Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (83 page)

hotted
adj British

insulted, publicly humiliated. Used in street-gang code and its imitations since around 2010.

hotting
n British

the stealing of cars for displays of fast driving and subsequent destruction. An organised criminal adolescent hobby which became a vogue in 1991. Here
Hot
combines the slang senses of ‘powerful' and ‘stolen'.

hot to trot
adj

eager and enthusiastic for sex and, by extension, for any activity. A jocular rhyming phrase probably deriving from black American usage in the late 1950s, it was adopted by
hippies
and subsequently enjoyed a vogue in the language of disco dancers, devotees of nightclubs, etc. in the late 1970s, when it usually had the innocuous sense of ready to dance.

Honey, get ready – I'm hot to trot.

hotty, hottie
n American

an attractive female. This appreciative term, which probably originated in black street slang, became widespread in campus and high-school speech from the 1990s. The word has recently also been used occasionally to refer to males in the UK.

hot-wire
vb

to start (a car) by tampering with the ignition electrics rather than using the key. A thieves' and law enforcers' term.

house
n

a type of disco music typically played in amateur or impromptu club sessions in the late 1980s. House music is electronically enhanced versions of black and European dance records, growing out of the
rap
and ‘scratch' embellishments of 1970s disco. The word house itself refers to the Warehouse club in Chicago where this form of music was pioneered.

housed
adj

a.
American
drunk. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

b.
defeated, trounced. The term is used among sports enthusiasts and on campus, for instance.

house moss
n American

another term for
dust bunny

house nigger
n American

a subservient or deferential black person, a black menial or an ‘Uncle Tom'. This old designation, applied originally to slaves and servants, contrasts with the now obsolete expression ‘field nigger' for a black estate worker or poor farmer.

He's gonna have to realise that he can't treat me like some house nigger.

howler
n British

1.
a child or baby. An item of middle-class and family slang of the later 1980s and 1990s.
Wowler
is an alternative version. Apart from the obvious reference to a baby's crying, the word might also recall the howler monkey.

‘We're going to have to get a sitter for the howler.'
(Recorded, middle-class working mother, London 1994)

2.
an ugly person, usually female. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

howling
adj

a.
Scottish
smelling offensively. This is one of many synonyms for stinking, such as
minging
,
bowfing
,
honking
.

b.
British
ugly. The term is usually applied to females by males.

hoy
vb British

to throw, discard. An item of
Geordie
speech (it originated either as a dialect cognate of ‘haul' or as an invention influenced by haul and/or hoist) which became more widely used in the 1990s. The same word occurs in Australian slang.

‘Finish your fag and just hoy it.'
(
Away the Lads
, BBC 2 TV documentary, February 1993)

hubz
n

boyfriend. A description or term of endearment used in US street and campus slang and by some younger speakers in the UK.

huff
vb

1.
to sniff,
snort
(an illicit drug). A late 1970s alternative to the more common
snort
in connection with cocaine. The term has a more specific relation to solvent and glue abuse. It is American in origin.

2.
British
to
fart
. A schoolchildren's term.
Guff
is a synonym.

huge
adj American

excellent, very impressive

The generalised sense of the word is influenced by its use in journalese and showbiz terminology to mean very successful and popular.

hum
vb
,
n

(to)
fart
. Especially popular in Australia, this jocular term probably relates to the surreptitious sound rather than the colloquial meaning of hum as ‘stink'.

humassive
adj

enormous. A blend of huge,
humungous
and massive, heard in 2004.

humgrumshious
adj Caribbean

rough and crude

hum-hole
n

the mouth. An American high-school word, usually employed as part of an insult or challenge. It appears to date from the early 1980s.

Tell him to shut his hum-hole.

hump
¹
vb

1.
to have sex (with). ‘Once a fashionable word for copulation,' according to the
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
by Grose, 1785, hump is now scarcely fashionable but is still a widespread vulgarism, often in the form ‘humping'.

See also
dry-hump

2.
to carry. This now common informal sense of the word was considered unorthodox in the 1950s.

hump
²
n

1. the hump
a feeling of annoyance, resentment or depression. To ‘have the hump' or ‘get the hump' has meant to be bad-tempered or to take offence since the 18th
century. It comes from the notion of a hunchback's burden.

‘“I've got the 'ump today!” he told us cheerfully.'
(Security guard,
Evening Standard
, 12 June 1989)

2.
American
a nickname for a Camel cigarette

3.
a despicable or contemptible person. This insult may be based on the old term for a hunchback or may derive from the sexual meaning of the verb to
hump
.

humping
adj British

exciting, dynamic. A synonym of
banging
,
slamming
, etc. heard in South Wales since 2000.

humpty
adj British

1.
having the
hump
, annoyed, resentful
He's a bit humpty this morning
.

