Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, Third Edition; Tony Thorne (A & C Black, 2005)

MoFo

294

MoFo n American

a disguised form of motherfucker, used in conversation and in journalese in the 1990s

moggy, moggie, mog n British

a cat. Moggy was originally a term of endearment or familiarity for any animal. In northern English dialect it was used to designate e.g. a mouse, calf or cat. The exact etymology of the word is uncertain; it may be from the Norse magi, meaning stomach, or from the use of ‘Maggie’ as a name for a pet.

‘Can I just inform you that in South Lancashire a moggy is not a cat, it is a mouse or a small insect. When will the rest of the country learn this?’

(Reader’s letter to the Independent, 4 September 1992)

mojo n

a.a magic charm, spell or influence. A black American concept, popularised elsewhere by its use in blues and rhythm- and-blues records of the 1950s and early 1960s. The word’s origin is thought to be West African, but no specific source has been identified.

b.any un-named object; thingummy. The word can be used as a euphemism for anything, but is characteristically employed for sex organs or drugs.

moll n

a.Australian a prostitute. Moll, a short form of ‘Molly’ (itself a familiar version of ‘Mary’), has been used to denote a woman of ‘easy virtue’ since at least the time of Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, published in 1722. This sense has survived in Australia, where a ‘band moll’, for instance, is a groupie.

b.American a woman, specifically a female companion. This sense of the word, familiar from its use in crime fiction as ‘gun moll’ or ‘gangster’s moll’, is now outdated.

molly exclamation British

the term, recorded in 2000, was defined as ‘…used to alert someone to the fact that their inability to act seriously or stop laughing is starting to irritate you’

momma n

a female adherent to a Hell’s Angels chapter. The momma is a sort of unattached member of the entourage; steady girlfriends are usually known as ‘old ladies’.

‘We’ve got a few mommas so they get passed around.’

(London Hell’s Angel, Oz magazine, April 1969)

momser, momzer n

a.a contemptible person, particularly a cadger or sponger

b.a cheeky, enterprising or self-willed person

The term, which is most often heard in American speech and applied to males, is the Hebrew word for ‘bastard’.

mondo adj British

excellent, admirable. The American combining form was adopted as a synonym for such vogue terms of approbation as top in around 1991.

That new video-game is mega-mondo.

mondo- combining form American

an all-purpose combining word which in Italian and Spanish means ‘world (of)’ and in American English means ‘a situation of…’ or ‘a state of affairs characterised by…’. The word is then followed by the defining word, usually with a mockLatin ‘o’ ending as in ‘mondo-sleazo’, ‘mondo-bozo’ or ‘mondo-cheapo’. This pattern derives from the 1963 Italian documentary film Mondo Cane (translated as ‘A Dog’s Life’) which acquired cult status and inspired first intellectual wits and later college students and Valley Girls to coin similar phrases.

Monet adj American

attractive at a distance but not when seen at close quarters. This vogue pejorative term from the language of Californian high-school girls in the 1990s (it features in the 1994 US film Clueless) is applied to the appearance of persons and occasionally objects. It is based on the notion of Impressionist paintings.

‘To her character Cher Silverstone would have therefore been a “Monet” – which means OK from a distance but a mess close up.’

(Sunday Times ‘Style’ magazine, 22 October 1995)

money adj American

cool. A fashionable term since the yuppie era.

You’re so money and you don’t even know it.

mong n British

an idiot, clumsy fool. A shortened form of ‘mongol’, itself a term (for those suffering from Down’s syndrome) now considered offensive. Mong was a vogue

295

monster!

term of abuse among London schoolchildren in the early 1970s and was still in use in 2004.

mong’d, monged, monged out adj British

a.intoxicated and incapacitated by drugs. The words, fashionable in 1990s rave culture, are based on ‘mongol(oid)’. Gurning and sledgied are similar terms.

b.hung-over or suffering from a drugs comedown. A term used by young streetgang members in London since around 2000.

mongie, mongy adj British

(of a person) stupid, dull-witted, slow and clumsy. A 1970s derivation from mong, itself short for the pejorative ‘mongol’. Both spellings of the word are pronounced with a hard ‘g’. Like the noun, the adjective was mainly heard among schoolchildren.

mongrel n

a. a despicable person. This use of the standard word dates from the 1700s. It is now particularly prevalent in Australia and New Zealand.

