Read Dictionary of Contemporary Slang Online
Authors: Tony Thorne
hammer
n
1.
a male who behaves excessively, a heavy drinker. In this sense the word has been used by US college students and some British adolescents since 2000.
2.
a gun. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.
3.
See
put the hammer on (someone)
hammered
adj British
drunk. A fashionable word among mainly middle class young people since the 1980s.
Hampsteads
n pl British
a short form of the cockney rhyming slang âHampstead Heath':
teeth
hampton, Hampton Wick
n British
the penis. Hampton Wick is a southwestern suburb of London, providing a rhyme for
prick
. In modern usage the short form of the phrase is usually preferred. Since the mid-1970s the term has been considered well established and inoffensive enough to be used in television comedies.
âThen there were these telephone calls fromâ¦groupies. Somehow they'd learned a hell of a lot of cockney slang. They'd phone up and say “Hi Jeff Beck, how's your 'Ampton Wick?” Ridiculous!'
(Jimmy Page,
Oz
magazine, April 1969)
Compare
ted
ham shank
n British
an act of male masturbation, rhyming slang for
wank
. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.
hamstered
adj British
intoxicated by drugs or drink. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.
The few linguists who have studied slang have identified something which they call either âoverlexicalisation' or âhypersynonymy'. This is when a social subgroup invents far more terms for something than seems strictly necessary. Examples would be the many nicknames that US gang members give to their weapons of choice (
gatz
,
cronz
,
chrome
,
iron
, etc. for a handgun) or the dozens of words applied by teenagers to outsiders or misfits. The fairly obvious explanation is that these expressions don't just describe something, but have a greater symbolic importance for the group in question: they help
define its members' common identity and reinforce their fellow-feeling. Among UK students in further and higher education, by far the biggest category of recorded slang terms concerns drunkenness or the effects of drugs. This might suggest that getting
high
is their favourite communal activity, and there is plenty of evidence that it is, but what the mass of adjectives really proves is that this is a number one topic of conversation, a key rite of passage for all genders and most if not all ethnicities.
Hammered
(probably one of the most widespread recent designation: it occurs in the USA and Australasia, too),
wreckaged
and
battered
all reflect the common metaphorical link between inebriation and damage, destruction or punishment, as do
larruped
and
lashed
;
lathered
,
swilled
and
sloshed
use the notion of dribbling and spilling. Long-established
pissed
may be updated to
wizzed
or, more often,
wazzed
, or infantilised into
widdled
. In many cases the literal meaning is irrelevant or nonexistent, if the word has the right number of syllables and a family resemblance, either in appearance or sound, thus
hamstered
,
hoovered
,
wombled
or
wankered
,
lagged
,
langed
,
langered
,
mulled
,
munted
and
willied
. A widespread favourite,
mullered
, looks as if it is related to âmulled (wine)', but a plausible derivation is from the heavy Muller guns once used by the German army against the British. A number of these terms can refer both to immediate effects (âdrunk') or after-effects (âexhausted', âdrained', âhungover'). A female university student of my acquaintance â a young woman whom an older generation might have described as well brought-up â announced one morning that the previous night she had been âtotally
cunted
', blithely using an otherwise taboo term (
twatted
is a milder version), here stripped of all its sexual connotations. More traditional-sounding expressions still prevail among students outside the South East, among them
bevvying
, or
(out) on the heavy-bevvy
, for drinking: getting
newkied
may be inspired by nuclear attack, or more probably by ingestion of Newcastle Brown Ale. In the USA
racked
,
hootered
,
faced
(a âdisguised' version of
shit-faced
), and
polluted
are heard on campus. In Britain and Australia
off one's face
is well established, while
locked
is Irish.
handbag
1
n British
a male escort, a âwalker'. Handbag refers to a âdecorative appendage' to a fashionable lady, often a homosexual male. The term was popular in high society and journalistic circles in the mid-1980s.
handbag
2
vb British
to frustrate, obstruct or attack. A jocular version of
sandbag
seen in the 1980s, often in journalistic references to Margaret Thatcher. The term evoked shrewish intransigence.
handbag situation, handbags at ten paces
n British
a scene of provocation, a confrontation and/or feigned violence. These sarcastic phrases are typically used by football supporters to describe a scene in which players make a show of menacing or jostling each other. The reference is to a supposed brawl between middle-aged women.
