Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (91 page)

key
¹
n American

a kilo of an illicit drug, typically marihuana, which could be bought by street dealers in this quantity (in Britain the standard quantity is the non-metric
weight
)

He scored a couple of keys and brought it across the border.

key
²
adj

essential, emblematic or supreme. A
preppie
term of approval or endorsement.

a pair of real key shoes
Those shoes are key.

khazi, kharzie
n British

a toilet. A term dating from the 19th century which has been in widespread use in working-class speech and in the armed services. There are many alternative spellings of this word, which is often assumed to be of African or Far Eastern colonial origin, perhaps by analogy with khaki. In fact it derives from the Latin word for house and its derivatives, such as
casa
in Spanish and Italian or
case
(meaning ‘hut') in French. The word entered working-class speech in
parlyaree
, the latinate jargon of tramps, peddlers and showpeople. Khazi was first thought suitable for broadcasting in the late 1960s and was popularised by such TV comedies as
Till Death Us Do Part
(written by Johnny Speight).

Khyber
n British

the anus. From the rhyming slang ‘Khyber Pass':
arse
. This London working-class expression was used in TV comedies of the late 1960s, trading on the fact that most viewers were only vaguely aware of its vulgar provenance. The word appeared in working-class speech after the Khyber Pass was introduced into the public
perception by the Afghan wars of the later 19th century.

a kick up the Khyber

khyfer
n British

an alternative spelling of
kife

kibble
n American

food, a meal. Kibble is a word of unknown origin which literally means dry coarseground dog food.

‘OK I've got it, we'll chloroform her kibble!'
(
M*A*S*H
, US TV comedy, 1981)

kibitz, kibbitz
vb American

to pass comment on or offer (normally unwelcome) advice. The verb, which typically applies to an annoying onlooker at a card game or sports performance, comes from the Yiddish
kibitsen
, which in turn derives from
Kiebitz
, the German name for a lapwing, a supposedly raucous, insistent bird. The term is sometimes used to mean simply spectate without the pejorative overtones.

kibosh
n British See
put the kybosh/kibosh on

kick
¹
vb

1.
to give up (a habit). A piece of drug addicts' jargon which entered general currency in the 1950s.

2.
American
to be exciting, successful, impressive. This is a shortened form of
kick ass
in its secondary meaning of ‘make a strong impression'.

That suit really kicks.

kick
²
n

1.
a sudden sensation of excitement, a thrill. This Americanism spread to the rest of the English-speaking world in the 1940s, helped by Cole Porter's song, ‘I get a kick out of you'. The plural form
kicks
was a vogue term of the early 1960s.

2.
American
a particular activity or period of involvement. In the language of
hipsters, beatniks
, etc.

She's on a health kick.

kick (over)
vb British

to subject to a police raid

‘That information is six months out of date, any of these [crack dens] will have been kicked by the police.'
(
Evening Standard
, 15 September 2003)

kick ass
vb American

a.
to punish or forcibly restore order, make trouble or behave aggressively. An expression used typically of an authority figure such as an army officer or sports coach. ‘Kick ass and take names' is an elaborated form of the expression (meaning identify and chastise).

b.
to express oneself or enjoy oneself boisterously

That band really kick ass!

kickass
adj American

aggressive, rousing and forceful, tough. A word usually indicating admiration or approval (although sometimes grudgingly).

I think they kind of appreciate his kickass attitude.

kick back
vb American

to relax. A vogue term (sometimes occurring in the tautological phrase ‘kick back and relax/chill out') from the lexicon of black street gangs,
rappers
and, subsequently, surfers, skaters, etc., and adopted by British adolescents in the mid-1990s. It may be based on the notion of a motorcyclist ‘throttling back' or on the image of kicking away furniture in order to stretch out.

kickback
n

money returned or paid as part of an illegal or covert agreement. This term, which is no longer slang, originated in the pre-World War II American underworld, in which to kick back meant to pay a fixed part of one's income, or a fixed commission, in return for favour or protection. (The original image evoked was probably that of kicking back a portion of booty across a floor.)

kick dead whales down the beach
vb

to perform an exhausting and pointless task. The phrase, typically used indignantly or ruefully in workplace slang, may have originated in Silicon Valley in the 1990s.

kicked
adj British

ugly. One of a set of synonyms, including
booted
and
busted
, in vogue since 2000 and employing a damage metaphor. The term is also popular in Ireland.

kicker, the kicker
n

1a.
the ‘final straw', clincher

1b.
a hidden catch

2a.
something exciting or stimulating

2b.
a dynamic person

In the last two senses the word is probably a shortened form of the earlier term
shit-kicker
and was in vogue among UK adolescents in the later 1990s.

kickers
n pl

shoes, boots. This slang term from the 1950s and 1960s (heard mainly in the USA) was appropriated by the French
manufacturers of casual sports boots in the 1970s.

kicking
adj

excellent, exciting, powerful. A vogue term of approbation of the later 1990s, probably deriving from the phrase (it)
kicks the shit
.

