Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (81 page)

holler!, holla!
exclamation American

a.
goodbye. A very fashionable usage among younger speakers since 2000.

b.
an expression of joy, triumph

home, homes
n

shortenings of
homeboy

homeboy
n American

a street-gang member ready and old enough to defend his area or
turf
. The word, now part of the code of Los Angeles street gangs, was originally an innocuous American term for a good neighbour or good citizen.

‘And some homeboys looking for trouble down here from the Bronx.'
(Lou Reed, “Halloween Parade”, from the album
New York
, 1989)

homegirl
n American

the female equivalent of the more common
homeboy
, recorded in black American speech as long ago as the 1930s. By the 1990s the term was often abbreviated to
homey
.

home run, homer
n American

an instance of sexual satisfaction or conquest; full sexual intercourse. This adolescents' expression, inspired by baseball and typically used by males, denotes the successful culmination of a heavy petting session or attempted seduction. Partial success is referred to as reaching
first base
.

Danny managed to score a home run. He made a homer.

homey, homie
n

a shortening of
homeboy
or
homegirl
, which became popular in the 1990s and was also adopted by white adolescents to refer to their peers, first in North America and subsequently to a limited extent in the UK When it first appeared approximately fifty years earlier the word was used by black American migrants as an affectionate term of address for anyone originating from the same home town or city

‘I'm square with my homeys…'
(17-year-old black female suspected of the murder of another girl, quoted in the
Evening Standard
, 2 March 1997)

honcho
n

a boss, an important person. This word from American English of the late 1950s is not, as is often supposed, Hispanic in origin, but from the Japanese
hancho
meaning squad-leader; the term was adopted by Americans during the Korean War. It is now used typically in a business context, often in the phrase
head honcho
.

‘He [Reagan] was surrounded in his own White House by the portly honchos of the Democratic Party. The message was unwitting but clear: these are the people who count in Washington today.'
(
Observer
, 22 November 1987)

honk
¹
vb

1.
to vomit. The term is echoic and has existed in British slang since the 1950s.

2.
to stink. Related to the Liverpudlian
ronk
, this sense of the word is widespread in Australia and not unknown in Britain.

3.
to drink (to excess). A middle-class and high-society term of the 1950s in Britain, now rarely heard.

See also
honkers
;
honking

honk
²
n

1a.
a stink, bad smell. A variation of
ronk
, perhaps influenced by
hum
and stink. A usage popular in Australia and, to a lesser extent, in Britain.

1b.
an evil-smelling person or animal

2.
an act of vomiting, from the verb to
honk

3.
a wild, noisy, drunken party. A British term of the 1950s, probably from
honk
, meaning to drink and
honked
, meaning drunk.

honked
adj British

drunk. The ‘honk' in question may echo the hooting and vomiting of drunkards, or else the gulping or quaffing.
Honking
and
honkers
are synonyms.

honkers
adj British

drunk. A middle-class term perhaps originating in armed-services slang, where it has been heard since the 1950s. The
-ers
ending is typical of public-school and army expressions.

honkies
n pl American

the backside or buttocks. An Americanism of the 1970s, derived from the colloquial verb to ‘hunker down' (i.e. to squat), which
in turn is related to the word haunches (in mock-rustic English, ‘hunkers').

honking
adj British

drunk. A middle-class usage, heard less often nowadays than in the 1960s, which may have originated in armed-services slang. The ‘honk' denotes either drinking in gulps, the braying made by drunken revellers or, more probably, vomiting.

honky, honkey, honkie
n American

a white person. A pejorative black term which became widely known in the early 1970s. The word's origin is unclear; it is said to be a deformation of ‘hunk', meaning an immigrant (ultimately from ‘Hungarian'), but may equally be inspired by the honking of pigs.

hooch
n

alcohol, particularly illicitly produced alcoholic drink. The word originally referred to strong liquor made by the Hoochino Indians of Alaska.

hood
¹
n American

a neighbourhood. This abbreviation, heard in the argot of black street gangs, was popularised by the title of the 1991 US film
Boyz 'N the Hood
.

hood
²
,
hoodlum
n American

a criminal, (small-time) gangster. The longer form of the word was in use in the USA by the end of the 19th century; hood became widespread from the 1940s. Many suggestions have been offered as to the origin of the terms. The least unlikely are: a deformation of an Irish surname such as Hoolahan; an altered
backslang
version of Muldoon; a corruption of ‘huddle-'em', supposedly the cry of a gang of muggers; and
hodalem
or
hudilump
, respectively Bavarian and Swiss dialect terms for a wretch or naughty boy.