‘They call themselves journalists but they’re a bunch of bloody mongrels.’

(Recorded, Australian reporter, London, November 2004)

b. Australian a person of mixed race. A racist term of abuse since the 18th century.

moniker, monniker, monicker n

a name, nickname or alias. No definitive history of this word has been established. What is known is that it has existed in various spellings since the mid-19th century and that it was first used by tramps, vagrants and other ‘marginals’. The three most likely derivations are from ‘monarch’, ‘monk’ or ‘monogram’, but none of these is provable nor is there any clear connection with the (Saint’s) name ‘Monica’.

‘Christened by his father – a heavy duty John Wayne and Cowboy fan – with the name WAYNE WANG. Would this splitcultural, cartoon moniker destine the baby to grow up, leave Hong Kong and end up in California directing an allAmerican film … and a violent one at that?’

(I-D magazine, November 1987)

monkey n British

1. £500. A raffish term in use among gamblers, street traders, spivs, etc. The origin of the term is obscure; it has been in use since at least the early 19th cen-

tury and, confusingly, is also used to refer to sums of £50 or, on occasion, £50,000.

‘My client is not the kind of man to be satisfied with a mere monkey for his services.’

(Arthur Daley in Minder, British TV series, 1987)

2. an inferior or menial. Inspired by such images as the organ grinder and his monkey, the word is used to refer dismissively or contemptuously to underlings or errand-runners, etc.

‘I’ll deal with this myself; the monkeys downstairs can take care of the calculations.’

(Recorded, accountant, London, 1986)

monkey run/walk/parade n British

a teenagers’ promenade, a ritual parade of courting couples or hopeful ‘singles’. This dated term was used particularly before World War II to describe both the location and the practice. The expression continued to be used by older speakers until the 1960s.

monkey’s n British

a damn. A word invariably heard as part of the dismissive or defiant expressions ‘don’t give/care a monkey’s’. The term is an abbreviated form of undefined but presumably offensive phrases such as ‘monkey’s fart/fuck/balls’.

‘I’m sure they’ll be saying terrible things about us, but quite frankly I couldn’t give a monkey’s.’

(Recorded, university lecturer, London, June 2005)

monkey suit n

a uniform, particularly one which is thought to demean the wearer. Typically applied to bellboys, doormen, etc. dressed in absurd or confining outfits, the term derives from the practice of dressing monkeys in such clothing for carnival displays.

monniker n

an alternative spelling of moniker

monster n British

an unattractive and/or unpleasant person. Defined as ‘someone who looks disgusting and smells’, this is an item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

monster! exclamation British

excellent. A popular expression of enthusiasm or admiration, mostly heard among middle-aged speakers in the 1990s.

-monster

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-monster combining form

a.American a personification of a threat or irritation, as in ‘rack-monster’ (exhaustion) or ‘pavement monster’ (bumps or holes in a road surface)

b.an epitome or outstanding example, as in ‘beer monster’, shag-monster

monstering n British

(a) chastisement, ‘dressing-down’ or harangue. A word which occurs predominantly in middle-aged usage in a professional context and among members of the armed forces.

‘In one confrontation, Montgomery, the group’s chief executive, delivered such a “Hitlerian monstering” to a senior executive that she was reduced to tears.’

