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

take down

434

b.to take advantage (of someone)

You can stay but just don’t go taking berties.

The jocular phrase, used by university students from the later 1990s, is a shortening of the colloquial ‘take liberties’.

take down vb American

to kill or immobilise. A ‘tough-guy’ euphemism.

take it in the shorts vb American

to suffer a direct hit, literally or metaphorically. A phrase used typically in sports, business or military contexts.

take names vb American

to act resolutely and/or primitively, chastise. The image evoked is that of an authority figure noting the names of miscreants. The phrase is often placed after kick ass.

Listen, you’re going to have to go in there and kick ass and take names!

take one’s lumps vb American

to suffer misfortune or harsh treatment

take out vb

to kill or destroy. A military euphemism which came to public notice in the USA during the Vietnam War. The term was subsequently appropriated for use in the context of crime and law enforcement.

‘I thought, if I could get my hands around his throat… I’d just take him out right now.’

(Female contestant in US TV series The Apprentice, 2004)

‘You got a couple of options: piss off out of town, or take him out, mate.’

(Blackjack, Australian TV crime drama, 2004)

take the mick/mickey/michael vb British to mock, deride, poke fun at. These expressions are milder versions of take the piss. Unbeknownst to most users, they employ rhyming slang; Mickey is short for a mythical ‘Mickey Bliss’, providing the rhyme for piss. ‘Michael’ is a humorous variant. The phrases, like their more vulgar counterpart, have been in use since the 1940s.

take the piss (out of someone) vb British to mock, deride, poke fun at. This vulgarism has been in widespread use since the late 1940s. The original idea evoked by the expression was that of deflating someone, recalling the description of a self-important blusterer as all piss and wind.

take the shame vb British

to accept the blame (publicly and/or wholeheartedly) or face the criticism of one’s peers. A key phrase in the playground vocabulary of London teenagers since the later 1970s. The concept is from black speech; ‘shamed-up’ is another derivation from the same source.

talent1 n British

attractive potential sexual partners. A generic term first applied before World War II to women and men. Since the mid-1960s female speakers have also applied the word (sometimes ironically) to desirable males.

Let’s check out the local talent.

talent2 adj British

excellent. An adjectival use of the noun, heard among schoolchildren since the 1990s.

talk dicks vb

to speak in an elegant way, talk ‘posh’. Dicks may be an alteration of diction.

talking-brooch n British

a police-officer’s personal radio, also known as a squawker and batphone. An item of police slang recorded by the London Evening Standard magazine, February 1993.

talk on the big white telephone vb

to vomit in a toilet. This colourful expression probably originated among US college students, like the synonymous ‘kneel’/pray to the porcelain god.

talk turkey vb

to perform oral sex. A 1980s pun on the slang usage gobble and the well-known colloquial American expression meaning to discuss openly (it is also perhaps influenced in US usage by turkey-neck: the penis).

tall poppies n pl Australian

‘over-achievers’, persons of prominence. The expression originates in the 1930s when the Lang government threatened to enforce tax laws which would ‘cut off the heads of the tall poppies’.

tamale n American See hot tamale

tam rag n British

a sanitary towel or tampon. A variant of jam rag influenced by ‘tampon’ and the trademark ‘Tampax’.

T and A n American

tits and ass. The American equivalent of the British ‘B and T’, a phrase describing

435

tard

a visual or tactile experience of a naked woman or women. The abbreviation and the expression in full probably originated in the jargon of journalists and/or showmen.

tanglin’ n British

fighting, from black speech. Synonyms recorded since 2000 are mixin’, regulatin’, startin’.

tank1 n

1.American a firearm, handgun. A hyperbolic term occasionally used by criminals and law enforcers.

2.British a police car or van. The word is used in this way by ironic or self-drama- tising police officers.

tank2 vb British

a.to crush, overwhelm

‘They’d all tank Tyson.’

(Headline in the Sun, 28 February 1989)

b.to defeat, trounce

‘England are going to tank Monaco tomorrow!’

