Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (68 page)

get it together
vb

to organise oneself, one's life and/or environment. A vogue term and cliché from around 1969. The ‘it' refers to one's ‘act', one's life, one's head, or to things in general.

get it up
vb

to achieve an erection. A common vulgarism.

get laid
vb

to have sex. A derivation from
lay
, which spread from the USA to Britain around 1968.

‘Young guys in their twenties, of course they're going to try and get laid, and even if they don't succeed it's hardly big news.'
(Lenny Henry,
Time Out
magazine, 26 July 1989)

get licks
vb British

to be beaten up (by someone). A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

get messy
vb British

to become intoxicated by drink or drugs. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

get off (on)
vb

a.
to achieve satisfaction, exhilaration or inspiration (from). This American expression of the early 1970s is an extension of an earlier purely sexual sense of the phrase in which get off means to achieve orgasm. This concept was modified by the drug users' image of leaving terra firma, of flying or floating in a state of euphoria. Since the late 1970s the term has been generalised (in Britain and Australia) to include finding pleasure from more innocuous sources, such as music.

Did you manage to get off on those mushrooms?
I really get off on that guitar solo.

b.
to
get someone off
retains the sexual sense of bringing someone to a climax: this use of the phrase is fairly rare

get off one's case
vb British

to become intoxicated by drugs, to
get high
. An item of prison slang.

get one's act/head/shit together
vb

to organise oneself, arrange one's affairs, start to perform efficiently or effectively. A euphemism from the era of alternative therapy which likens one's behaviour to a performance (it may in fact have originated in theatrical or musical circles); unlike many such phrases it is still in widespread use.

get one's arse in(to) gear
vb

to prepare oneself, get organised and get going. A phrase which appeared in Britain and America (with
ass
) seemingly simultaneously around 1974. It is usually employed as an exhortation to someone who is disorganised or wasting time.

get one's beans
vb British

to have sex. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

get one's end away
vb British

to have sex, succeed in seduction. A masculine vulgarism in widespread use since the 1960s, this is a variation on ‘get one's end in', a euphemism dating from the early years of the 20th century.

get one's head together
vb

to collect one's thoughts, achieve a state of equanimity. A cliché of the ‘alternative society' of the early 1970s (members of rock groups, suffering from the excesses of social and professional life, typically spoke of going to the countryside to get their heads together). This phrase is still heard, albeit more rarely, usually in the sense of pull oneself together or
get one's act together
.

You know you really should try and get your head together if you intend to carry on in this business.

get one's jollies
vb

to derive enjoyment, obtain sensual satisfaction. The gratification referred to in this phrase is often less innocuous than the lighthearted nature of the words might imply.

It's not my idea of a good time, but if that's how you get your jollies, I won't stand in your way.

get one's knickers in a twist
vb British

to become agitated, flustered or over-excited. This picturesque vulgarism originated in the late 1950s with a purely sexual sense. Now widely used, it is generally heard in the negative form, exhorting someone to calm down. The American equivalent is ‘get one's panties in a bunch'.

get one's knob polished
vb American

to receive fellatio

get one's leg over/across
vb British

(of a male) to have sex, to succeed in seduction

‘You [Colin Moynihan, then minister for sport] can be honest with us. Did you get your leg over or not?'
(
Private Eye
magazine, April 1989)

get one's oats
vb British

to achieve sexual satisfaction. The phrase originates in the idea of ‘sowing one's wild oats', especially in the sense of sexual adventuring outside marriage. Since the 1960s the phrase has been applied to both men and women, and to sex in general rather than adultery in particular. It is heard in all social classes in Britain and Australia.

‘If he plays his cards right, he should end up getting his oats tonight.'
(Recorded, teenage drinker, London, 1986)

get one's rocks off
vb

to obtain sexual satisfaction, achieve orgasm, ejaculate. An American vulgarism
which became part of the
hippy
linguistic repertoire; some British users of the expression are unaware that
rocks
is a direct euphemism for testicles. (In American usage
nuts
or other terms could be substituted for rocks.) In the later 1970s the phrase was extended to mean to indulge oneself or enjoy oneself generally rather than in a specifically sexual sense. It now sounds dated.

‘But I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming.'
(Lyric from “Rocks Off”, The Rolling Stones, 1972)

get on one's wick/tits
vb British

to irritate, annoy or vex. The ‘wick' in question, unknown to many speakers, is a now rather archaic shortening of
Hampton Wick
, rhyming slang for
prick
(which is nowadays more usually shortened to
hampton
). In spite of the implied gender difference, both versions of the expression are used indiscriminately by both men and women.