(Sunday Times, 30 March 1995)

Montezuma’s revenge n

an attack of diarrhoea. Heard all over the English-speaking world, this jocular expression is the American equivalent of

Delhi belly or gyppy tummy. In Mexico, Montezuma (spelt ‘Moctezuma’ locally and by many academics), the 16th-cen- tury Aztec emperor, is a national hero.

monty See full monty, the

moo n British

a woman, particularly a stupid or unpleasant woman. It has been claimed that the comedy script-writer Johnny Speight invented this abusive term for his 1960s television series Till Death do us Part to avoid the BBC ban, in force at that time, on the use of the word cow. In fact the word already existed in London work- ing-class vocabulary from at least the 1950s.

moobs n pl

male breasts. The term, recorded in 2004, is formed from man or male and boobs. Maps is a contemporary synonym.

mooch1 vb

a.to hang around, linger aimlessly, idle

b.to cadge, sponge, take advantage of (one’s friends)

‘I’ve been mooching off you for years and it’s never been a problem until she showed up.’

(School of Rock, US film, 2003)

The word has been in use since the 19th century in both senses and has formed part of the lexicons of tramps, criminals, beatniks and the fashionable young of the 1980s in both Britain and the USA. Its origin is uncertain.

mooch2 n American

a cadger, sponger, scrounger. A backformation from the verb.

moody1 n British

a.a sulk, fit of bad temper or sullenness. A popular working-class expression of the late 1970s, usually in the form ‘throw a moody’. Moody was a popular all-pur- pose cockney term for negative, fake or false in the earlier 20th century and ‘doing a moody’ used to mean acting suspiciously. Later, a moody signified a simulated fight or quarrel.

b.a lie. A word which usually occurs in criminal or police usage, sometimes in the form ‘old moody’.

Listen we don’t need old moody, give us the names.

moody2 adj British

illegal, counterfeit, of dubious value, quality or provenance. A London work- ing-class term which, from the late 1980s, began to spread into fashionable youth parlance.

They accused him of selling moody gear off his stall in the market.

mook n American

a term of abuse of uncertain meaning and unknown origin. It may be a variant form of mooch or even mug.

‘It’s very nasty to call a person a honky mook.’

(Steve Martin, All of Me, US film, 1984)

moolah, moola n

money. A humorous word imported into Britain from the USA before World War II. It is an invented term, probably in imitation of Amerindian, African or other foreign languages, as is the more recent British synonym, womba. Like most slang terms for money, moolah underwent something of a revival in the late 1980s.

‘Many congressmen arrive in Washington expecting to get rich – if not quick, at least before they leave. The art is in finding ways to get the moolah without contravening the various laws and rules of ethics.’

(Observer, 12 June 1989)

moon1 vb

to exhibit the buttocks publically, typically from the window of a moving car. A term and practice popular with American teenagers since the 1950s. It has been a common practice among young male students in Britain from at least the late 1970s. (Moon refers to the white globes on display.)

297	motherfucker

‘And it’s hard not to warm to Panic’s bare-faced nerve – mooning in discos, lifting a wallet and rifling through it insolently in full view of the impotent owner.’

(Independent, 12 January 1988)

moon2 n British

a foolish, irritating or obnoxious person. The word has been used in this sense by young schoolchildren (perhaps by analogy with ‘loon’ or ‘buffoon’) for many years. Since 2000 it has been adopted by some adolescents, sometimes evoking strong dislike.

moonrock n American

a mixture of crack and heroin

moose1 n

an ugly or unattractive female. A vogue term, in use among British adolescents in the later 1990s, which has been defined as ‘someone who looks disgusting and smells’.

moose2 adj British

1.unpleasant, boring, ugly. The adjectival usage postdates the noun.

2.excellent. In this sense the word was recorded in South Wales in 2000.

moose-knuckles n Canadian a synonym for camel toes

moosh n

an alternative spelling of mush

moreish, morish adj British

appetizing, tempting. This predominantly middle-class colloquialism, applied to anything edible, is a pun on ‘moorish’ (as in architecture), dating surprisingly from the 18th century.

more-time exclamation

‘see you later’. The expression, which was used by London teenagers in the 1990s, may originate in black speech. Later(s) is a synonym.

moriarty n British

a party. A fairly rare item of rhyming slang employing the name of the arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes, later reinvented as a dastardly villain in the BBC radio comedy show The Goons in the 1950s, from when this usage dates.