(TV sports trailer, February 1997)

c.to move forcefully and powerfully

‘Tanking up and down the motorway all holiday … but Christmas itself was very quiet … very pleasant…’

(Biff cartoon, Guardian, December 1987)

All senses of the word became popular in the later 1980s.

tanked, tanked-up adj

drunk. A common term since the turn of the 20th century; the shorter form is more recent. Tank up evokes the filling of a container or fuelling of a vehicle and parallels such expressions as loaded and canned.

Man, she was, like, totally tanked last night.

‘I’ll do the washing-up tomorrow if I don’t get too tanked-up tonight.’

(Biff cartoon, Guardian, 1986)

tap1, tap up vb

to borrow or seek to borrow from (someone). To tap meant to spend liberally in archaic slang; by the early 20th century it had acquired the second sense of to solicit, borrow or obtain. The origin of the term is in the tapping of liquid from a container, reinforced by tapping someone on the shoulder to gain their attention and the later slang sense of ‘hitting’ someone for a loan. Tap is in international English, while the full form tap up is in British usage.

tap2 adj American

physically attractive, handsome, usually of a male. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000. The same term was recorded in Nigeria in 2003.

That guy is just totally tap.

tap city n, adj American

(the condition of being) penniless, broke.

Ahumorous version of tapped-out.

It’s no good asking me. I’m in tap city. It’s tap city the rest of this month.

tap-dance n

a clever evasion, devious manoeuvre. The term, which is used all over the Eng- lish-speaking world, recalls a dancer either busking it or improvising in a difficult situation, or merely executing an elegant sequence of steps.

‘That was not an opinion – that was a tapdance worthy of Fred Astaire.’

(Hooperman, US TV series, 1987)

tap-dancer n

a person who can avoid danger by a combination of clever, if devious or dishonest actions and luck; someone able to talk themselves out of difficult situations

‘That man’s a born tap-dancer; he’s always out the back door five minutes before the front door’s kicked in.’

(Recorded, drug dealer, London, 1988)

tapped-out adj American

a. penniless, broke. A term used especially by gamblers and, more recently, by adolescents. It is inspired by the very old slang use of the word to tap, meaning both to spend and later to obtain money from another person.

Man, I’d like to help you but I’m all tapped-out.

‘Wall Street’s Trust Fund’s tapped-out.’

(Headline in Fortune magazine, 18 April 2005)

b. exhausted. From the idea of being ‘drained’.

tapped up adj British See get tapped up

tapper n British

an obnoxious or disreputable person. A vogue term recorded in junior schools from 1991. The origin is obscure but may relate to a sexual sense such as get tapped up.

tarbrush n See a touch of the tarbrush

tard n American

a fool, simpleton. A teenagers’ shortening of the popular term of contempt, retard.

tardy

436

The word was adopted by British adolescents in the late 1980s.

tardy adj

foolish, irritating. The adjective, from the earlier noun form tard, has been in use, especially in the USA, since around 2000.

tart n

a promiscuous, vulgar or sexually provocative woman. This modern sense of the word has gradually supplanted the older meaning which was simply a woman or sweetheart. As a term of affection (inspired by the pastry sweetmeat and reinforced by ‘sweetheart’), tart was applied to women of all ages from the mid-19th century. By the early years of the 20th century it was more often used of the flighty or immoral and by the interwar years often referred to prostitutes. In modern theatrical, gay (where it is often used of men), cockney and Australian speech, tart is still used affectionately.

tart about vb British

a.to flounce about, behave archly or flamboyantly

b.to mess about, behave in a disorganised or irresolute way

Many derogatory or vulgar terms (arse, dick, fanny, etc.) have been converted to verbs on the same pattern.

tash n British

an alternative spelling of tache

tassel, tassle n

the penis. An inoffensive term often used by parents and children and referring particularly to the member of an immature male. In older (pre-1950s) British usage, ‘pencil-and-tassle’ was a euphemism for a boy’s genitals.

tasty1 adj British

attractive, desirable, smart. An all-pur- pose term of approbation, used in work- ing-class London speech for many years and, more specifically, as a fashionable word among the young in the late 1970s and 1980s.

a tasty geezer

Love the threads. Really tasty.

tasty2 n British

an alcoholic drink. A specific application of the wider notion of something desirable, from the popular cockney adjective.