2.
wanting to
hump
someone, priapic,
horny
or sexually aroused

Both senses of the word were current in London working-class usage in the late 1980s. The ‘h' is usually silent.

humpy
adj

1.
British
having the
hump
, annoyed, resentful

2.
American
sexually aroused. The term, a more recent synonym for
horny
, is used particularly among American adolescents and can refer to either sex.

humungous, humongous
adj

enormous, terrifying, tremendous. A popular word among schoolchildren and teenagers since the late 1970s, this is an invention combining elements of huge, tremendous and enormous, on the lines of ‘ginormous', ‘sponditious', etc. It seems to have originated in the USA.

Man, I got a humungous thirst on me. ‘Darlene and I just killed a huge spider – we hadda use a whole can, it was humungous.'
(
Roseanne
, US TV comedy series, 1989)

hung
adj

1a.
sexually endowed (referring to men). A coarse euphemism which is probably Victorian, perhaps older. The word is often part of colourful comparisons such as ‘hung like a horse/bull/jack donkey' or, alternatively, ‘hung like a fieldmouse'.

‘Her opener had a certain showgirl candor: “Is it true what all the girls say – that you're hung like a horse?”'
(Kenneth Anger,
Hollywood Babylon
, 1975)

1b.
sexually well endowed, having large genitals. This shortening of
well-hung
has been part of male
gay
jargon since the early 1970s.

Wow, he's really hung
.

2.
a variation of
hung-up

‘You got me to/Fall in love with you/Though I'm not free to/Fall in love with you/Oh, why/Did I/Have to get so hung on you?'
(The Righteous Brothers,
Hung on You
, written by Spector/King/Goffin, 1965)
‘Nothing to get hung about.'
(The Beatles,
Strawberry Fields Forever
, 1967)

hung-up
adj

a.
suffering from a complex; neurotic, inhibited. A popular
putdown
used by
hippies
to categorise socially or sexually repressed,
uptight
behaviour, especially on the part of
straights
.

b. hung up on (someone)
obsessed with, in love with (someone). A
hippy
usage which persisted into the 1980s and is still heard occasionally.

hunk
n

a well-built, sexually attractive male

hunky-dory
adj

fine, in good order, perfect. A well-established colloquialism, adopted in Britain some time after World War I. The phrase arose in the USA in the mid-19th century. The ‘hunk' component is from the Dutch
honk
, meaning a post used as a ‘home' in a game of tag; ‘dory' is probably a meaningless elaboration.

hurl
vb

to vomit. A usage common in Australia and, to a lesser extent, in Britain.

hurt
adj British

ugly, unattractive. An item of black street-talk used especially by males referring to females, recorded in 2003.

She's hurt.

hurting
adj

1.
American
suffering from the lack of a necessity, usually a drug. By the 1990s the term, previously used in a romantic context, almost invariably referred to a narcotics withdrawal.

I was on the street and hurtin' with nothing to cop with and no-one to cop from
.

2.
unappealing, disappointing

hushous, hutious
adj British

frightening, overwhelming. The term, originally Ghanaian, featured in the 2011 novel of South London youth gangs,
Pigeon English
, by Stephen Kelman.

hustle
¹
vb

a.
to work as a prostitute, solicit sexual clients

b.
to importune, pressurise, take advantage of (someone)

c.
to make great efforts (often selfishly)

All senses of the word (introduced from the USA into other areas in the mid-1960s) derive from its origin in the Dutch
husselen
or
hutseln
, meaning to shake up or jostle. This gave rise to an American version of the word meaning hurry or shove, later used in the specific senses above.

hustle
²
n

a.
a high-pressure scheme, an attempt to obtain money, bully or browbeat someone

b.
a rush, energetic action

The noun forms derive from the earlier verb form.

hustler
n

a.
a prostitute (of either sex). This specific and euphemistic sense of the word remains exclusively North American.

b.
any intrusive, importunate or over-assertive person

A word which entered world English in the late 1960s, from American usage. Both senses of the word postdate the verb form
hustle
.

hymie, heimie
n

a Jew. An unaffectionate, if not strongly offensive term inspired by the short form of the Jewish male forename Hyman. The word has been used in British English since the 1950s.

hype
¹
vb
,
n

a.
(to create) excessive, overblown or misleading publicity. A term applied first to the activities of the pop music industry in the early 1970s, hype is a shortening of ‘hyperbole'. The word was apparently in use in the USA for many years among swindlers and tricksters before becoming part of commercial jargon.

b.
(to indulge in) excessive, embarrassing, importunate behaviour. The disapproving usage is common in UK youth slang.

Hyping means acting in a way that's over the top.

hype
²
adj

1.
American
good, popular, exciting. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

2.
excessive, exaggerated,
over the top