Mork and Mindy adj British

windy. The rhyming slang term, still heard after 2000, uses the title of a US comedy TV series of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It’s a bit Mork and Mindy out this morning.

morning lager n British

tea. Used invariably by males, in army and Officer Training Corps usage.

mortal, mortalled adj Scottish

drunk. The expression ‘mortal drunk’ (i.e. hopelessly or dangerously) was in use from the early 19th century.

Moses vb, n British

(to go to) sleep. From the name of the Kenyan athlete, Moses Kiptanui, and the slang term kip.

get some Moses I’ve got to Moses.

moshing n British

dancing in a packed scrimmage to heavy metal, hardcore or any other fast, loud rock music. This activity, which is more a form of energetic communal writhing than dancing, was adopted by fans of hard rock during the late 1980s as a successor to slam dancing, headbanging or the characteristic playing of imaginary guitars (‘air guitar’).

moss-back n American

an elderly person. The term is often applied affectionately in family slang to an older relative. Synonyms are cottontop and frost-top.

most, the n

something superlative, the very best. A well-known item from the vocabulary of hipsters, beatniks, etc. of the 1950s. (A later jocular coinage by analogy is the least.)

mother n American

1. an abbreviated and euphemistic version of motherfucker. This version, more common than the full form, is often used appreciatively rather than pejoratively. It is sometimes spelled muthah in imitation of black or southern pronunciation. The word is probably used to refer to objects and animals as often as humans.

Man, that was some big mother. Did you get a look at that mother?

2. a male homosexual, particularly a man in a dominant, protective or influential relation to younger males

motherfucker n American

a. a despicable person. The most common term of strong abuse in the American vocabulary. (Euphemistic forms such as ‘mother-raper’, ‘mother-jumper’ or just mother are sometimes substituted.) The expression, naming the ultimate in degeneracy, originated among poor blacks.

mother’s ruin

298

‘Oedipus was a motherfucker.’

(Graffito, Euston station, London, 1972)

b. an awesome or appalling thing, situation, etc.

one motherfucker of a mess

mother’s ruin n

gin. A late 19th-century nickname which refers to the widespread effects of cheap gin on the working class (of both sexes); to the later supposed predilection of women for the drink; and to its long-lived reputation as an abortifacient.

motoring n British

making good progress, performing well. A driver’s expression of the 1970s (meaning moving at speed) which became generalised in the 1980s to mean roughly the same as the American cooking.

OK, great, now we’re motoring!

motormouth n American

a person who talks excessively, a ‘fasttalker’. A popular term from the mid1970s, it originated in black ghetto slang. The word was later applied to amphetamine users, disc jockeys, comics and rap artists.

mott n British

the female sex organs. A vulgarism still widely used (by men) in the 1960s, but now rare. It is from the French motte, meaning mound, used by 19th-century pornographers among others.

motzer, motza n

(an instance of) good fortune, surprising luck. The words, heard in British and Australian speech, are versions of the Yiddish name for an outsize cookie, itself related to mazel: good luck.

mousetrap n British

a Japanese person. An item of cockney rhyming slang (for Jap) which probably originated during World War II, but is still heard, for instance, among City financial traders in London.

mouth-breather n

a primitive, brutish person. The phrase is used contemptuously for those considered thuggish and/or moronic, evoking the image of a shambling, openmouthed, slack-jawed creature, invariably male.

mouth down vb American to keep quiet, shut up

mouthpiece n

a lawyer, specifically one’s defence counsel or legal representative. A term used, particularly by the underworld, since the mid-19th century. The word is sometimes extended to refer to any spokesperson.

