Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (59 page)

‘And that Jem girl they listed is far more fappable than the cartoon character I've been fantas… Perhaps I have said too much.'
(Posting in online discussion of celebrities, 17 March 2006)

farley, farly
n American

a man or boy, a
gay
male, a ridiculous or unattractive person. A
Valley Girl
term used in the early 1970s.

‘I can't get behind London. There are all these crazy farleys everywhere.'
(Recorded, Californian teenage girl, 1970)

Farmer Giles
n See
farmers

farmers
n pl British

haemorrhoids. Rhyming slang from Farmer Giles:
piles
. The eponymous farmer is a common personification of bucolic heartiness. The longer version, Farmer Giles, was heard, particularly among schoolchildren, until at least the late 1970s.

‘Send your farmers packing with “Preparation Ouch”.'
(
There's a Lot of it About
, British TV comedy series starring Spike Milligan, 1989)

farmer's
n British

a quarter ounce (of cannabis). Rhyming slang from ‘farmer's daughter'.

‘Pass the Veras, I've just scored a farmers of Jazz-Funk.'
(Facetious online posting by “Vikingbones”, 22 February 2013)

far-out, farout
adj

a.
extreme, eccentric, unconventional

b.
wonderful, remarkable. By extension from the first sense, usually as an exclamation in the approval of anything extraordinary.

‘Marlene's entire range of expression was pretty much limited to “far out”, “super” and “gross”.'
(
The Serial
, Cyra McFadden, 1976)

Both senses of the phrase, originally an Americanism, were beloved by
hippies
from the late 1960s, but far-out was sounding dated by about 1974.

fart
¹
n

1.
an expulsion of intestinal gas from the anus. Not really a slang term, but often included as such because of its vulgar overtones. (For the etymology see the verb form.)

2.
a term of abuse, sometimes dismissive, now sometimes almost affectionate, heard especially in the expressions ‘old fart' and ‘boring old fart' (
B.O.F.
). Fart in this sense suggests someone inconsequential, ineffectual or otherwise worthy of mild contempt.

fart
²
vb

to ‘break wind', expel intestinal gas through the anus. The word is a descendant of an old Germanic verb
ferzan
which in turn comes from an Indo-European root
perd-
or
pard-
(giving modern French
péter
among others). In English fart has never been genuine slang, but is sometimes considered to be so because it is taboo in polite company. This was not the case until the 18th century.

fart around/about
vb

to mess around, waste one's time or play the fool

Come on you guys, stop farting around and get down to business.

fart-arse, fartarse about/around
vb British
to waste time, behave ineffectually or indecisively. A common, mildly vulgar term in British and Australian English. It is an elaboration of
fart around
.

I wish they'd stop fart-arsing around and make their minds up.

fartleberries
n pl

another term for
dingleberries

fashionista
n

a fashion expert or arbiter of taste. The term employs the Spanish ‘-ista' suffix by analogy with ‘Sandinista' (Nicaraguan freedom fighter of the 1970s). In 2013 author Stephen Fried apologised for having invented the word in 1993.

fassy 'ole
adj
,
n Jamaican and British
(a) gay (male). The highly derogatory term, also heard in multiethnic slang and
rap
lyrics in the UK, employs the Caribbean adjective
fas
/
fassy
meaning dirty.

fat
adj

excellent, fashionable,
hip
. A vogue term of approval in youth subcultures of the 1980s.
Fattier
and
fattiest
are derived terms. The word is sometimes spelt
phat
.

Fatboy (Slim)
n British

gym
. The rhyming-slang term, borrowing the stage name of the DJ Norman Cook, has been heard since around 2010.

I'm going down the Fatboy for a workout.

fat city
n American

1.
a state of contentment and/or material repletion, a very satisfactory situation

Wait till you see the set-up there – he's in fat city.

2.
obesity or an obese person. A high-school and college term of the 1970s and 1980s.

Get a load of fat city, here!

fat farm
n

a health farm or slimming centre

Father Jack
n British

in medical slang a confused elderly patient whose behaviour may be noisy and erratic. The name, recorded in 2007, is that of the drunken old priest in the TV sitcom
Father Ted
.

fatty
n American

1.
a large posterior on a female
Check out the fatty on her!

