Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (70 page)

glitch
n

a snag, an unforeseen fault or malfunction. This piece of aerospace technicians' jargon from the late 1960s has entered the common vocabulary in the era of high technology, referring particularly to computer problems. It is either a blend of
gremlin
and hitch, or from a Yiddish version of the German
glitschen
, meaning to slip.

glitz
n

glamour, (pseudo)sophisticated showiness. The word is a blend of glamour, ritzy and glitter and is probably a back-formation from
glitzy
. The term is usually used with a degree of implied criticism; it evokes superficiality and ‘brittleness'. The word seems to have been an invention of journalists and writers in about 1984. In 1985 it was used as the title of a crime thriller by the American author Elmore Leonard.

‘Here [Liberia] there is little glitz to the evangelical churches.'
(
Sunday Correspondent
, 17 September 1989)

glitzy
adj

glamorous, showy. A vogue word from 1985 to 1987, used particularly by journalists, evoking materialistic but superficial glamour. It is generally more negative than positive in its connotations.

See also
glitz

glomp
vb American

to jump and hug someone from behind. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

glop
vb British

to drink alcohol, particularly to swill beer. A student term of the 1980s.

‘Glop, don't stop.'
(Slogan in urinal, University of Essex, 1987)

glory-hole
n American

a hole in a partition between two toilet cubicles, enabling voyeurism or communication by (usually male)
gays

glug
vb
,
n

(to take) a drink or drinks of alcohol. A word which imitates the gurgle of pouring or swallowing.

gnarly
adj American

1.
excellent

2.
awful, inadequate Both senses of the word have been beloved by
Valley Girls
and their teenage imitators in the USA since the mid-1970s. The word is thought to have originated in surfing jargon in the 1960s, referring to the texture of waves. By 1989
Tatler
magazine reported the word as being in use among schoolboys at Eton. It is sometimes spelt
narly
.

go
vb

to be sexually active and/or enthusiastic. The word is used in this sense, particularly in Britain, of women by men; its vulgarity was highlighted in the ‘Nudge nudge, wink, wink' sketch by Eric Idle in the British TV series,
Monty Python's Flying Circus
(1970), in which he badgers a fellow drinker with importunate questions such as:
Your wife… does she go? I bet she does.

See also
goer

go ape
vb See
ape(shit)

goat heaven
n

a state of unfettered freedom, enjoyment, indulgence. The phrase, in use since 2000 and of uncertain geographical origin (it is popular in the Caribbean), evokes both bliss and excess.

gob
¹
n British

the mouth. The word was originally Irish and Scottish Gaelic for beak or mouth, becoming a British dialect term in about the 16th century. It is still more widespread (and considered less vulgar) in Ireland, in Liverpool, where the influence of Irish speech is strong, and in the north of England, where the influence of post-Gaelic dialect lingers. In southern England it is mainly a schoolchildren's word.

gob
²
vb

to spit. The ritualistic spitting at groups performing on stage indulged in by
punks
from 1976 onwards was known as ‘gobbing'.

gobble, gobble off
vb
,
n

(to perform) oral sex, particularly fellatio. A vulgarism which is most widespread in Britain.

gobby
adj British

excessively loquacious, boastful. Based on

gob
, the term is a slang version of the colloquial ‘gabby'.

go belly-up
vb

a.
to die

‘Just another fat junkie who went belly-up.'
(
Tatler
, October 1989)

b.
to fail or collapse. Said typically of a business or other venture.

‘He lost all his equity when the firm went belly-up in the recession of '81.'
(
Wall Street
, US film, 1987)

These senses are based on the image of a dying fish or a supine dead animal.

c.
to give in, yield, submit. This refers to the animal behaviour whereby the soft underparts are exposed to an adversary as a sign of submission.

gob job
n British

an act of oral sex, usually referring to fellatio. A vulgarism from the late 1960s.

go blow!
exclamation

used for telling someone to go away

‘So take a piece of u own medicine and GO BLOW (oops did dat offend u?).'
(Recorded, contributor to
www.wassup.com
, November 2003)

gobshite
n British

a contemptible person. A Liverpudlian and northern term of abuse which, since the 1960s, has spread to other areas of Britain including London. It usually indicates great distaste or contempt (
gob
refers to the mouth and
shite
to excrement; both are regional vulgarisms).

gobslutch
n British

a slovenly, messy person; someone with dirty personal habits, especially eating habits. A term from the north of England, heard in the long-running TV soap opera
Coronation Street
. (
Gob
refers to the mouth, ‘slutch' is a variant form of slush.)

gobsmacked, gob-struck
adj British

astonished, struck dumb, left open-mouthed in amazement. From
gob
. These are originally Liverpudlian terms and are now widespread, used even by
Sloane Rangers
and
yuppies
, thanks initially to usage on TV comedies set in Liverpool. The expressions enjoyed a vogue in popular speech and journalistic use from 1988. The phrases originally referred to a victim gaping after literally being punched in the mouth.