‘I know a pub that does late tasties.’ (Only Fools and Horses, British TV comedy series, 1989)

tat n British

shoddy, cheap or low-quality material. A colloquialism, originally meaning specifically rags or cloth remnants, which is derived from ‘tatter(s)’ and ‘tatty’ (both of which are ultimately descended from an old Germanic term meaning tuft).

‘Liverpool comprehensive pupils would not be seen dead in “second-hand tat”, however grand the previous incumbent.’

(Sunday Times magazine, 30 July 1989) taters n

1.British potatoes. A short form most often heard in London and the south of England.

2.See do one’s nut/block/crust/pieces/ taters

3.American the buttocks

taters (in the mould) adj British

cold. This authentic cockney rhymingslang expression has survived in its shortened form to the present day. It is now common in ‘respectable’ jocular speech and is usually thought by users to be merely a shortening of ‘cold potatoes’.

It’s a bit taters out there, I can tell you.

taties n pl British

potatoes. A variant form of taters more often heard in Scotland and the north of England.

tats1, tatts n pl

1a. Australian the teeth, especially false teeth

1b. British dice

Both senses of the word are now rare; the first probably postdating the second. The origin of the term is obscure but may imitate the clattering of the objects in question.

2. tattoos

tats2 n pl

female breasts. A variant form of tits, heard since 2000.

tatters n pl

female breasts. Used in the UK TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous in 2001.

tax vb

to mug or steal from someone, leaving them with a proportion of their money. A miscreants’ jargon term for partial robbery, recorded among street gangs in London and Liverpool since the late 1970s.

437	teenybopper

t.b. adj American

loyal, faithful. This abbreviation of ‘true blue’ was in use among adolescents in the 1990s and was featured in the 1994 US film Clueless.

a t.b. buddy

You don’t have to worry about her, she’s t.b.

T.B.A. n, adj American

‘to be avoided’. An item of preppie code similar to the British Sloane ranger term N.S.I.T. (‘not safe in taxis’), but extended to refer to things and situations as well as people.

tea n

marihuana. Tea has been a nickname for herbal cannabis since the early years of the 20th century. Originally an Americanism, the term derives from the close resemblance in all but colour between the two substances. By the mid-1960s tea was a dated word restricted to older speakers, having been supplanted by such synonyms as pot, charge, shit, etc. Teaed-up, in the sense of intoxicated by marihuana, survives in teenage use.

See also T

teaed-up, tea’d-up adj American

high on marihuana. A (mainly middleclass) teenagers’ term which preserves the otherwise obsolescent tea as a euphemism for cannabis.

tea-leaf n British

a thief. A well-known item of rhyming slang in use since the end of the 19th century. It also occurs in Australian speech and is occasionally heard as a verb.

team n

a street gang. Like firm and crew, the usage evokes the notion of camaraderie and united effort.

tear-arse (around/about) vb British

to rush about or otherwise behave hastily and recklessly. The image evoked is of activity so violent that it would tear the bottom out of a vehicle or of one’s clothing.

tearaway n British

a wild, reckless (usually young) person. This previously obscure term, which had referred to a ‘tough-guy’ or mugger since the turn of the 19th century, was popularised as a useful epithet for unruly youths or ‘juvenile delinquents’ in the early 1960s. It is still heard in colloquial usage.

tear off a piece vb

to have sex (with). A phrase denoting seduction or sexual achievement from the male point of view. The expression is American or Australian in origin and dates from the end of the 19th century. (The use of ‘tear off a strip’ with this sexual sense has been recorded in Britain.) The unromantic image evoked is that of tearing a piece of meat off a carcass for consumption.

tear one off vb

to succeed in seduction, have sex (with). A less common version of tear off a piece and, like that expression, used mostly in the USA and Australia.

tea-towel holder n British

the anus. From the resemblance to the plastic press-in kitchen attachment.

technicolour yawn n

an act of vomiting. An Australian expression of the early 1960s, popularised in Britain by the Barry McKenzie comic strip by Barry Humphries and Nicholas Garland.