‘A deliberate slip of the tongue gets a laugh. A sergeant begins a question: “When a defendant has got a mouthpiece – sorry, I mean solicitor…”.’ (Inside the British Police, Simon Holdaway, 1983)

mouthy adj British

talkative, boastful or verbose. A pejorative working-class term.

moxie n American

spirit, vim, courage, enterprise. Moxie was the trade name of a soft drink on sale in the USA in the 19th century (probably based on a local Amerindian place name). The drinks company used the advertising slogan: ‘What this country needs is plenty of Moxie!’.

Mozart adj Australian

drunk. The word is one half of the rhym- ing-slang phrase ‘Mozart and Liszt’: pissed. The British equivalent is Brahms (and Liszt).

mozzer, mozza n

luck, good fortune. This seems to be the main surviving variant among many words (‘mozz’, ‘mozzle’, ‘mozzy’) deriving from the Yiddish mazel: a cookie blessing the consumer with good luck. The words have existed in British working-class speech since at least the 1880s and later became part of Australian usage, usually in the forms motzer or motza.

‘That was a bit of mozzer – all six at one stall.’

(Recorded, Newbury, 1989)

Mr/Mister Sausage n

the penis. An adults’ imitation nurseryword of the sort which has enjoyed a vogue since the mid-1980s, particularly in middle-class British usage. The playwright Mike Leigh used the term in dialogue ascribed to a yuppie couple in his 1988 feature film, High Hopes.

Mr/Mister Whippy n British flagellation. A code term from the argot and repertoire of prostitutes. The light hearted euphemism is from the name of a brand of ice cream displayed on vans.

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mule

muckamuck, (high) mucky-muck n American

a person in authority or a VIP, especially a self-important one. The term originated in the 19th century and apparently derives from an Amerindian phrase meaning ‘plenty to eat’.

‘Fuck you. It [a concealed gun]’s in Mr Chancellor’s name. He got it okayed by the muckamucks.’

(Jonathan Kellerman, Over the Edge, 1987)

mucker n

a friend, ‘mate’, pal. The term is said to have originated in armed-service usage as a longer expression, ‘mucking-in pal’ or ‘mucking-in spud’, soon shortened to mucker. The word survives mainly in the speech of hearty males.

There you are, Keith, me old mucker.

mucky duck n British

an unattractive female, defined on the Student World website in 2001 as ‘an ageing slapper’

mucky pint n British

a combination of Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur and other alcoholic drinks. The reference is to the muddy colour and slightly viscous consistency as compared with a pint of ale or lager. The term has been in use among students and younger drinkers since 2000.

mudfish n

an ugly or unattractive female. One of many pejorative synonyms in use among UK students since 2000. Mutt, munter and swamp-donkey are contemporary alternatives.

mudskipper n

a synonym for mudfish

mudsucker n American

an unpleasant or despicable person. A term of abuse coined to echo the syllables of the more offensive motherfucker.

muff n

the female sex organs and/or the female pubic hair. This euphemistic use of the standard word for an enveloping handor ear-warmer made of fur (deriving ultimately from the mediaeval Latin for mitten, muffula) originated in the 17th century and is still current, although less common than in the 1950s and early 1960s.

muff-diving n

cunnilingus. A jocular coinage based on the long-established use of muff to denote the female genitals.

muffin n

the female genitals. An elaboration on the older ‘muff’, used singularly or generically. The term is heard in Britain and Australia. In the USA the plural form is occasionally used to denote the breasts.

muffins n pl American

female breasts. Baps is a British synonym.

muffin-top n

a bulging midriff. The term, heard in 2006 especially in reference to obesity among younger people, evokes the shape of the muffins sold in coffeeshops which bulge over paper holders.

mug n

1.the face. The word has had this meaning since the early 1700s; it derived from the practice of making china drinkingmugs decorated with grotesque human faces.

2.a fool, dupe. This use of the word was inspired by the image of the victim as an open-mouthed receptacle.

muggins n British

a victim, dupe or ‘loser’, especially when referring to oneself. The word is an embellishment of mug (and is also an authentic, if comic-sounding, surname). It is now so common as to be an innocent colloquialism rather than true slang.

