Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (73 page)

greenie
n

1.
British
an old term for a one-pound note. From the predominant colour.

2.
American
a (Heineken) beer. A
preppie
term, often extended to refer to other brands, from the colour of the bottle and label of the popular import.

green welly, green-welly brigade
adj
,
n British

(in the style of or characteristic of) upper-middle-class young people who indulge in country pursuits such as riding and hunting and who typically wear Barbour jackets and green wellington boots. The term ‘green-welly brigade' is used pejoratively to refer to wealthy townspeople who visit the country at weekends (usually staying in second homes), and comments on their habit of ‘dressing-down' in a pseudo-country style.

greezy
adj

excellent. The vogue term is used by UK adolescents and may be a blend of great and easy. ‘It means I'm doing well, everything is good.' (Recorded, student, London, 2003)

greldge, grelge
n American

an unpleasant substance, dirt. An item of middle-class slang used by adults as well as adolescents. It was recorded from the early 1990s and appears to be formed from such terms as grease, filth and
grunge
.

grem
¹
, gremmie
n Australian

a.
a novice or incompetent surfer

b.
a novice or incompetent skateboarder A teenage term imported into Britain in the late 1970s. The variant forms are probably based on
gremlin
.

grem
²
vb British

to spit. A term of uncertain derivation used by schoolchildren.

gremlin
n

an unexplained flaw, malfunction or error. A word used particularly by British soldiers in World War I and American airmen in World War II, evoking a malicious spirit. (The word is a form of the Irish
gruaimin
, meaning a bad-tempered little fellow.)

grenade
n

an unattractive female, especially one who has to be placated in order for a more attractive female to be approached. The use of the term derives from the notion of a heroic act of sacrifice whereby an individual falls upon a live grenade, thereby saving his comrades.

OK, it's your turn for the grenade.

greybeard
n

1.
an ‘old-timer'. The word probably originates (as ‘graybeard') in the USA where it is a jargon term for a long-serving senior officer in various fields, such as civil aviation, from the literary term for an old man.

2.
See
longbeard

grid
n British

the mouth. The term, which is heard in northern speech, is almost invariably heard in the phrase ‘shut your grid!'.

G-ride
n American

a stolen car. An item of black street-talk that was included in so-called
Ebonics
, recognised as a legitimate language variety by school officials in Oakland, California, in late 1996.

griefy
adj British

depressing, troublesome. A fairly rare middle-class teenage and student term from the early 1970s.

‘I mean we've all tried to fly from upstairs windows… we know those griefy scenes, man!'
(“American ethno-botanist” in cartoon by Posy Simmonds,
Guardian
, 1980)

grievous
adj British

a.
annoying

b.
unattractive or unappealing

The standard term was adopted as a vogue term of disapproval by adolescents in the later 1990s.

grifter
n American

an untrustworthy, suspect or dishonest person, typically a gambler or minor fraud-ster. Grifter is a word from the early 20th century which is a blend of ‘graft' and ‘drifter'. It was used by Raymond Chandler in his detective fiction and was still occasionally heard in the late 1980s.

grill
¹
vb

1.
to interrogate. Police and armed-forces slang of the 1950s which has become a widely used colloquialism.

2.
American
to intrude upon someone's personal space, from the noun form. A fashionable usage among adolescents since around 2002.

grill
²
n American

a.
the teeth, mouth. The reference is to the radiator grille of a car, often in the form ‘(all) up in someone's grill' (engaged in confrontation or harassment).

b.
one's personal space,
face
. The word has been in vogue in
hip hop
and
rap
milieus since around 2000.

grim
adj British

extremely unpleasant, disgusting. The standard term was adopted as a vogue term of disapproval by adolescents from the later 1990s.

grime
n

(the behaviour, attitudes and accessories associated with) a UK genre of
hip hop
music and
rap
developed in London through the noughties decade and popularised by artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Wiley

grimy
adj American

thuggish in demeanour, from the language of
hip hop
. The term can be used appreciatively or, probably less often, pejoratively. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000 and since around 2004 by British teenagers, invariably as a term of admiration or approval.

grind
n

1.
an act of sexual intercourse. A widespread vulgarism since the 1960s, the
word has been used with a sexual connotation since the 16th century.

2.
American
a
swot
, a tediously diligent student, in high-school and college terminology

3.
the quotidian reality, an oppressive routine, as in the ‘daily grind'
grindage
n American
food. One of many items of adolescent slang using the
-age
suffix, fashionable in the 1990s.

grinding
n

rubbing one's body against a partner for sexual stimulus. The term applies particularly to dancing and usually refers to males.
Crubbing
is a synonym.

grip
¹
vb

to steal. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

grip
²
n American

1.
a large crowd

a grip of people

2.
money. In this sense the word was recorded in student usage in 2003.

grippa, gripa
adv American

extremely. A vogue synonym of
hella
and
ganga
recorded on campus in 2002.