‘The band was kickin' and Christian was the hottest guy there.'
(
Clueless
, US film, 1995)

kicking it
adj

enjoying oneself, celebrating or relaxing. A vogue term which, like the adjective
kicking
, is derived from the earlier American expression to
kick the shit
. The phrase was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in the 1990s.

kick it
vb

to die. A shortened version of
kick the bucket
.

kick off
vb

1.
American
to die. A later variation of
kick the bucket
, the equivalent of the British and Australian
kick it
.

2.
American
to leave, go away

3.
British
to lose one's temper, start to fight. First heard in the speech of the north of England, the phrase became popularised by TV soap operas and became generalised by the mid-1990s.

‘I'd like to go and see my Dad but only when he retires, we'd just kick off at each other if I went back now.'
(Bez of rock group The Happy Mondays, quoted in the
News of the World
, 21 October 1990)

kick on
vb Australian

to continue (resolutely). The phrase almost invariably refers to drinkers finding a ‘second wind' or a further source of finance for their current drinking session.

kicks
n pl

1.
British
trousers. An alternative and now archaic form of
kecks
, dating from the 18th century.

2a.
American
sports shoes. A rarer version of
kickers
, used particularly by school and college students.

2b.
American
shoes. The term is used in black street argot and campus slang.

3.
thrills. The plural form of

kick
. A usage which became popular in the late 1950s and notorious for its adoption by juvenile delinquents and other nihilists to explain their motives.

‘They killed for kicks.'
(Headline in
True Detective
magazine, 1963)

kick someone to the kerb
vb

a.
to get rid of someone

b.
to beat someone up

Both uses of the phrase were fashionable among devotees of hip hop music around 2000 and were later adopted more widely.

kickstart
vb, n

(to urge into) sudden action. A metaphor taken from motorcycling and applied to a variety of contexts in both literal and figurative senses.

The chick really had to kickstart the old goat.

kick the bucket
vb

to die. The phrase dates from the 17th or 18th centuries and the bucket in question may be either a suicide's prop or, more probably, a British dialect word (also in the form ‘bucker') for the beam from which slaughtered animals were hung.

‘Ches hasn't been the same since his old lady kicked the bucket.'
(Recorded, barman, London, 1988)

kick the shit
vb American

to succeed, perform powerfully and/or admirably. The image is one of dancing or performing some other frenzied activity in a rustic setting; the phrase itself may be a back-formation from the adjective
shit-kicking
.

kicky, kicksy
adj American

exciting, stimulating, spirited. From the noun
kick
or
kicks
in the sense of excitement, the word has taken on an extra nuance of up-to-date or modish. (The comparative and superlative forms are
kickier
and
kickiest
.).

that kicky little red sportscar of yours

kiddan?, kidaan?
exclamation British

a greeting. The expression, used by young people of Asian origin and others, is from Panjabi in which
kiddan ho tussi
means ‘How are you?'
Kiwe
is an alternative form.

‘“Hello Bruv, kidaan?” or simply just “kidaan?” is used very commonly in Wolverhampton, East London and especially in Southall (West London/Middlesex).'
(Recorded, London student, 2010)

kiddy-fiddler
n British

an unpleasant or unfortunate person. The term, literally denoting a child molester, has been adopted as an allpurpose insult in playground parlance since 2000. A synonym is
paedo
.

Compare
biddy-fiddler

kidlet
n British

a small child. A middle-class term employing the otherwise archaic diminutive suffix ‘-let' (also seen in
quidlet
).

kife, kifer, kyf, kyfer, kaifa, khyfer
n British

a.
a woman or women as a sexual partner or sex object

b.
sexual activity (invariably heterosexual)

‘Bangkok was OK – plenty of kifer.'
(Recorded, petroleum engineer, London, 1987)

This word in its various spellings is now rarely used. It was nearly always restricted to working-class, underworld or armed-services slang, with an area of meaning now more often catered for by words such as
crumpet, tottie
or
rumpo
. The exact etymology of the term is obscure; it may be a 19th-century alteration of an Arabic word
keyif
, meaning sensual consolation. As the definition implies, the word is used exclusively by men.

kifer, kyfer
vb British

to have sex (with). A rare, and now virtually obsolete, derivation of the nouns
kife, kifer
, etc. (meaning women or sex). The word was used exclusively by men.

kike
n

a Jew. An old-fashioned racist term which some authorities derive from diminutives of the name Isaac (see
ikey (mo)
). Others, including the Yiddish expert and humorist, Leo Rosten, ascribe it to the practice of illiterate Jewish immigrants signing their names with a circle (
kikel
in Yiddish) on arrival in the USA. The word was adopted by British and Australian speakers and is still occasionally heard.

‘Take her, kike, she's all yours… a wop whore and a kike fag in a one-room office on the strip should go a long way together.'
(
Platinum Logic
, Tony Parsons, 1981)

kiki
n, adj American

a.
(a) bisexual

b.
(a male) homosexual