ted1, teddy boy n British

a member of a youth cult of the 1950s characterised by a particular style of dress (a long drape or waisted jacket worn with drainpipe trousers and thick crepe-soled brothel-creeper shoes) and music (jitterbug from about 1948, rock ’n’ roll from 1956). Teddy boys, mainly working class in origin, combined a rough simulacrum of Edwardian dress (hence their name: they were sometimes jocularly referred to as Edwardians) with the adoption of American teenage hairstyles and music.

ted2, teddy n British

the penis. Rhyming slang from Teddington Lock: cock, recorded by Viz comic in 2002. It is a synonym for Hampton Wick (the next-door Thames-side community).

teef vb

to steal, rob. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers.

teenybopper n

a lively, fashionable teenager or pre-teen- ager. The word, originating in the USA sometime in the mid-1960s, began to be used in a condescending or derogatory sense in the 1970s and 1980s. (When used approvingly or neutrally in the 1970s, the term was often shortened to

T.E.E.T.H. 438

bopper.) The expression is composed of a diminutive form of teen(ager) and bop, meaning to dance or behave enthusiastically.

‘The Doors are a chance for all the little teenyboppers in the States to think they’re digging something avant garde.’

(Mike Ratledge of the Soft Machine, Oz magazine, February 1969)

T.E.E.T.H. phrase British

an item of doctors’ slang, as written facetiously on a patients’ notes. The letters stand for ‘tried everything else, try homeopathy’ and imply a hopeless case or a specialist bereft of ideas.

teethe vb American

to fellate. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

telephone n See talk on the big white telephone; trombone; dog (and bone)

ten-pinter n See five-pinter

tent-pole n an erection

Terry Waite adj British

late. The rhyming slang phrase borrows the name of the hostage held for 5 years in the Lebanon. In schoolchildren’s usage the expression was first recorded in 1998.

It’s a bit bloody Terry Waite to tell me that now!

thick, tick, tik adj

attractive, physically well formed. A key term of appreciation in black speech, adopted by other speakers since 2000.

thicko, thickie n British

an unintelligent, slow-witted person. Common terms, especially among children and adolescents, derived from the colloquial use of ‘thick’ to denote someone cloddish and ‘dense’.

‘I’m not some blinkin’ thickie, I’m Billericay Dickie and I’m doin’ very well.’

(‘Billericay Dickie’, recorded by Ian Dury, 1977)

thing n

a synonym for scene, kick, vibe or trip in the sense of main activity or preferred ambience. This item of raffish or hip usage (originating in the USA, probably in the 1940s) has become a well-estab- lished colloquialism in such phrases as ‘it’s not really my thing’.

third leg n

the penis. A variant of middle leg.

third peanut n

the clitoris. The first two peanuts are the nipples. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

this is me! exclamation British

defined by a London student as ‘used by people to ridicule someone who is extremely self-centred’

thrape vb British

a.to perform energetically and at full capacity

b.to defeat (an opponent). The word seems to have originated in Midland and East Anglian dialect and is now used predominantly by middle-aged speakers.

thrash n

1.a wild celebration, dance or party. In this sense the word has been used since before World War II.

2.a variety of very fast heavy metal music of the late 1980s, in the jargon of rock journalists and aficionados

threads n

clothes. A usage which originated in the black-influenced jive talk of the 1930s in the USA. Like many similar Americanisms, it was imported into Britain and Australia with the youth culture of the 1960s. If used today the term is generally self-consciously hip, humorous or ironic.

‘Wide-boy or spiv, personified in Oliver Schmitz’ film by Panic, an unprivileged South African black in loud threads and two-tone shoes.’

(Independent, 12 January 1988)

threepenny bits, the n

an attack of diarrhoea. A rhyming expression for the shits. ‘The tray-bits’ and ‘the tom-tits’ are alternative versions; all are especially popular in Australian speech.

throat n American

a swot, in preppie jargon. This is one of many synonyms used by US adolescents for a tedious, conscientious and/or unpopular fellow-student; grind, squid and pencil geek are others. This term probably derives from ‘cut-throat (competitor)’.

throne n

a lavatory, toilet pedestal. A humorous synonym widely heard since before World War II and still in use. (A ‘potty throne’ was a device formerly used for toilet training.)