‘He had expected to pay one tenth of the price and was said to be “gobsmacked” at the final cost.'
(
Independent
, 21 September 1989)

gobsmacking
adj British

astonishing. A more recent derivation of

gobsmacked
.

‘…but when Casaubon observes, “Life isn't simple, the way it is in detective stories”, the gobsmacking banality can only be the author's.'
(Hugo Barnacle reviewing Umberto Eco,
Independent
, 14 October 1989)

go bush
vb Australian

to go native, become countrified.

See also
bush
¹
;
bushie

go commando
vb British

to dispense with underwear when otherwise clothed. The expression probably did originate in military usage but by 2005 was
in use among fashion designers, journalists etc.

God-botherer
n British

an excessively pious person or a clergyman. A mainly middle-class expression applied particularly to institutional holy men such as prison and army chaplains, or to members of evangelical movements. The phrase has inspired the more frivolous nonspecific insult,
dog-botherer
.

God forbids
n pl

children,
kids
. The rhyming-slang phrase is synonymous with
saucepan lids
and
dustbin lids
, and was still in use in 2004.

Try not to wake up the God forbids.

go down
vb American

to take place, happen. A phrase from black street slang which became widespread in the later 1960s.

go down (on)
vb

to perform oral sex. The term is used by, and applied to, both sexes; until the late 1960s it was a predominantly American expression. Elaborations used by high-school and college students included ‘go down like water/like a submarine' (usually indicating shock at a person's readiness to indulge in this behaviour).

goer
n

a sexually active and enthusiastic person; in the past, almost always said of women by men. The word can express admiration and approval or astonishment, though rarely moral disdain.

gofer
n

a minion or assistant who runs errands or delivers messages, etc. The word, originally an Americanism from the film industry (where it is now a job title), is a pun on ‘go for (something)' and gopher, the North American burrowing rodent

gogglebox
n

a television set. This term has been in use since the late 1950s. At first used pejoratively by those disapproving of TV, then ironically by viewing enthusiasts, the word is now semantically neutral.

goggles
n pl

spectacles, or someone wearing them. A schoolchildren's word.

goggy
n British

a misfit, a pupil rejected by schoolfellows. This invented term was reported by
Tatler
in September 1989 to be in current use at Eton College. (Synonyms are
gunk
,
spod
,
Wendy
and
zoid
.)

go home
vb

to shut up, cease, desist

going for gold
vb British

expending maximum energy, displaying maximum effort. This 1990s usage borrows the cliché phrase from the language of sports and competitions.

‘Everyone's up by the speakers, going for gold.'
(New Age tribal dancer,
Exodus: The Diary
, Channel 4 TV documentary, 12 November 1995)

goit
n British

a foolish and/or grotesque person. The term, possibly based on ‘goitre', was used in and possibly coined for the cult BBC TV comedy series,
Red Dwarf
.

G.O.K.
adj

undiagnosable or undiagnosed, it is an abbreviation of ‘God only knows'. Jocular medical shorthand, e.g. as written on a patient's notes.

GOKW
phrase

medical slang for ‘God only knows what', allegedly written in case notes where a diagnosis is difficult. The abbreviation was posted online by ‘Old Work Horse' on 21 December 2007.

goldbrick
vb American

1.
to shirk, idle or loaf. In this sense the word is often used in an armed-service context.

2.
to swindle. The reference is to painted ‘gold' bricks sold by fraudsters.

golden showers
n

urine or urination. A joky euphemism derived from the jargon of prostitution, in which urination is part of the sexual repertoire. An alternative term is
water sports
.

gome, gomer
n American

a tediously studious fellow pupil or student, a
swot
. A
preppie
and teenage term based on the name (‘Gomer' Pyle) of a fictional comic television character who personifies cloddishness. Perhaps coincidentally,
gomeril
or
gomerel
are archaic British dialect words for a simpleton.

gomey
n Irish

a stupid person. The word is related to the Scottish
gommie
and the American
gomer
, all deriving from older dialect words for a simpleton which in turn come from the Old English
guma
, meaning man, which is a cognate of the Latin
humanus
and the word from which (bride)groom derives.

gommie
n British

a foolish, stupid or gormless person. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England. It is
related to the Irish
gomey
and the American
gomer
.

gone
adj

a.
in a euphoric state; ecstatic from the effects of drugs or music. The term is from the slang of jazz musicians of the 1950s, adopted by
beatniks
and
hipsters
. It now seems comically dated.

I tried talking him out of it, but he was totally gone on booze and reefer.

b.
inspiring ecstasy or euphoria; said especially of music and usually preceded by ‘real'

some real gone jazz
a real gone chick

gonef
n American

an alternative spelling of
ganef

gong
n

1.
British
a medal. The use of the word derives predictably from its resemblance to the metal gong which was ceremoniously sounded in colonial days, itself named from an echoic Malayan word.

‘Tony Hart, Tory leader of Kent County Council, may not be in line for the usual gong dished out to holders of his office.'
(
Private Eye
, April 1989)