‘It really gets on my tits when someone calls me a career woman.'
(Recorded, female journalist, London, 1986)

get on someone's case
vb American

to harass, badger or interfere. A phrase used with indignation or resentment, typically by an ‘underdog' to or of an authority figure. The notion on which the expression is based is that of a judge or law-enforcer examining one's case. ‘Get off my case' is a widespread negative form.

get over
vb American

to become a success in white society. An item of black street slang.

get real
vb
,
exclamation

to face up to reality, to behave rationally. A vogue term originating in the USA and widespread elsewhere since the 1980s. Near synonyms are
get a life
and
get a job
.

get some poot
vb British

to have sex. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

get tapped up
vb British

to succeed in meeting/seducing a partner. The phrase is used in working-class speech, particularly in the northeast of England.

‘Couldn't even get tapped up last night.'
(
Away The Lads
, BBC 2 TV documentary, February 1993)

get the ass
vb American

to become angry, irritated or furious. An item of black street-talk included in so-called
Ebonics
, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996.

get the horn
vb

to achieve an erection. A vulgarism employing the horn as a penis metaphor, heard more commonly in the adjective
horny
. ‘Get the horn' is now mainly heard in uneducated adult speech and the language of schoolchildren. To be ‘on the (h)orn' is an alternative form.

get the hump
vb British

to become bad-tempered, morose or offended. This common expression is at least 100 years old. The origin of this sense of hump is not clear, although it may refer straightforwardly to a hunchback's deformity, to a back bent with care, a head dropped in gloom, or a traveller's burden. In modern cockney usage the phrase is often abbreviated to the adjective
humpty
.

get the needle, get the dead needle
vb British

to become irritated, bitter or vindictive. This expression is one of a number referring to needle in the sense of provoke or annoy. This particular form of words has survived as a working-class Londoners' phrase since the late 19th century.

get up one's nose
vb British

to irritate, annoy. A colourful vulgarism used by both sexes since its popularisation in TV comedies of the late 1960s, notably
Steptoe and Son
and
Till Death us do Part
.

It really gets up my nose the way he harps on about his work.

get wood
vb British

to have an erection. A phrase popularised by
Viz
comic from the 1990s.

ghetto
adj American

cheap, of poor quality, in poor taste, old, broken down. The term is not racist, but is primarily in use among white adolescents.

ghetto-fabulous
adj

appearing glamorous. The term, which has been adopted from the street by the fashion trade and journalists, refers to ostentatious display achieved without the wealth to sustain a rich lifestyle.

Did you see that Honda tricked out like an E-class Mercedes? Now that's ghetto-fabulous!

ghora, gora
n

a white person. A Hindi word used by South Asians of several ethnic backgrounds in the UK.

ghost
¹
vb American

to depart, leave. This item of black street slang, adopted also by white adolescents in the 1990s, is probably related to the phrase
git ghost
.

ghost
²
adj American

absent, missing, unseen. A key term from the lexicon of street gangs and aficionados of
rap
and
hip hop
since the 1990s. Used in this way the word has evoked disappearance and invisibility in black speech for two decades or more.

They came for us but we was ghost.
Get ghost!

ghosted
adj British

to be ‘stood up' by one's visitor. The item of prisoners' slang was recorded by the English Project at Winchester Prison in October 2010.

ghost turds
n pl American

another expression for
dust bunnies

gib
vb British

to talk gibberish. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

G.I.B.
adj American

sexually accomplished and/or sexually active. The euphemistic abbreviation of ‘good in bed' is spoken as its constituent letters, not as an acronym.

gibbing
n British

gatecrashing. This term was in use among bouncers and security men during the 1990s. Its origin is obscure.

gig
¹
n

a.
a musical engagement or performance. One of many terms, originating among pre-World War II jazz musicians in the USA, which were adopted by the rock-music milieu in the 1960s. The exact origin of the word is obscure, but may be related to ‘jig' in the sense of a dance.

‘These lads are professional musicians and gigs are their bread and butter.'
(
News of the World
, 29 May 1988)

b.
an appointment, session, stint or activity. Particularly in the 1970s, the musicians' term was extended to refer to any one-off engagement or event (thus sometimes performing as a synonym of
trip
or
scene
).

I've got the feeling this party isn't really my gig.

gig
²
vb

to perform at a
gig
or (more often) a series of gigs. An item of musicians' jargon.

‘These guys [The Grateful Dead] will be gigging beyond the grave.'
(
Independent
, 26 February 1988)

gigantic
adj British

excellent. A vogue term among British adolescents in the 1990s as an adjective or exclamation.

giggle-stick
n

a
joint
, cannabis cigarette. A jocular expression, typically used by middle-class students or otherwise respectable adults since the early 1970s. It is not part of the lexicon of hardened drug users.

giggle water
n

alcoholic drink, particularly champagne or exotic spirits. An ingenue's jocular expression for the potential cause of unaccustomed hilarity.

gilbert
n British See
green gilbert

gimbo
n British

an otherwise unspecified thing, more or less whatever you want it to mean