He can’t come to the phone right now – he’s on the throne.

439

thwopping

throne room n

a lavatory, toilet. A humorous pun playing on the euphemism throne for a toilet pedestal and the room used by a sovereign for receiving formal audiences.

throttle pit n Australian

a toilet. A vulgarism inspired by several expressions using the verb to ‘throttle’ as a synonym for defecation.

throw, throw up n, vb

(to) vomit. Throw is a short form of synonyms such as throw up, throw one’s voice, etc.

throw a Bennie vb British

to lose control of oneself, become flustered or furious. The phrase, heard in the late 1990s, employs Bennie in the sense of a slow-witted or confused individual.

throw a flaky vb British

to lose control of oneself, lose one’s temper. This phrase has been heard since the 1960s, particularly in Scotland and the north of England.

throw a mental vb American

to lose control of oneself, lose one’s temper. A teenage and Valley Girl term of the early 1980s, the phrase with its variant form, chuck a mental, has become popular among British and Australian schoolchildren.

I totalled the car and Mom threw a mental.

throw a wobbly/wobbler vb British

to suddenly behave irrationally or to have a temper tantrum. This phrase has become popular in Britain since the end of the 1970s, but dates from the 1950s. Its exact derivation is unclear, but may reflect simply an attack of shaking or quivering, or alternatively refer to throwing or bowling a ball in an erratic and confusing arc, or may refer to the loss of control when a wobbling wheel comes off e.g. a wagon or a bicycle.

‘Caroline’s much calmer these days. She hasn’t thrown a wobbly for ages.’

(Recorded, suburban housewife, London, 2003)

See also wobbler

throwin’ it down n

moving in an attractively energetic way on the dancefloor. An emblematic term in the lexicon of club culture since 2000.

throwin’ shapes n

moving on the dancefloor in an angular fashion. An emblematic term in the lexicon of club culture since 2000.

throw one’s voice vb Australian

to vomit. One of many colourful synonyms originating in Australia in the late 1950s. Since the 1970s the expression is often shortened simply to throw.

throw wood vb British

to have an erection, from black speech. The verb is typically pronounced ‘trow’.

thug1 n, adj American

(someone who is) attractively uncouth. The word can also be used as a term of address or friendship towards males. It probably originated in gang usage around 2000.

thug2 vb American

to cultivate a scruffy appearance and/or nonchalant attitude. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

thumbsucker n British

an immature weakling, a baby

‘I ain’t followin’ a bunch of thumbsuckers

– you want to run a national firm, friend, you put your arse in gear behind us.’

(The Firm, British TV play, 1989)

thumper n Scottish an erection

thunder-bags n pl Australian

male underpants. A jocularism drawing on the analogy with explosive flatulence or defecation, more often encountered in the expression thunderbox.

thunder-bowl n British

a toilet. A variant of thunderbox used predominantly by middle-class speakers.

thunderbox n British

a toilet. The word was originally applied particularly to a commode in the colonial period. It was later extended, especially in middleand upper-class usage, to denote a small privy, and later any lavatory.

thwoppage n

a sexual act. The word is pronounced with a long ‘a’, perhaps in imitation of French. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000.

thwopping n

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

tick

440

tick1 adj British

excellent, attractive. This all-purpose vogue term, heard especially among young black speakers in the late 1990s, usually indicates admiration of someone’s appearance or physique. Although it is the Afro-Caribbean pronunciation of thick, the word more probably refers to a tick as a mark of approval.

tick2 n British

1.a smaller, and often younger, school pupil, usually one considered insignificant and irritating. A traditional publicschool term which is still heard today, it likens the person to the parasitic insect.

2.hire purchase, short-term credit. Tick meant ‘credit’ in post-17th-century slang. It has survived mainly in the phrase ‘on tick’.

ticked off adj

annoyed, irritated, angry or resentful. A politer form or euphemism for pissed-off, heard especially in the USA.

‘Thank you guys, but Mork’s not here and I’m too ticked off to go anywhere.’

(Mork and Mindy, US TV comedy series, 1981)

ticker n

one’s heart. Ticker was first slang for a clock or fob-watch then, by analogy, the heart.

