounds or greyhound racing

3.
adj
the dogs
(something) excellent. A shortening of
the dog's bollocks
.

dog's bollocks, the
n British

a superlative thing, situation, etc. This widespread vulgarism was given wider currency by its use in
Viz
comic from the early 1990s, and its first broadcast use in the TV comedy series
Hale and Pace
in 1997

dog's breakfast
n

a mess, a confused mixture. From the image of a mishmash of unappetising scraps. The expression (compare the roughly contemporaneous
dog's dinner
) is commonly applied to a misconceived or botched plan or display. The phrase dates from the 1930s.

‘My God, he made a real dog's breakfast of that presentation.'
(Recorded, publisher, London, 1986)

dog's dangly bits, the
n
,
adj British

the best, exceptional. It is a version of
the dog's bollocks
.

dog's dinner
n

a.
an extravagant display, especially a vulgar, misguided or unsuccessful attempt at smartness. The expression, which dates from the late 1920s, usually forms part of a phrase such as ‘all done up like a dog's dinner'.

b.
a mess. In this negative sense
dog's breakfast
is currently more fashionable.

do-hickey
n American

a.
an unspecified thing, thingummy

b.
a spot, pimple or skin blemish.
Hickey
alone is a common teenage term for a spot or lovebite; the prefix is an embellishment.

c.
the penis. A children's term that is probably a specific application of
do-hickey a
.

doink
vb

1.
to hit

2.
to have sex. The term is a variant form of
bonk
and
boink
.

do it
vb

to have sex. An evasive or coy euphemism used by children, those too embarrassed to be more explicit or, often, facetiously by adults.

do it to it!
exclamation American

an expression of encouragement, an elaboration of the injunction ‘do it!'

“I think I'm going to eat this entire pie.” “Do it to it!”

dole-bludger
n Australian

a person who claims unemployment pay which they are not entitled to, a ‘dole scrounger'. This common term is sometimes extended to encompass any idle or shiftless person.

‘Newspapers are always whingeing about the dole bludgers.'
(
Girls' Night Out
, Kathy Lette, 1989)

doll
n

a woman. A fairly dated Americanism adopted into British working-class usage in the 1950s and again in the 1970s, since which time it may also be used by women of men. The word has condescending or proprietorial overtones when used by teenagers.

dollface
n American

an attractive or cute person. A term of affection used especially by women to men.

dollsome
adj American

attractive. The term typically refers to a male and was popularised by its use in the
US TV series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
from 1997.

dolly
adj British

excellent, attractive, cute. A vogue word of the mid-1960s, enshrined in the title of Adam Diment's fashionable novel
The Dolly Dolly Spy
. The word passed from
camp
theatrical and homosexual use to general currency for a year or so. It survives in middle-class speech as an ironic or scathing synonym for ‘twee'.

dolly bird
n British

an attractive girl. This expression, which would now appear hopelessly dated and offensive to many women, briefly epitomised the ideal gamine of the mid-to-late 1960s. The word was used only fleetingly by the fashionable young themselves before becoming a journalistic cliché.

dolly-mixtures
n pl British

pictures
. Often used by criminals and police officers to describe mugshots, crime-scene photographs, etc., the rhyming-slang expression refers to sweets popular among children since the 1950s. As an example of the jargon of cat burglars, the phrase was cited in
FHM
magazine in April 1996.

D.O.M.
n

a ‘dirty old man'. A middle-class and
Sloane Ranger
version of the colloquial expression, D.O.M. is applied, usually by females, to anyone male and lecherous regardless of age.

do me something!
exclamation British

a phrase used by teenage gangs as a provocation or invitation to fight. A synonym is
what to go?
Both phrases are often followed by ‘then?!' The term was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994.

don
¹
adj

excellent, fashionable, admirable. A vogue term of approbation which originated in American usage in the early 1990s and by 1995 had been adopted for fashionable speech by British and Australian adolescents. It may derive from ‘the Don' in the sense of a powerful or exceptional individual.

don
²
, the Don
n British

a.
a pre-eminent, successful or admirable person

b.
an excellent thing, the best

Both senses derive from the use of the word to refer to a criminal boss, originally from the title of a Spanish gentleman.

don
³
vb British

to steal, defraud. In this sense the term was used by London schoolchildren in the early 1990s. Its derivation is uncertain. One user defined it as ‘a rip-off' and claimed it as a deformation of
con
.

Donald Duck, Donald
n

a
fuck
. A piece of rhyming slang, based on the cartoon character, that is heard in Australian and British English. It was popularised by the UK TV black comedy
The Estate Agents
in 2002.