âA handbag situation â when players square up and scuffle (supermarket style) but the ball is too far away for them to kick each otherâ¦'
(
Evening Standard
, 26 May 1994)
hand-job
n
an act of manual sexual stimulation, usually masturbation of a male by a female. A common vulgarism in use since the mid-1960s.
handle
n
a name, nickname, alias or title. The first sense of the word was that of title (an appendage to one's name) in the early 19th century.
hand shandy
n British
an act of (male) masturbation. The term became widespread in the 1990s.
handsome
adj British
excellent, impressive. An allpurpose term of approval used by cockneys and other Londoners, sometimes standing alone as an exclamation. The âh' is usually dropped.
handy
adj British
1.
a catch-all London working-class term, invariably pronounced without the âh' and signifying adept, devious, virile, brutal, etc., usually in a context of immorality or illegality
2.
a term from teenage sexual slang, invariably applied to boys and defined by
Just Seventeen
magazine in August 1996 as âa bit too tactile under a girl's T-shirt for her liking'
hang
vb American
1.
to consort with, frequent. This black street usage is a shortening of the colloquialism âhang out' and was adopted by white adolescents from the 1990s.
He's been hangin' with the homeboys.
Those betties hang down at the mall
.
2.
to relax. This usage is probably a shortening of the phrase
hang loose
. Originating in black street slang, it was adopted by white adolescents from the 1990s.
I'm inclined to tell them all to go to hell and just hang for a while.
hang a louie
vb American
to take a left turn. A teenage expression from the early 1970s.
hang a ralph
vb American
to take a right turn. A teenage expression from the early 1970s.
hang a yooie/u-ie
vb British
to make a U-turn when driving a car. A mock-racy expression from the 1980s.
hanging
adj British
1.
ugly, usually applied to females, in the words of one speaker, âmost likely with an unattractive body and bad dress sense to boot.' In this sense the word was recorded in South Wales in 2000.
2.
tired, exhausted. From army and Officer Training Corps usage.
Compare
hooped
This may be a shortening of the synonymous expression
hanging out of my hoop
, where âhoop' signifies âanus'.
3.
drunk
hang loose
vb American
to stay relaxed, keep
cool
,
chill out
. A vogue term from the late 1950s and early 1960s when it characterised the nonchalant state of detachment aspired to by
beatniks
, jazz musicians, etc. The phrase (still heard occasionally) is often an exhortation to a friend on parting. It probably originates in the use of âloose' to describe a free, unstructured style or mood (although some have interpreted it as referring to the male genitals in an unencumbered position).
hang one on
vb
an alternative form of
tie one on
hang one on someone
vb
to hit, punch someone. An expression, used particularly by brawlers, which may also be expressed with the verbs âland', âstick' or âput'.
hang out
vb See
let it all hang out
hang-up
n
a neurosis, obsession. From the image of being hung on a hook. This
beatnik
term was seized upon by the
hippies
to describe the concerns of the
straight
world. Unlike many contemporary terms, hang-up has not dated significantly and is still in use today.
He's got a hang-up about young chicks in uniform.
hank
adj British
extremely hungry. Recorded in London in 1994, the word is a shortening of the rhyming-slang phrase âHank B. Marvin', meaning
starvin(g)
, borrowing the name of the lead guitarist of the
Shadows
pop group.
âCan you hurry up, we're all bloody hank in here.'
(Recorded, builder, South East London, July 1994)
âI'm absolutely hank. Could eat the arse of a slow running rat.'
(Singer Tony Mortimer quoted on Popbitch gossip website, 11 October 2012)
hankie-head
n
an Arab. The term, which probably post-dates the more widespread synonyms
rag-head
and
towel-head
, was popularised by the comic writer P. J. O'Rourke in the 1980s.
happening
adj American
exciting, stimulating and/or up-to-date. A fashionable term from the vocabulary of teenagers since the mid-1970s. It is influenced by the earlier black catchphrase greeting âwhat's happening?' and the
hippy
cliché, âit's all happening'.
a really happening band
happy slapping
n British
a transgressive fad of 2005 whereby a random victim is attacked and the attack photographed or videoed on a mobile phone. The coinage is probably influenced by the phrase âslap-happy'.
âLet's happy slap that bloke there.'
âHa! Aye!'
(
Viz
magazine, June/July 2005)
haps
adj British
an abbreviation of happy
âWe're really haps to be in the Smash Hits Pop-o-Saurus.'
(Pop group Fierce, speaking in 2000)
hard-arse, hardass
n
a tough, unyielding and/or severe person, a martinet. This noun form postdates the adjectival form hard-arsed.
hardass
n American See
hard-arse
hardball
n See
play hardball
hardcore
adj
1.
thoroughly criminal, deviant or sexually debauched. This is a specific sense of the colloquial meaning of hardcore (committed or uncompromising, as applied, e.g., to political beliefs or pornography). In the 1970s in the USA the word took on a narrower connotation in the jargon of the street and underworld, coming to mean irredeemably criminal. It
was often used in this sense to indicate admiration or awe.
the hardcore life
That guy's real hardcore
.
2.
excessive, outrageous, relentless. This vogue term in adolescent speech in the later 1990s was often used to indicate appreciation or admiration. It is based on the earlier uses of the word to characterise pornography and rock music and, according to its users (one of whom defined the usage as referring to âsomebody who stays up all night, is violent, or drinks everyone under the table or takes loads of drugs'), its antonym is
lightweight
.