And muggins here was left holding the bill.

mug (someone) off vb British

to make a fool of, take advantage of. An item of London working-class speech dating from the 1950s.

‘She’s taken the mickey and mugged me right off.’

(Gangster Ronnie Kray, quoted in the Sun, 5 October 1993)

mugwump n American

an important, powerful person. This now rather dated word is invariably used facetiously or pejoratively and is especially applied to someone who has power and influence but is a maverick or unreliable. It is from the Algonquin Indian mugquamp, meaning a chief.

mule n

a carrier of illicit drugs across frontiers and/or through customs, a transporter of

mulga

300

contraband; someone hired to do this rather than the owner of the drugs. The term was first used by smugglers, then later by law enforcers.

‘He used to go over and buy the stuff, then pack it, but it was always brought in by mules.’

(Recorded, London, 1989)

mulga n Australian

an unpleasant situation, experience, etc. Mulga is a native Australian synonym for acacia and originally denoted an inhospitable or deserted region of bush. ‘Mulga-madness’ is an archaic term for the mental disorientation experienced by outbackers.

mulled adj British

drunk. An inoffensive term heard predominantly outside the London area.

muller vb British

to destroy, ruin, confound. The term is said to derive from the German surname ‘Muller’, perhaps referring to a footballer who scored against England in 1970, or to a manufacturer of armaments. The word became very widespread from the later 1990s in all areas and age groups.

They absolutely mullered us. We were mullered big time.

mullered adj British

a.destroyed

b.intoxicated by drink or drugs. A popular term among adolescents from the 1990s, it is an elaboration of the earlier mulled.

c.exhausted

The term is said to derive from the German surname ‘Muller’, but pronounced as if English.

mum n British

a homely female. The term is one of a set of (mainly unflattering) categorisations applied by young males, such as City of London financial traders, to female colleagues in the 1990s. Others include Nora, oof, dragon. A mum is not necessarily motherly, but benevolent and sexually irrelevant.

See also mumsy

mumblefucker n British

an irritatingly clumsy, inept or fastidious person. A term heard in the early 1970s. There have been other invented terms, with a similar lack of meaning, playing on the comical overtones of the syllables employed; fucknuckle is an example.

mumbler n British

a UK synonym for the earlier Americanism camel toes. The word refers to the notion that ‘lips are visibly moving but no sound is heard’.

mumping adj British

scrounging, soliciting favours, begging. A word dating from the 17th century which survives in police and underworld argot. It used to refer to the activities of beggars and vagabonds; it is now often applied to the reciprocal favours encouraged by police officers in contact with local people. The word is descended from the Dutch mompen, meaning to cheat.

mumsy adj British

the older generation’s colloquialism to describe a woman who is unglamorous and ‘motherly’ has become a fashionable categorisation for a younger generation for whom the maternal aspect is probably less important than the suggestion of fussiness, unfashionable appearance, asexuality, etc.

munch n British

food. A recent usage posted on the Internet by Bodge World in February 1997.

munchied adj

hungry. The term is derived from the older notion of (the) munchies, but does not necessarily refer to peckishness induced by cannabis consumption. It was recorded among middle-class London students in 2002.

munchies, the n

hunger, especially a craving for food brought on by the lowering of bloodsugar levels that is a well-known sideeffect of smoking cannabis. The word was a children’s synonym for snacks which was adopted by hippy-era smokers of hashish and marihuana.

‘Those smug, stupid hippies, who thought it so cool to be comatose called that post-smoke famished feeling “the munchies”, and for once they were right.’

(Platinum Logic, Tony Parsons, 1981)

munchkin n

a cute small child, a dwarf, underling. An American expression taken from the name of the little people in the musical, The Wizard of Oz; the word is used affectionately or condescendingly. (A low-level munchkin is an employee near or at the bottom of a hierarchy.)

