Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (87 page)

jeet
vb South African

to leave, hurry away. The term, recorded since 2000, may be a form of
jet
.

jeeter
n American

a slovenly male. Jeeter Lester was a quintessentially uncouth rustic character in Erskine Caldwell's 1932 novel
Tobacco Road
; his first name became part of New York slang in the 1940s and subsequently spread to other areas. By the 1990s the term was still used, often as part of domestic slang.

jeff
n American

a white person. This sometimes pejorative black term is applied invariably to white males and is inspired by Jefferson Davis, the American president portrayed on banknotes, seen as a quintessential Caucasian.

jekyll
adj British

snide
. An item of rhyming slang from ‘(Dr) Jekyll and (Mr) Hyde', recorded among middle-class, middle-aged speakers.

Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll
n British

a
guide
.

Compare
jekylls

jekylls
n pl British

trousers. The word is rhyming slang – Jekyll and Hydes:
strides
.

That's a fancy pair of jekylls you've got there
.

jel
adj British

jealous. The abbreviation featured in the reality TV series
The Only Way is Essex
and in student slang recorded in 2012.

well jel
‘I saw someone with a bag that said “Don't be jel, be reem”'
(Posting on Mumsnet website, 12 May 2012)

jellies
n pl British

cheap sandals made of brightly coloured transparent plastic as worn by art students, etc. since the early 1980s. The footwear resembled confectionery of the same name.

jelly
adj American

jealous. The abbreviated form, employed by Rapper Big L in 1998, was still in use on campus in 2011.

I'm so jelly of your new i-Phone
.

jelly-belly
n

a fat, overweight or paunchy person

jelly roll
n American

a.
a woman's sex organs

b.
sexual intercourse

c.
a woman seen as a sexual partner, sex object or sweetheart

d.
a male lover or seducer

All these terms, popularised by their use in jazz, blues and rock music, derive from black American argot of the late 19th century. A jelly roll is literally a jam or Swiss roll. The triple metaphor implied in the first three senses derives from the rolling motion, the supposed resemblance of the cake to the vulva, and the notion of ‘sweet reward'. In the case of the fourth sense, which is less common but may historically antedate the others, the word represents the sweet element of ‘sweetheart'.

jerk
¹
n

a foolish, despicable or obnoxious person. This American term crossed over into limited British usage during and after World War II. It is usually pejorative, although it is sometimes used with pitying or even affectionate connotations in American speech. The word seems to derive from
jerk off
, meaning to masturbate, and was probably originally a rural term for an idle or immature boy.

‘Poor Michael Reagan. As if it weren't bad enough being the son of Ronald Reagan, the guy happens to be a complete jerk as well.'
(Nigella Lawson, book review, the
Sunday Times
, April 1989)

jerk
²
vb British

to stab. In this sense the term is possibly an alteration of
jook
.

‘On young black slang I have been told that the new word for stabbed is “nanked”. I know it used to be “jerked”. I would have probably said “plunged” as in “he copped for him and plunged him”.'
(South London criminal, 2011)

jerkin' the gherkin
n

male masturbation. A rhyming witticism from around 1960, it replaced other rarer phrases employing the word jerk which had been in use since the mid-19th century, such as ‘jerk the turkey', ‘jerk the jelly', etc.

jerk off
vb

to masturbate. An Americanism which has gained currency throughout the English-speaking world since the late 1960s when it became a
hippy
and student vogue term. The phrase existed in British English in the 19th century but was never widespread.

‘Plus the exhibitionist jerk off fantasia of “let's do it in the road”.'
(
Oz
magazine, 1970)

See also
jerkoff

jerkoff
n American

a despicable or obnoxious (male) person. The American equivalent of
wanker
(to
jerk off
is to masturbate). A word which became particularly popular in the USA in the late 1960s and which had spread to other English-speaking areas by the end of the
hippy
era.

The guy turned out to be a complete jerkoff
.

jerk someone around, jerk someone's chain
vb American

to irritate, harass, subject someone to minor humiliations. The image evoked is of an animal on a rope or lead being tugged at the whim of its owner.

jerkwad
n American

a term of abuse meaning literally a (male) masturbator, a
jerkoff
. (‘Wad' figures in many expressions involving male sexuality and may denote the penis or semen or, more recently, tissue or toilet paper.)

jerkwater
adj American

remote, insignificant. This expression does not, as is often thought, have any implication of urination or masturbation. It derives from the rural American practice of stopping trains in remote country areas to take on water, by pulling across a connection and sluice or ladling from a trough.

‘When you work for a jerkwater [TV] station like this you learn to do everything.'
(
Prime Suspect
, US film, 1982)

Jerry Springer
n British

a
minger
. The rhyming-slang phrase borrows the name of the US talk show host.

jessie
n British

a weak or effeminate man. A Scottish and northern English term of ridicule which has become widespread since the mid-1970s, partly due to the influence of comics such as the Scot, Billy Connolly. It is synonymous with
nellie
and
big girl's
blouse
. There are two proposed derivations for the word; the first is simply a borrowing of the female name as a term of endearment, the second is a Biblical reference to ‘a rod out of the stem of Jesse', giving rise to jokes on the subject of masturbation, etc.