2.
a cannabis cigarette,
joint
Roll another fatty.

faynits!
exclamation British
an alternative form of
fains

-features
suffix

‘-face'. In British and Australian English it is often added to other, usually offensive, words as an insult or mock insult as in
bum
-features,
creature-features
,
cunt
-features, etc.

feck!
exclamation Irish

an alteration of
fuck
which pre-dates its popularisation by the TV comedy
Father Ted

Fed
n See
Club Fed

Feds, the
n pl American

law enforcers, FBI agents. The word, used especially by lawbreakers in the USA, was picked up in Britain as a euphemism for police in the early 1970s and again by
teenage gang members in the noughties decade.

feeb
n American

a feeble-minded person, a
twerp
. A teenagers' term. This is one of a series of expressions for social misfits or peer-group outcasts coined by American school and college pupils. Earlier words such as
wimp
and
nerd
have entered world English, others like
dweeb
, which immediately predated feeb, are rarely heard outside North America.

feek
adj Irish
attractive, ‘enchanting'. The word may be a variant form of fake used to mean magic(al).

feel
n

a sexual contact, a
grope
or caress. In American teen jargon the word is often heard in the phrase
cop a feel
.

feel froggy
vb American
to want to fight. An item of black street-talk which was included in so-called
Ebonics
, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996. It comes from the catchphrase used as a challenge to fight: ‘If you feel froggy, leap!'

feel someone's collar
vb
to arrest or take someone into custody. An item of police jargon, now more often expressed by the noun
collar
.

feen, fien
n Irish and British

a male person

feenin'
n

a variant form of
fiendin'
, recorded in the USA in 2004

feisty
adj

spirited, tough and assertive, quarrelsome. The word looks like Yiddish, but is in fact from a southern American English dialect word for a small, fierce dog (a ‘feist' or ‘fice'), the name of which is distantly derived from ‘fist', a variant of
fart
.

‘It was this feisty creature [Pamella Bordes] who ended a relationship with Andrew Neil by redecorating the walls of his Kensington flat with obscene graffiti.'
(
Private Eye
, February 1989)

felching
n
the insertion of a live animal into the anus as a form of sexual stimulation. The practice was reported from California in 1993 and the word briefly became a vogue source of humour among UK adolescents. The term may also be applied to other practices involving digital or anal contact with the anus.

femme, fem
n
,
adj

a.
a lesbian accustomed to playing a passive, female role in relationships; the opposite role to
butch

b.
an effeminate or passive male homosexual

Both terms are from the French for woman or wife (
femme
), and have been in fairly widespread use since the turn of the 20th century. Femme (or fem) was a slang term meaning woman in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.

fence
vb
,
n

(to act as) a receiver of or dealer in stolen goods. The word was generally considered slang until the 1960s; there being no equivalent shorter than the definition above. Fence is now a universally understood term. It is at least 350 years old, apparently originating as a shortening of ‘defence', although the precise relationship to that word is unclear.

fender-bender
n American

a.
someone who poses as a road-accident victim or stages an accident in order to claim compensation. A law enforcers' and lawbreakers' term.

b.
a minor traffic accident or ‘shunt' in which a car or its wing or bumper is slightly dented

ferret
n See
exercise the ferret

fess up
vb American

to confess, own up

‘“We want the truth!”
“What time is it?”

“Time for you to fess up!”'
(
Out of the Dark
, US film, 1988)

fester
n British

an unwanted person, an irritating hanger-on or sibling. In use among South London schoolchildren in 2010.

fetch
adj

excellent, attractive,
cool
. The term was in use among middle-class teenagers in the UK in 2008 (one user defining it as ‘really attractive. Even more so than
fit
') but originated in the US where it was popularised by the website
giygas.net
and the 2004 high-school comedy movie
Mean Girls
. Its etymology is unclear but it may be a clipping of the colloquial term of admiration, ‘fetching'.

fetta
n American

money. The term, borrowing the name of a Greek soft cheese and used by
hip hop
aficionados and other young speakers, was coined by analogy with
cheez
and
chedda(r)
.

FFS
phrase

a (usually written) exclamation of fury, disbelief or indignation. The initials stand for ‘for fuck's sake!'.

‘Apparently 200,000 litres of fake tan was sold to fillies wanting to attend Ladies' Day [at the Grand National horse race] today. FFS!'
(Posting on Facebook, 5 April 2013)

fidget
n British

a secret, ‘wrinkle', edge or angle. A mainly working-class term used, among others, by fraudsters and petty criminals.

He's got a few fidgets worked out.

fiendin'
n

craving. The vogue term from club culture was defined by the
Observer
in 2002 as ‘…hungry, thirsty but not for a sandwich or cup of tea'. It probably originated among drug users in the USA.

fierce
adj

1.
excellent, stylish. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

2.
American
extremely attractive, ‘very sexy and well put-together'. The term was popularised by the TV show
America's Next Top Model
.