Hey that ride is grippa tight!

gripped
adj British

arrested, apprehended. Used in street-gang code and its imitations since around 2010.

Del got gripped.

grizzer
n South African

a mother, matriarch or elderly lady. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the
Cape Sunday Times
, 29 January 1995.

gro, groe
n American

a black person. The racist epithet is a clipped form of ‘negro'. In the UK
groid
has been used in the same way.

grobber
n British

an obnoxious, repulsive individual. The term was first recorded in the 1960s and may be related to the verb ‘to grub'.

groceries
n pl See
blow one's cookies/doughnuts/groceries/lunch/grits

grockle
n British

an unwelcome outsider, tourist or visitor. A Devon dialect term applied contemptuously to summer visitors by local residents since the 1960s. The word has been adopted by the many non-native
hippies
and travellers living in the West Country to refer to anyone who is not approved of.

grody
adj American

an American version of
grotty
, used typically by
Valley Girls
. A word dating from the mid-1970s which now seems established in the teen lexicon. It is often intensified in the phrase ‘grody to the max'.

grog

1.
vb
,
n
(to indulge in) alcoholic drink. The noun form, from the rum and hot water served in the British navy since the 18th century, can now refer to any strong drink, or even beer. It is generally heard among middle-aged speakers. The verb ‘to grog / grog up' (in Australian English to ‘grog on') is rarer and restricted mainly to a younger age group. It implies heavy and constant imbibing. ‘Old Grog' (from the grogram, or silk and wool cloak he wore) was the nickname of Admiral Vernon who aroused his sailors by ordering the dilution of their rum ration in 1740.

‘Not realizing one's dependence on the grog is where the wheels touch the road, eh?'
(“Edmund Heep” in a cartoon by Posy Simmonds,
Guardian
, 1979)

2.
vb British
to spit. The term is heard particularly in the Scottish Lowlands and the north of England.

groid
n

a black person. This racist term of abuse, a shortening of the adjective ‘negroid', was particularly prevalent in police usage in London in the late 1980s. It also exists in American speech.

‘Travelling around – being an International Knee-grow (or a “groid” as the Met would have it) – thanks chaps!'
(Lenny Henry,
Time Out
magazine, 26 July 1989)

grolly
n
,
adj British

(someone (usually a male) who is) dull, unattractive, ‘frumpish'. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

grommet, grom
n Australian

a young and/or inexperienced person. The term is used by surfers to denote novices, especially those under 16.

gronk
n British

an unattractive female. In armed-forces' usage since the 1990s.

groove
¹
n

1.
an enjoyable experience or situation. An Americanism derived from the verb to
groove
(on) and the adjective
groovy
. The word was
hip
jargon of jazz musicians since the 1930s, later becoming part of
the
hippy
lexicon and as such was also heard outside the USA until the mid-1970s. It now sounds very dated.

2.
See
in the groove

groove
²
vb

to experience a sensation of well-being, fellow-feeling, to feel in tune with one's surroundings. This well-known and characteristic
hippy
term originates in the slang of jazz musicians and others for whom being in the groove meant being at one with the melody, with one's fellow players, etc. (like a needle in the groove of a record).

groover
n

1.
a fashionable, dynamic,
hip
person. A 1960s formation from
groovy
and the verb to
groove
.

2.
a tedious person, a
swot
. A probably ephemeral usage of the late 1980s, based on the newly pejorative teenage sense of
groovy
.

‘Charmless college swots are no longer known as “nerds” but are on the receiving end of a whole variety of new insults including “dweeb”, “geek”, “goober”, “wonk”, “corn-dog”, “goob-a-tron” and “groover”.'
(
Independent
magazine, 24 December 1988)

groovy
adj

1.
satisfactory, satisfying, fine. A term of approval, sometimes in the form of a mild exclamation, from the
hippy
era. The adjective is derived from the verb to
groove
; originally an American term, it was adopted by British rock musicians,
beatniks
and, later, hippies from about 1965. Sounding risibly dated in the 1970s and 1980, groovy was revived first for ironic, then appreciative use from around 2000.

‘You see we have a lot of other groovy things going for us, and not just concerning music.'
(Mick Jagger,
Record Mirror
, 26 August 1967)

2.
American
tedious, dull. A vogue word among adolescents from 1988. It is probably inspired by the ironic use of the dated term of approbation.

‘Another 1960s catchword, “groovy”, has mysteriously turned into its opposite, now signifying stodgy or old-fashioned.'
(
Independent
magazine, 24 December 1988)

gross
adj

disgusting, distasteful. An Americanism of the mid-1960s, particularly popular among teenage girls. It is a fashionable usage of the standard term (from Latin
grossus
, meaning thick, via French and Middle English) in its sense of excessive, vulgar or obscene.

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