Oaw, come on you big soft jessie.
‘Peelie [John Peel] blubbed throughout, the big jessie, and before long we all joined in.'
(
Evening Standard
, 31 August 1989)

Jesus
n See
creeping Jesus

jet
vb American

to depart, leave. A vogue term in black street argot and white campus slang since the 1990s. The word has been used figuratively to mean ‘run fast' since the 1950s. A variety of euphemisms (like its contemporaries
bail, bill, book
and
jam
) for ‘run away' are essential to the argot of gang members and their playground imitators.

jewels
n pl British See
family

jewels Jewish
n, adj South African

(clothing or accessories considered) fashionable and/or expensive

‘Natty dressers are described as Jewish – because members of that community are considered to be stylish.'
(
Johannesburg Sunday Times
, 18 June 1995)

Jewish American Princess
n American

See
JAP

Jewish flag
n American

a dollar bill or other banknote. A racist ‘witticism'.

Jewish lightning
n American

arson, the deliberate burning of insured property. In racist parlance a type of fraud supposed to be typically perpetuated by Jewish businessmen or landlords.

Jewish typewriter/piano/pianola/joanna
n

a cash register. Supposedly jocular racist terms referring to Jews' presumed love of money. Jewish piano has also been used in Britain for a taxi meter.

jezzy
n British

a disreputable and/or promiscuous female. Defined as a
slag
by one user in 2002, the term is in use among adolescents in London and elsewhere.

JFDI
phrase

the impatient and aggressive injunction, used for instance in workplace communications, employs the initials of ‘just fucking do it!'

jig
n British

a black person. A racist term (probably a shortening of
jigaboo
) employed by police officers, among others. It was used in the G. F. Newman TV play,
Black and Blue
, in September 1992.

jigaboo, jiggaboo
n American

a black person. This was originally a racist epithet used by whites since the early years of the 20th century and later adopted in a gesture of defiance, like
nigger
, by blacks to refer to themselves. The black American author and academic Clarence Major derives the expression from the Bantu word
tshikabo
, meaning ‘servile', and dates its adoption to the 17th century. In
School Daze
, a 1988 film by the black director Spike Lee, a fictional allblack southern US campus is riven between the ‘jigaboo' faction who want the college authorities to sever links with South Africa, and the
wannabes
who are ambitious and apolitical and ape white pastimes and rituals.

jig-a-jig, jiggy-jig
n

sexual intercourse. Since at least the 18th century there have been various slang terms for copulation using versions of the word jig. ‘Jiggle' and ‘jigger', for instance, are now archaic, but jig-a-jig has survived, probably because of its use by non-English speakers and those imitating lewd invitations in broken English.

jigger
n

the penis. An 18th-century word which is still heard, albeit rarely, mainly in the north of England.

jiggered
adj

a.
British
exhausted

b.
nonplussed, astonished. The usual form of words employed is ‘I'll be jiggered!' as an exclamation of surprise on the pattern of ‘I'll be blowed!' or ‘I'll be damned!'. Jiggered in both the above senses probably originated as a 19th-century euphemism for
buggered
.

jiggy
adj

happy, contented. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

jillion
n American

an almost inexpressibly large number or amount. A teenagers' coinage referring to uncountable figures in excess of millions and billions. Other similar terms are ‘trillion' (in fact a real number),
squillion
and
zillion
.

jillock
n British

a foolish person, buffoon. A variant form of
pillock
, heard since the late 1970s.

Jim Benner
n British

a £10 note or the sum of ten pounds

jim-dandy
adj American
excellent, fine. An elaboration of the popular American colloquialism, dandy (jim-, like john- and jack-, was a widespread prefix conferring familiarity). This expression is often used ironically in modern speech.

jim-jams
n pl

1.
pyjamas. A nursery word, especially popular in Britain and Australia.

‘A coat that can double as a dressinggown, nice stripy jim-jams – such are the staples of male Anglo-Saxon sartoria.'
(
Tatler
, November 1985)

2.
an attack of nerves, the ‘heebie-jeebies'. This expression has been applied to delirium tremens (
the D.T.s
) and to drug-induced terror, as well as more mundane jitters. It was first recorded in the mid-19th century.

‘When the smack begins to flow/I really don't care any more/About all the jim-jams in this town/And all the politicians making crazy sounds.'
(
Heroin
, written by Lou Reed and recorded by the Velvet Underground, 1967)

jimmies, the
n pl Australian

1.
an attack of nerves; a variant form of the second sense of
jim-jams

2.
an attack of diarrhoea; a variant form of the
Jimmy Brits

jimmy
n British

1.
an injection of a narcotic, especially heroin. A word from the lexicon of prison inmates and drug addicts.

2.
a shortening of
Jimmy Riddle

‘Hang on to me pint for a minute, I've got to go for a jimmy.'
(Recorded, young drinker, London, 1987)

Jimmy Brits, the Jimmy Brits
n pl Australian

an attack of diarrhoea. Australian rhyming slang for
the shits
, inspired by the name of a British boxer who toured Australia in 1918. (The surname is sometimes spelt Britt.)