‘Oh my dicky ticker!’

(Catchphrase from the British TV comedy, ’Allo ’Allo!)

tickle n British

a.a hint

b.an inkling

c.a minor success or sign of future success

d.a mild expression of interest

All these closely-related sub-senses of the word are well established in working-class speech and commercial jargon. They derive from the use of tickle to denote the sensation felt when a fish nibbles at a bait.

tickle the ivories vb to play the piano

tickle the pickle vb

(of a male) to masturbate. A humorous coinage in imitation of the more widespread jerkin’ the gherkin, mainly heard in Britain and Australia.

tiddly-dum adj British

tedious, dull, boring. An imitation of bored humming, synonymous with, but rarer than ho-hum.

tie off vb

to bind one’s limb in order to raise a vein in which to inject narcotics. An addicts’ term.

tie one on vb

to get drunk. Like its synonym, hang one on, this phrase was a 1930s Americanism, now heard in other English-speaking areas. The precise etymology of these expressions is not clear, but both probably convey the image of attacking a quantity of liquor or the burden resulting from its ingestion.

tight adj

1.mean, stingy, miserly. Now a common colloquialism rather than slang, this usage originated in the USA in the early 19th century. The image evoked is of someone who is ‘tight-fisted’. A modern elaboration is tight-arsed.

2.tipsy or drunk. The word was first used in this sense in the USA in 1843, being adopted almost immediately in Britain. The word evokes someone full of or bulging with alcoholic liquid.

3.American very friendly, close

Me and Harry been tight since we were kids.

4.American excellent, skilful. A generalisation of the use of the term from musicians’ jargon, in which it signifies closely co-ordinated. In this sense tight has become a vogue word since 2000.

5.unfair, harsh. A fashionable usage among some adolescents since 2000.

tight-arse, tight-ass n

1.a mean, miserly person. This sense of the word is more common in British usage than the following sense. The term has existed, mainly in working-class speech, since the early part of the 20th century. ‘Tight’ alone has had this meaning since the mid-19th century.

2.a repressed, prudish or uptight person; an ‘anal retentive’. This use of the expression is probably more widespread in American speech. In the 19th century it usually meant specifically sexually repressed, puritanical or chaste.

tight-arsed adj British

miserly, mean, stingy. This is an elaboration of tight (itself used to mean stingy since the 1820s), heard since the early years of the 20th century.

441

tit

tighten one’s face vb American

to shut up, keep quiet. A teenagers’ and Valley Girl expression, usually heard in the form of an instruction.

Aw, come on, you, like tighten your face!

tightwad n

a miserly, ungenerous person. A preWorld War I Americanism, later adopted elsewhere. The wad in question is a role of banknotes.

Tijuana bible n American

a pornographic magazine or book. Just across the US-Mexico border, the town of Tijuana has long been a centre of uncontrolled sexual amenities for visitors from the north.

tik adj

a South Asian version of thick, in the sense of physically attractive

tin n

money; cash, coins. A fairly rare expression.

tincture n British

1.an alcoholic drink. An adult male mid- dle-class term, popularised by the fictional Denis Thatcher in the satirical ‘Dear Bill’ letters in Private Eye magazine in the 1980s.

2.a tincture of cannabis; hashish in liquid form as legally prescribed to some drug users for a period in the 1960s

tin-cupping n

cadging or begging for money. The phrase has become part of business jargon where it refers to approaching a series of companies for loans.

tings n

the penis. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers. It is probably a borrowing from the adult euphemism ‘things’ to denote genitals.

tinkle1 n British

1. an act of urination. A coy, humorous or childish expression, in common use since the 1920s.

I’m just off upstairs for a tinkle.

2.a telephone call. This colloquial usage was inspired by the thin, slow ringing of early telephones.

