Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (53 page)

drama queen
n

a self-dramatising or hysterical person. The expression was originally (in the 1960s) applied by male homosexuals to their fellows. In the 1970s the phrase was adopted by heterosexuals and applied to women and, sometimes, to
straight
as well as
gay
men.

drape(s)
n

a.
clothes, a suit or outfit. The word was in use in the USA (where ‘drapes' are curtains) in the 1950s among black musicians,
hipsters
and
beatniks
. It was then adopted by
spivs
and prisoners in Britain, where it is still heard.

b.
British
a drape jacket, the top half of a ‘zoot suit' and part of the uniform of the
teddy boy
in the 1950s. (The drape had wide shoulders and was almost as long as a frock-coat, but loose and unwaisted.)

drapes, drapsing, draipsing
n British

an act of extortion or theft from an individual. The term was used in the late 1970s by London schoolchildren as a synonym for
taxing
and survived, or was revived, to feature as part of youth slang in the 2000s, popularised by rapper Tempa T. The expression, of uncertain derivation, refers specifically to forcing a weaker person to give up something of value, by threats or actual violence.

draw
¹
n British

a.
tobacco. In this sense the word, derived from the action of inhaling, dates from the 1950s. It occurs in prison jargon in particular.

b.
cannabis (hashish or marihuana). Since the mid-1970s this word has been in vogue for smokable cannabis.

‘By the time he returned home hours late, Robert was intoxicated with cider and high on “draw”
(cannabis cigarette).'
(
Sunday Times
, 28 January 1996)

draw
²
n British

a ‘two-one' honours degree in the late 1980s parlance of university students. (The joke is that a draw means ‘two won'.) Alternative names for the same award are
made-in
or
Taiwan
.

Compare
Desmond
;
Douglas
;
Pattie
;
Richard

draw
³
vb British

to attract (an admirer). A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

‘Round here we draw more black guys than white ones.'
(Recorded, teenage female gang member, East London, 2001)

dread
¹
adj

1.
Jamaican
an allpurpose word implying authentic, impressive, etc., in connection with the black reggae and
ganja
culture and Rastafarian religion of Jamaica. The word first conveyed the power and awe felt and inspired by the (dreadlock-wearing) devotees of Rastafarianism.

He's dread.
It's real dread
.

2a.
British
good

Well dread sounds
.

2b.
British
bad

Some dread shit
.

Shorn of its Rasta associations the word had, by 2000, become popular among UK adolescents. Like its synonym
rough
, its meaning changed according to intonation.

dread
²
, dred
adj British

awful. Employed by middle-class speakers since around 2000, this usage of the term is more likely to be an abbreviation of ‘dreadful' than the Rastafarian key-word.

I'm feeling dread, man.

dreamboat
n

a very attractive person of the opposite sex. The word, redolent of Hollywood in the 1940s, is still used, especially in the USA and usually, but not always, facetiously as a description or term of endearment.

dreck
n

rubbish, a worthless thing,
shit
. From the Yiddish
drek
and German
dreck
, which have the same meaning.

‘Here's some news to gladden the hearts of all devotees of dreck – the world première of “Prisoner Cell Block H”.'
(
Time Out
magazine, July 1989)

dreg
n British

a worthless person. The term was in use among teenagers in 2012.

a total dreg

dreich
adj Scottish

dreary. A dialect term which was occasionally heard as a colourful new colloquialism in self-conscious use amongst middle-class inhabitants of England in the late 1990s.

The weather is rather, as they say, dreich
.

dribbler
n British

an unpleasant, obnoxious and/or unfortunate person. In playground usage since 2000.

drift
vb

to leave, go away, escape. The word is sometimes in the imperative form, meaning ‘get lost'; otherwise it is a
cool
or ‘tough-guy' synonym for to ‘go'.

drill
vb

1.
British
to sleep. A middle-class and public-school term deriving from the phrase ‘blanket drill', a facetious army expression for sleeping.

2.
to shoot (usually to kill). A now dated Americanism adopted by crime and western movies and fiction.

3.
to have sex with. A rare usage on the same pattern as
screw
.

drink
n British

a small bribe, tip or other financial inducement. Originally, in London working-class usage, it meant literally the price of an (alcoholic) drink. Now it usually refers to a more substantial sum and is sometimes extended to a share in an attractive venture, or a ‘piece of the action'. As an item of British police and underworld slang, it was given wider currency by TV series such as
Minder
.

Brian will need a drink, too
.

drinking vouchers
n pl British

coins or banknotes. An alternative version of ‘beer-vouchers' or
beer-tokens
.

‘Our Rebels are more likely to be huddled inside an SW William Hill putting plenty of “drinking vouchers” (cash money) on Chelsea thrashing Man United. They can often be spied at pubs like the White Hart.'
(
I-D
magazine, November 1987)

drink-link
n British

a cash dispenser. A term in use among college students since 2000.

drip
¹
n

1.
an insipid, unassertive or boring person. This common colloquialism is probably British in origin, but is also used, especially by school and college students, in the USA and Australia. It is one of many terms (
wet
,
damp
,
dripping
) equating weakness with water.

