Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (6 page)

alms(-house)
adj British

rude, disrespectful. This item of British street slang of the late 1990s also occurs in the form
arms
. In Jamaica the expression is used by an older generation to refer disapprovingly to someone considered poor and feckless, supposedly in need of charity accommodation.

alpha geek
n American

the most technically proficient and/or knowledgeable member of a group. The term, usually but not invariably applied to males in an office or work-group, is inspired by the categorising of animal group-leaders as ‘alpha males'. It was
defined in
Wired
magazine in September 1995.

‘You gotta just identify the alpha geek and fire all your questions at him.'
(Recorded, financial trader, New York, 1996)

already
adv
,
exclamation American

a shortened form of ‘you already know' or ‘I already told you'. It is normally used as a friendly confirmation rather than a rebuke.

“You goin' to the party tonight?”
“Already
.”

altered
adj British

drunk, a joky euphemism from the notion of being ‘(in an) altered state'. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

amagent
n South African

an alternative form of
ma-gent

amazeballs
exclamation
,
n British

(an expression of admiration, surprise at) something impressive. The term, popularised in the media in 2013, is used by teenagers, some pre-teens and has occasionally been hazarded by adults, too.

amber fluid, amber nectar
n

beer, Australian lager. A facetious euphemism used by Australians in the 1970s which was popularised in Britain first by Barry Humphries'
Barry McKenzie
comic strip, then by TV advertisements, featuring the actor Paul Hogan, for Australian beer in the 1980s. The term was enthusiastically adopted by some middle-class British drinkers, themselves fond of mock pompous coinages.

ambulance chaser
n

a lawyer, literally one who specialises in claiming on behalf of accident victims. The phrase is also applied, facetiously or critically, to any lawyer who is known for sharp practice or unethical methods. This term was originally American (dating from the beginning of the 20th century) but is now employed in other English-speaking areas.

‘My daddy's a lawyer. Well, we often say he's an ambulance chaser.'
(Recorded, young woman, Chicago, 1983)

amp
n

1.
an ampoule (of a narcotic). An obvious shortening used by drug abusers.

I scored a couple of amps of meth[edrine]
.

2.
an amplifier. A common shortening used by musicians and hi-fi enthusiasts since the 1960s.

He rammed his guitar into the amp.

amped (up)
adj American

excited or agitated. This term from black street slang, which can also indicate excited anticipation, may derive from an ampoule (of a narcotic) or from ‘amphetamine(d)', but is equally likely to derive from the musicians' jargon ‘amped-up', meaning with the amplifiers fully rigged. It has recently been used in the UK, too, by fashion journalists e.g. to refer to very vivid designs.

‘While they were keeping me waiting I was getting more and more amped up…'
(Recorded, musician, New York City, 1995)

'ampsteads
n pl British

teeth
. Cockney rhyming slang referring to the London beauty spot Hampstead Heath. The term (which is still heard) is invariably used with the dropped aspirate.

a lovely set of 'ampsteads
kicked in the 'ampsteads

amscray
vb

to
scram
, go away. One of the few examples of
backslang
or
pig Latin
which is actually used in speech, albeit rarely. The word is a pre-World War II Americanism which has been heard in Australia and in Britain since the 1950s.

We'd better amscray before he gets back
.

anal
adj American

irritatingly pedantic, fastidious, conscientious, etc. This shortening of the popular psychological categorisation ‘anal retentive' was a vogue term among US college students in the 1990s

Don't be so anal!
That was such an anal thing to do
.

anal astronaut
n British

a male homosexual. A pejorative and jocular term in use among schoolboys in 2004.

anchor
n British

1.
a young person, typically a younger sibling or babysittee, who inhibits one's pleasure or freedom of movement. The term was in use among adolescents and young adults from around 2000.

2.
an unattractive person. The usage, recorded among teenagers in 2010, is probably a play on the earlier adjective
butters
. Anchor is a popular brand of butter in the UK.

anchors
n pl British

brakes. Originally part of the jargon of prewar professional drivers. The term was popular with some middle-class motorists throughout the 1950s and 1960s, usually
in the phrase ‘slam on the anchors', meaning to brake suddenly. It now sounds rather dated.

and relax!
exclamation British

1.
a warning of an approaching person

2.
an exhortation to someone who is irate to calm down

Both usages have been recorded since 2000.

Andrew, the
n British

the navy. A dated term which is a shortening of ‘Andrew Miller' (or ‘Andrew Millar'). The eponymous Andrew is said to have been a press-ganger whose name was taken as a nickname for a warship and later for the whole service.

Andy McNab
n British

a.
a kebab

b.
a taxi cab

I'll grab an Andy and I should be there in a sec.

The rhyming slang, sometimes shortened to
Andy
, borrows the
nom de plume
of the former SAS agent and bestselling author.

ane
n British

the backside, anus, a term used by schoolchildren since the 1990s. By extension the word can also refer to a foolish or unpleasant individual.

angel
n

cocaine. The term was recorded with this sense among clubbers in the UK in 2000.

angel-drawers
n British

a term of endearment, used especially by middle-class speakers. The phrase is typical of the jocular compounds favoured, e.g., in St Valentine's Day dedications printed in newspaper small ads but, unlike many of these, it is spoken.

angel dust
n

the drug
P.C.P.
A powdered (usually homemade) version of an animal tranquilliser which is smoked or sniffed through a tube and which produces in the user unpredictable and extreme physical and psychological effects. Users are capable of acts of violence, hallucinations and periods of imperviousness to pain and superhuman strength. P.C.P. is easy to produce in home laboratories and became a severe social problem in US cities after 1975, principally among poorer teenagers. Fears of its spread to Britain and elsewhere were groundless. Its milieu is now largely given over to
crack
.