3.money, cash, wealth. A working-class term heard especially in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Got any tinkle for me?

tinkle2 vb

to urinate. A childish, coy or humorous euphemism which has been in widespread use since the 1920s, although it probably originated earlier as an echoic nursery term.

tinkler n British

the penis. A nursery term from tinkle, also applied ironically or derisively in reference to older males.

tinnie, tinny n Australian

a can of beer. There has been recent argument in Australia as to whether this term is now archaic or not, but as late as 1988 it was recorded in London among young expatriate Australians.

tin-tacked n British

dismissed from one’s job. An item of rhyming slang based on the colloquial term sacked.

tiny n British

a small child, younger fellow-pupil. ‘The tinies’ is the (usually dismissive or condescending) standard middle-class, prep or public-school designation of children ‘lower down’ the school.

tip1 n British

a dirty, messy or squalid place. The term has become a popular colloquialism since the 1980s, often describing an untidy bedroom. It is a shortening of ‘rubbish tip’.

tip2 n, adj

(a male who is) fashionable, admirable, cool. A term used by young street-gang members in London since around 2000.

tiswas, tizwoz n British

a state of confusion and/or flustered excitement. Usually found in the expressions ‘all of a tiswas’ or ‘in a (bit of a) tiswas’. This folksy, light-hearted term probably comes from ‘it is – it was’, that is, expressing a disorientation in time, or else is an elaborated form of the colloquial ‘tizz’ and ‘tizzy’.

tit n

1a. a breast. Various Old Germanic languages and late Latin dialects contained related words formed on the root tet- or tit- (teta in Spanish and téton in French are modern cognates). ‘Teat’ was, for many centuries, the standard English form; in the 17th century the alternative spelling and pronunciation tit began to be used. It was only in the 20th century that the variant spellings and pronunciation

tit about/around

442

clearly differentiated the vulgar and standard usages.

1b. any button, knob, nipple or small protuberance

You have to attach it to the tit on the end.

1c. the sight or touch of a woman’s breast(s). An exclusively male vulgarism.

I got some tit.

1d. women in general, seen as sexual partners. An exclusively male vulgarism.

There’s loads of tit around.

2. a fool, buffoon. The word has been heard in this sense since the early 20th century in British usage.

‘There were two outstanding things about Q.E.D.’s “The Battle Of The Sexes” – Faith Brown. Stuart Hall merely made a right tit of himself.’

(Charles Catchpole, News of the World, 5 February 1989)

tit about/around vb British

to mess about or behave in a disorganised or ineffectual manner. One of many similar expressions such as arse about, fanny about, fart around/about, etc.

titfer n British

a hat. One of the best-known examples of rhyming slang (from the cliché ‘tit- for-tat’), the term probably dates from the end of the 19th century and is still heard.

titless wonder n American

an unfortunate, feeble or clumsy person of either sex. The expression, also recorded in British armed-services slang, formerly referred literally to a ‘flat-chested’ woman.

tits-up adj See go tits-up tittie, titty n

1.a breast. An affectionate or diminutive form of tit, in use since the 18th century when it was considered less vulgar than it is today.

2.See tough titty

tit-wrench n British

a stupid, inept or ridiculous individual. The word suggests an imaginary and presumably unnecessary tool.

toadsucker n American

a teenage term of abuse which, while offensive, has the advantage of not being obscene

toast adj American

confounded, in trouble. The word nearly always occurs in the form ‘I’m toast!’, an admission that one is about to suffer, e.g., punishment or humiliation.

toasted adj American drunk or tipsy

‘It’s not much [money], just enough to go out and get toasted some time you need it.’

(Working Girl, US film, 1988)

ToBo adj American

worthless, inauthentic, pretentious. A shortening of the Valley Girls’ standard dismissal ‘totally bogus’. The formation is based on the pattern of similar phrases such as MoFo, etc., and was first recorded in 1991.

Tod (Sloan) n British See on one’s tod

todger n British

the penis. A version of the more common tadger.

‘Orange Y-fronts with a slogan like “my todger is in here”.’

(Alternative-comedy act, Jo Brand (‘the Sea-Monster’), Montreal Comedy Festival, 1988)

todger-dodger n British

a lesbian. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

to die adj American

utterly excellent, wonderful. A preppie term, used typically by female speakers in thrilled approval or admiration. The expression, shortened from the colloquial ‘to die for’, refers to the notion of dying for something or of love for someone and is probably influenced by a usage such as killer.