‘Go tell your hoodlum friends outside/you ain't got time to take a ride.'
(Lyrics to
Yakety-Yak
, by The Coasters, 1958)

hoodie
n British

a young, usually male, hooligan. The term, in vogue in 2005, is the nickname for the hooded tracksuit top worn as a disguise and uniform.

hoof
n See
iron

hoofer
n

a dancer, particularly a chorus girl, tap-dancer or other hard-working professional dancer

hoof it
vb

a.
to go on foot, walk. In this sense the term has been used since the 17th century.

b.
to leave, walk away. This sense of the verb dates from the 19th century and enjoyed a vogue in Britain in the late 1980s as a fashionable synonym for
leg it
or
hook it
.

c.
to dance. A usage popularised in the context of pre-World War II Hollywood musicals. The predictable use of hoof (an animal's foot) is probably reinforced by the word's echoing of the panting of hardworking chorus dancers.

hoo-hoos
n pl American

female breasts. The term, popular from 2003, may be an alteration of
hooters
or an arbitrary coinage.

hook
¹
vb

1.
British
to steal. This euphemism, which is still in use in London working-class speech, is at least 200 years old. The ‘h' is almost invariably dropped.

She managed to hook a few videotapes. ‘Barry's been out hookin' again.'
(Recorded, street trader, Islington, London, 1986)

2.
Australian
to ‘pick up' (a romantic partner). Unsurprisingly, the word has been used in this sense before, e.g. in 19th century England, where it referred to obtaining a potential marriage partner.

‘When you hooked Darcy last night, did you sleep with her?'
(
A Country Practice
, Australian TV series, August 1994)

hook
²
,
hook up
vb

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

hooker
n

a prostitute (invariably female). This American term has been imported into British and Australian usage since the mid-1970s. The origin of the word is stated authoritatively by many works of reference. However, they disagree. The most popular version cites the Civil War commander, General Hooker, who supposedly encouraged his men to frequent brothels. Another source gives Corlear's Hook, the name of a New York red-light district, as the inspiration for the term. In fact hooker seems to have been in use with its current meaning as early as 1845 (which invalidates the Civil War explanation) and may simply be a figurative use of the literal meaning as ‘enticer', ‘ensnarer', a sense
which it has in Dutch slang (
hoeker
would be known to the large Dutch-American population of New York as meaning ‘huck-ster', for instance). Hooker was obsolescent by the 1920s, but was revived in the late 1960s.

a high-class hooker
down on the strip where the hookers hang out

hook it
vb British

to leave, run away. The phrase, a variant of ‘hook off', an earlier and now obsolescent cockney expression, is over 100 years old and is also heard occasionally in the USA. The origin of the hook reference is obscure but may be related to its use to mean anchor (whence the expression to
sling one's hook
: to weigh anchor, although this etymology is disputed).

hook (someone) one
vb

to hit, punch

hooks
n pl

hands. For obvious reasons this metaphorical usage, associated with the images of ‘getting one's hooks into' someone or something and to
hook
meaning to steal, has existed for several hundred years.

hook up
vb American

to kiss, embrace and/or engage in sexual play, especially used of recent acquaintances. The phrase is used particularly by high school and college students.

hooky
adj British

stolen, of dubious provenance,
hot
. A London working-class and underworld term from
hook
, meaning to steal. Hooky is often pronounced with a dropped aspirate.

‘Last time I saw John 'e was sellin' 'ooky watches out of a suitcase down Brick Lane.'
(Recorded, young male, London, 1988)

hoolie
n

a wild, noisy party or celebration. The word is Irish in origin and is probably an anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic term
ceilidh
, meaning an informal gathering for folk music and dance.

hoon
n

a.
Australian
a lout, hooligan or disrepu-table youth. Originally this word (of unknown etymology) signified a man ‘living on immoral earnings'; its meaning has now been generalised to denote, for instance, a member of a gang of ne'er-do-wells.

b.
British
an obnoxious individual

hoop
n British

the anus. The term has been used in this sense in the armed forces since 2000.

hooped
adj

tired, exhausted. The reference is to
breathing out of one's hoop
, an expression, evoking a desperate need for extra oxygen, in army and Officer Training Corps usage since around 2000.

hoop out
vb American

to play basketball. A high-school and campus term. To ‘hoop down' is to play particularly earnestly or dynamically.

hooptie
n American

an old and/or dilapidated car. The term is used in black speech and
rap
lyrics.

hooptie ride
n American

a drive-by murder, in the jargon of street gangs and
rappers

Hooray, Hooray Henry
n British

a young upper-class male, particularly one who indulges in offensive, rowdy, hearty and/or vacuous behaviour. This pejorative term arose in the late 1960s to describe the more exhibitionist members of a social subgroup which was later anatomised under the name
Sloane Rangers
.

hootch
n

an alternative spelling of
hooch

hootchie, hoochie
n American

a female, particularly a promiscuous or sexually active female. This term, derived from
hootchie cootchie
, was part of black street slang of the 1990s.

She sure is one hot hootchie.

Compare
coochie

hootchie cootchie
n American

sexual caresses or erotic dancing. A phrase familiar to blues music enthusiasts, from black slang of the early 20th century. A ‘hootchie cootchie man' is a lover or
stud
. The phrase hootchie cootchie first appeared in the USA in the 1880s, when it denoted a sort of belly-dance. The words may be a pseudo-exotic invention or a distortion of a now-forgotten foreign term.