‘For 15 years Washington has been struggling with abuse of PCP, also known as Angel Dust.'
(
Independent
, 24 July 1989)

Anglo
n American

a person of (mainly) Anglo-Saxon ethnic origin. The term came into widespread use in the 1970s, especially among Hispanics. This was the first attempt by Americans from other ethnic backgrounds to categorise white Anglo-Saxons as a subgroup. (
WASP
was first coined by Wasps themselves;
honky, pinkie
, etc., are terms of abuse.).

‘They're mainly Anglos out on Long Island these days.'
(Recorded, suburban New Yorker, 1977)

animal
adj British

excellent, exciting. This use of the term by young people since 2000 is based on earlier uses of the noun animal to denote an impressively excessive individual.

animal house
n American

any dwelling, but especially a college fraternity house, whose occupants are excessively dirty and rowdy. This late 1950s campus term was revived by the film
National Lampoon's Animal House
, starring the late John Belushi in the role of a typical ‘animal' in 1978.

animal night/act
n Australian

a planned or self-conscious bout of bad behaviour or excess. The term is typically used (by and about males) with pride or admiration rather than distaste.

ankle
¹
vb

to walk, stroll, saunter. A raffish expression heard in the USA and occasionally in Britain since the 1980s.

Let's ankle down to the off-licence
.

ankle
²
n American

an attractive female or females. This use of the word appears to predate its popularity among black youths and on campus since the late 1990s. The provenance is unclear and it may be a jocular reference to the archaic phrase ‘a well-turned ankle' as a Victorian notion of beauty.

She's some cute ankle.
Check out the ankle around here
.

ankle-biter
n

a child, usually a baby or toddler. Commonly used with mock distaste by parents, sometimes with real distaste by others, ankle-biter has been heard in all social classes in Britain and Australia
since the late 1970s. Synonyms are
leg-biter, rug rat
and
crumb-snatcher
.

Anne
See
to be Anne

annihilated
adj

helplessly drunk, drugged or exhausted. A middle-class teenager's colloquial expression, popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

anorak
n British

an unfashionable, studious or tedious person, usually a young male. A campus expression from the 1980s, based on the characteristic dress of these fellow-students. A subgenre of jangling guitar pop music, supposedly beloved of such students, was dubbed ‘anorak rock' in the music press in the mid-1980s.

‘An anorak is one of those boring gits who sit at the front of every lecture with their Pringle jumpers asking the lecturer their clever questions.'
(Graffito in the toilets at King's College, London University, July 1988)

anteater
n American

(a male with) an uncircumcised penis. Synonyms are
aardvark, corn-dog
.

ante up
vb

to pay one's contribution, put one's money in the common pot. This expression, not to be confused with ‘up the ante', comes from the preliminary stage in a poker game when one or all of the players must put a stake in the pot. By extension ante up is sometimes used to mean settle accounts or (reluctantly) hand over something demanded.

OK, you guys, it's time to ante up
.

antiman
n

a male homosexual. The term, originating in Caribbean usage and heard among young speakers of most ethnic groups in the UK, is a Creole pronunciation of ‘auntie-man'. It is usually pejorative.
Panty-man
is a synonym.

an't it?
question form British

a variation of
innit?
which, like that term, originated in black British usage and was adopted by adolescents and later by younger schoolchildren in the 1990s

We're going to the park an't it?
An't it he's the one
.

antsy
adj

a.
nervous, jumpy, agitated

‘She's been getting a little antsy lately – wants me to leave my wife.'
(
The Secret of my Success
, US film, 1987)

b.
eager for sex

Both senses are derived from the older, humorous colloquial expression ‘to have ants in one's pants' (meaning to be restless or agitated). Antsy is a fairly common and inoffensive term in the USA and Australia, but rare in Britain.

antwacky
adj British

out-of-date, old-fashioned. The term, used especially in northwest England, is probably a mock ignorant alteration of antique.

ape(shit)
adj
,
adv

out of control, berserk. Used especially in the expression ‘go ape', the image is of a person reduced to a primal state, either by infatuation, excitement or, especially, anger. An American teenagers' term from the late 1950s, now in general currency.

He's apeshit about her.
‘I go ape ev'ry time I see you smile.'
(
I Go Ape
, written and recorded by Neil Sedaka, 1960)
‘After I'd left my last school, I pinched a wallet full of credit cards and went apeshit in about five different counties.'
(
Sunday Times
magazine, Stephen Fry, August 1989)

ape-hangers
n pl

extra-high handlebars for motorbikes or bicycles. The style was popularised by
bikers
in the USA in the 1950s, spreading to Britain where
rockers, greasers
and schoolchildren had adopted the style and the term by about 1959.