Did you see that boy in the cut-off chinos? My God, he was to die!

It was just to die.

toe-jam n

an accretion of dirt between the toes

toerag n British

a contemptible person, a scrounger, ne’er-do-well, tramp or thief. Toe-rags were the bindings wound around the feet of convicts or tramps in the 19th century. The word had taken on its present meaning by early in the 20th century in both Britain and Australia. During the 1950s and 1960s toerag was an obscure cockney term; it was given wider currency in the 1970s by TV programmes such as The Sweeney and the pop songs of Ian Dury. From the mid-1980s it has been revived by work- ing-class Londoners. In Britain toerag is often used facetiously or slightly dismissively, in Australia it can sometimes

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tomcat

indicate approval of one who acts like a (natural, rather than social) gentleman.

toes n pl See have it (away) on one’s toes

toey adj Australian

nervous, agitated. By 2004 the term was in use in the UK.

toff n British

a socially superior and/or wealthy person. The word dates from the middle of the 19th century and probably derives from ‘tuft’ (used of a titled undergraduate at Oxford or Cambridge who wore a decoration on his cap) rather than the later ‘toffee-nosed’. The word had an archaic ring in the 1960s and early 1970s but, like other working-class terms relating to money and status, has been revived by modern cockneys and their ‘upwardly-mobile’ emulators.

‘Max was trying to build a high-tech laboratory complex, but all kinds of posh people were blocking his path. Basically, nobody loves you if you’re common and you presume to take liberties with toffs.’

(Kate Saunders, Evening Standard, 17 May 1989)

toffee n British

1. nonsense, empty talk or flattery. This is predominantly a working-class usage, particularly popular in the armed forces and in London. The origin of the image is probably in the idea of something sweet, sticky and attractively wrapped.

‘She gave me a load of old toffee as usual about what a reputable organisation they are and how they enjoy doing business with us.’

(Recorded, advertising executive, London, 1988)

2. gelignite. A term used by criminals and terrorists since the 1950s, from the explosive’s appearance.

together adj

in control of oneself, well organised, adjusted, collected. Derived from the phrase get it together, this became a catchword of the late 1960s and early 1970s, designating an approved state of self-possession, inner harmony, etc.; the antonym was untogether. The usage is now dated.

togg outs n British See give (someone) togg outs

toilet1 n

a disgusting, squalid or depressing place. A usage which has been in vogue since the 1980s.

toilet2 n, adj British

(something or someone) inferior, of poor quality, disappointing

That programme is a load of toilet if you ask me.

‘He played really fucking badly; he was really toilet.’

(Recorded, London student, April 2001)

toilet-talk n

‘smutty’, coarse or obscene conversation. An American euphemism of the 1950s which has since been adopted for ironic or jocular use in Britain and Australia.

‘OK, I’ll go next door and you two can get on with your toilet-talk.’

(Recorded, Devon, 1986)

toke vb, n

(to take) an inhalation of a joint or pipe of cannabis. This has been a standard term in the marihuana and hashish smokers’ vocabulary since the late 1960s. Toke probably comes from the Spanish tocar, meaning to touch, although, perhaps coincidentally, the word existed for many years in British underworld slang, meaning prison bread or a small piece or slice, becoming archaic by the 1930s.

tokus n American See tush tom1 n British

1.jewellery. A piece of underworld rhyming slang, from tomfoolery.

2.a prostitute. In police jargon and in the slang of the underworld and prison this has been a standard term since the 1940s. It derives from a 19th-century use of the nickname Tom to denote a masculine, assertive or aggressive streetwalker.

‘…and he says that the tom couldn’t have been where the police officer said she was because she was in bed with him. He was transferred the same day.’

(Police sergeant, Inside the British Police, Simon Holdaway, 1989)

3. an act of defecation. Rhyming slang from ‘tom-tit’ (the bird): shit.

tom2 vb British

to work as a prostitute. A fairly rare extension of the noun sense.

tombstones n pl

the teeth. A jocular simile often applied to gapped, uneven or partly discoloured teeth.

tomcat, tomcat around vb American

to prowl, usually at night, in search of sexual activity. A term used disapprovingly, usually by women of men.