301

muthah

mung n

dirt, muck. A term that encompasses everything filthy or distasteful, used particularly by teenagers or students since the late 1970s.

munged adj South African intoxicated by drink or drugs

munt n South African

a black person. A highly offensive term used by white racists. The word is Afrikaans slang deriving from the Bantu umuntu, meaning a person.

munter n British

defined in 2001 as ‘someone who looks disgusting and smells’, the term has been in vogue among adolescents and young adults since 2000

muntered adj British

drunk. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

munter-hunter n British

a male who seeks out ugly females ‘looking for an easy lay’, as reported on the Student World website in 2001

munting toad n British

a very ugly or unattractive female. The phrase is an elaboration of the more widespread munter.

muppet n British

a retarded, incapacitated or grotesque person. A word usually used with none of the affection or humour that its innocent source (the American TV puppet show of the 1970s) might suggest. The term has been applied to hospital inmates, mentally deranged prisoners or simply to unattractive teenagers by their peers. According to a UK student in 2002, ‘when many muppets are gathered in one place, the expanded phrases The Muppet Show or Muppets Take Manhattan may be used’.

murphies n pl American

female breasts. The word ‘murphy’ is adapted from its use (since the 19th century) as a nickname for a potato.

murphy1, the murphy n

1.British a potato. The Irish surname has been used as a joky synonym since the early 19th century.

2.the murphy American a confidence trick whereby valuables lodged for safekeeping are stolen or substituted by worthless goods

murphy2 vb American

to subject (someone) to the murphy (a term denoting various forms of a simple confidence trick)

mush, moosh n British

1. the face. A word which has been in use since the 19th century, when it often referred specifically to the mouth. Mush is nearly always used in connection with fisticuffs and may have originated as pugilists’ slang. The precise etymology of the word is uncertain, but it has obvious connotations of softness and mastication. 2a. an all-purpose term of address to a stranger (invariably used by men to other men). A working-class, mainly London, usage which was common in the 1950s and 1960s but is now rarely used. The word is not particularly friendly and is quite often used provocatively. It comes from the Romany word for man, moosh.

‘I suggest you buy better shirts in future. Are you asking for a punch up the faghole, mush?’

(Hancock’s Half Hour, BBC TV comedy, 6 November 1959)

2b. a man, unnamed person. The derivation for this usage is as for the previous sense. The word has rarely been used thus (rather than as a term of address) since the 1950s.

mushroom n

an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of a gunfight. This term, from the jargon of the Jamaican yardie ‘Shower Posse’, was reported in the Sunday Times, 14 November 1993.

muso n

a.a musician, player of rock music with real technical expertise

b.a rock or progressive music fan who displays a pedantic or obsessive interest in his or her favourite music and/or musicians

mutant n

a clumsy, foolish or otherwise unpopular individual. A term used by adolescents to refer to unpopular or despised fellow-stu- dents or other contemporaries. The same word is used with the opposite connotations in the form mutie.

muthah n

an alternative spelling of mother (in its slang or euphemistic sense), particularly used by fans of heavy metal music to refer appreciatively to each other or their heroes

mutie

302

mutie n British

a daring exponent, devotee. A word used by skateboarders and some surfers and rock-music fans to refer to themselves and their fellows. The word is a diminutive form of mutant which itself is usually employed with negative connotations.

mutt n

an ugly or unattractive female. The term, originally denoting a dog, has been popular among younger speakers since 2000.

mutton, Mutt ’n’ Jeff adj British

deaf. Rhyming slang, from the cartoon figures created by Bud Fischer, which were popular before World War II. The slang expression has been heard in London from the late 1940s to the present day. It was spread further afield by its use by the character of Albert in the popular 1960s television comedy series

Steptoe and Son.

‘I’m sorry, love, you’ll have to speak up. I’m a bit mutton in my old age.’

(Recorded, London, 1988)

mutton dagger n

the penis. A joky euphemism on the lines of pork sword and beef bayonet.

muttonhead n

a variation of meathead

mutt’s nuts, the n, adj

(something) excellent. In playground and student usage since 2000. Like the dog’s

dangly bits it is a version of the earlier the dog’s bollocks.