2. the drip
British
hire purchase, paying by instalments. The phrase is usually part of the longer expression
on the drip
.

drip
²
vb British

to complain. The term was recorded on the Royal Marines website in 2004, where it was defined as ‘moan incessantly, usually a sign that the blokes are happy'.

dripping
adj British

weak, irresolute, pathetic. An upper- and middle-class term of mild contempt from the late 1970s. It is inspired by the popular colloquialism
wet.

Her husband's absolutely dripping
.

drip-stands
n pl British

firefighters. The term, literally denoting a receptacle for collecting water overspill, and playing on the sense of ‘drip' as an ineffectual person and ‘standing around', is a derogatory nickname bestowed by members of other emergency services in 2013.
Daffodils
and
water fairies
are contemporary synonyms.

drive the porcelain bus/great white bus/big bus
vb American

to vomit. A popular expression among college and high-school students. The image is of a helpless drunk or hangover victim kneeling before the toilet pedestal, clutching the rim of the bowl in both hands like an oversized steering wheel, as the room spins. (
Kiss the porcelain god
is an alternative form.)

droid
n American

a stupid, slow or completely unimaginative person, in the language of teenagers and students. It is a shortening of ‘android', of which both the full and abbreviated forms have been used extensively in science-fiction books and films since the mid-1970s.

‘Man, he's a total droid.'
(
Zombie High
, US film, 1987)

drongo
n

a foolish, unfortunate or unpleasant person. An Australian word which was adopted by British speakers in the early 1970s, probably introduced to it by an influx of young Australian travellers. It is a term of scathing contempt which may have been inspired by a spectacularly unsuccessful racehorse of the same name in the 1920s, although ‘drongo' is also the name of an Australian bird. The word seemed to be declining in popularity by the late 1980s.

droob
n Australian

a dullard. This word is probably a blend of
drip
and
boob(y)
.

drooly
adj

very attractive, appealing or appetising. A less usual synonym of
dishy
or ‘yummy', often used by adolescent females.

drop
vb

1.
to take (an illicit drug) orally. The word was most often encountered in the phrase ‘drop acid', meaning to take LSD by mouth. Originally an American term, ‘drop' replaced the neutral ‘take' in Britain around 1966.

‘Well, the one that stopped me from doing acid forever was when I dropped seven tabs. I completely lost my mind and went to Muppetland – the whole trip lasted for about six months.'
(Zodiac Mindwarp,
I-D
magazine, November 1987)

2.
to knock (a person) down

He threatened to drop him
.

3.
to give birth to. A shortening of
drop a pup
.

Has she dropped it yet?
She's going to drop in August.

drop a bollock
vb British

to commit a blunder; a vulgar alternative to the colloquial ‘drop a brick' or ‘drop a clanger'

drop a bundle
vb

to lose a large amount of money (by gambling or speculative investment, for instance).

See also
drop one's bundle

drop a pup
vb Australian

to give birth to. A vulgar and/or humorous euphemism used mainly by men.

dropdead
adj

stunning, extreme, sensational. A vogue word since the mid-to-late 1980s among those concerned with fashion. The usage is American in origin.

a dropdead blonde
dropdead gorgeous

drop-kick
n Australian

a ‘low', worthless or miserable person. This relatively mild epithet, used, e.g., in television soap operas of the 1980s, is probably a descendant of the vulgar rhyming slang (based on soccer), ‘drop-kick and punt':
cunt
.

This makes me seem like a real drop-kick or something
.

drop off the twig
vb

to die. A lighthearted expression in vogue in Britain since the late 1980s. Bird imagery features in several colourful, predominantly working-class phrases in British colloquial use, such as ‘sick as a parrot' or
rattle someone's cage
.

drop one out
vb British

to exclude someone (such as a suspect) from one's list, surveillance or enquiry. A piece of police jargon presumably based on the notion of people being
in the frame
or out of it.

drop one's bundle
vb Australian

to panic. The bundle in question may originate in a
hobo's
pack, or may be a reference to fright's tendency to empty the bowels.

drop one's daks
vb Australian

to take off one's trousers. An Australianism (Daks is a trademark for a brand of casual slacks especially popular in the early 1960s in Britain and Australia). A catchphrase from
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
, the cartoon strip published in
Private Eye
magazine in the late 1960s was ‘drop your daks and say the magic word'.

drop out
vb

to withdraw from conventional society, opt out. The motto of the
hippy
movement, coined by Dr Timothy Leary in 1967, was ‘
turn on
,
tune in
, and
drop out
' (take drugs and/or become enlightened; make contact with like-minded people or the life force; and leave society behind). The phrase survives in the specific sense of abandon one's education.

‘Since I dropped out in September last year I have come to the conclusion that the city drop-out scene is a pathetic one.'
(Letter to
Oz
magazine, June 1968)