Dave’s new stereo is the mutt’s nuts.

mwah exclamation

an imitation of a kissing sound, originally often suggesting insincerity or affectation, now often sincere affection and sometimes written down, as in e.g. closing a text message

my bad! exclamation American See bad2

mystery n British

a runaway person, vulnerable minor. A term from the language of pimps, paedophiles, the homeless and police, referring to someone of uncertain origin or identity.

mystery bags n pl Australian

sausages. The term is influenced by the name of a children’s lucky dip sweet packet and is both a rhyming slang term for snags (another slang term for sausages) and an ironic comment on the dubious contents of some sausages. Often thought to be a native Australian coinage, mystery bags is another example of British slang of the 19th century which seems to have died out in the country of origin but has survived among the emigrant population; it was recorded in 1889 in this form; previously occurring simply as ‘mystery’ or ‘bag of mystery’.

‘What’s for dinner?

Mystery bags … snags … sausages.’

(Razorback, Australian film, 1984)

N

nabe n American

a.a neighbourhood

A new guy in the nabe.

b.a neighbour

The nabes are acting up again.

A shortening of the sort popularised by Variety magazine and perpetuated in teenage speech. (Mersh and the burbs are other examples of this trend which enjoyed a particular vogue in the late 1980s.)

nack vb British See knack

NAD adj British

‘not actually done’ in medical shorthand, e.g. as added facetiously to a patient’s notes

nada n

nothing. The Spanish word is used in English slang, especially in the USA.

nadgered adj British

a middle-class alternative of knackered in all its senses

‘By the time I got home I was feeling pretty nadgered.’

(Recorded, 15-year-old boy, Horsham, England, October 1995)

nadgers n pl British

1. the testicles. The word was probably used in this sense merely due to the resemblance to knackers. It has not been widely used since the 1960s.

a kick in the nadgers

2. the nadgers a state of nervous agitation, irritation, distress or unhealthiness, as in such phrases as ‘he’s got the nadgers’ or ‘it gives me the nadgers’. The word could also be used to describe a curse or jinx in the same way as mockers. This humorous nonsense term of the 1950s (popularised in broadcast comedies such as Hancock’s Half Hour) is now virtually obsolete.

nads n pl American

the testicles. An abbreviated form of ‘gonads’ used jocularly by teenagers since the 1980s.

naff adj

tasteless, inferior, shoddy and unappealing. Naff had existed in working-class slang for at least 40 years by the time it became a vogue word in the later 1970s. It had been used in the jargon of prostitutes to mean nothing or negligible. In the theatrical, criminal and street-trading milieus it meant third-rate or poor quality. The word’s sudden popularity occurred probably because it was seized upon by TV scriptwriters (particularly Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais in the comedy series Porridge) as an acceptable euphemism for fuck in such forms as ‘naff-all’ (meaning fuck-all), naffing and naff off. Naff’s ultimate origin, which seems to be 19th century, is nonetheless obscure. It has been claimed that it is a backslang form of fan(ny) (in the sense of female sex organs) or an acronym or alteration of a phrase involving the word fuck (such as ‘not a fucking fart’ or similar). Neither etymology is attested (or particularly convincing), and the similarity to NAAFI is probably coincidental.

‘To be naff is to be unstylish, whatever that may mean.’

(The Complete Naff Guide, Bryson et al., 1983)

naffing adj British

an all-purpose intensifying adjective used as a euphemism for fucking

naff off vb British

to leave, go away. The expression is usually in the form of a dismissive exclamation or instruction synonymous with fuck off. First used in the TV series Porridge in the mid-1970s, the phrase was given great prominence in 1982 when Princess Anne told reporters who were pestering her to naff off.

nag n

a horse. The well-known term is used particularly by horse-racing enthusiasts. It was first recorded in 1400 when it