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

tomfoolery

444

tomfoolery n British

jewellery. A piece of rhyming slang more often heard in the short form tom.

Tom Mix n British

an injection of a narcotic. A piece of drug abusers’ terminology from the 1960s, rhyming on fix. (Tom Mix was the star of silent western movies.)

toms, the, the tom-tits n Australian

an attack of diarrhoea, or feelings of intense discomfort or dislike. A vulgarism based on the rhyme tom-tits: shits. The singular form is more prevalent in British rhyming slang.

ton, a ton, the ton n

a.the ton (or, less commonly, a ton) 100 miles per hour. A term, used typically by British motorcyclists, which has been in use since the early 1950s. It was popularised by the press describing the activities of ton-up kids. The word was adopted by American hotrodders in the 1960s.

b.a ton £100, in working-class and underworld parlance

c.£1,000 in the parlance of City of London financial traders and others

tongue-job, tongue-bath n

a.a French kiss

b.an act of cunnilingus

Both uses of both terms are from the late 1960s lexicon of hippies and pornographers. In the sense of kiss the expression has been supplanted in US teenage and preppie usage by tongue sushi.

tongue sushi n American

French kissing. A preppie term inspired by the Japanese raw fish delicacy fashionable from the late 1970s and 1980s.

tonguing n

French kissing. A term popular among British teenagers in the 1990s. It was included in Just Seventeen magazine’s article, ‘lingo of lurve’ (a guide to the slang of dating) in August 1996.

‘We weren’t actually doing it, only tonguing in the back of the car.’

(Recorded, London student, 1995) tonk1, tonker n Australian

a.a fool

b.an effeminate or homosexual male

Both usages date from before the 1950s and are of unknown origin. (‘Tong’ is an archaic term for the penis but may be quite unrelated.)

tonk2 n British

a fat or heavily-built man or woman. A term from Caribbean speech, also heard in the UK since 2000, especially among younger speakers.

tonk3 adj British

muscular, well-built. Defined by one user as ‘beefed-up and hardcore, e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger’.

tonsil hockey n American

a.French kissing. ‘Tongue-hockey’ is an alternative form of the expression.

b.oral sex, usually fellatio. The term was popular among American college students in the late 1990s.

ton-up kid/boy n British

a teenage or young adult motorcyclist, a precursor of the rocker. Ton-up boys were the bugbears of the popular press in the late 1950s. ‘A ton’ or ‘the ton’ was 100 mph, the goal of the leather-jacketed groups who gathered near suburban bypasses and main roads to stage informal speed trials and races or to go for a ‘burnup’ (to drive as quickly as possible, simply for the enjoyment of speed).

‘The BBC broadcast of “Morning Service” from Keele University, Staffs, yesterday was interrupted when a record about “ton-up” boys was heard above the hymn singing. A loudspeaker was found hidden behind a stage in the chapel.’

(Daily Telegraph, 25 January 1965)

Tony Benner n British

a tenner, a £10 note. The rhyming slang uses the name of the Labour politician Tony Benn. Synonyms are Ayrton (Senna) and Pavarotti.

Tony Blairs, Tonys n pl British

flared trousers. A jocular usage by British adolescents in the later 1990s borrowing the name of the Prime Minister to replace the earlier rhymes Lionel Blairs and Grosvenor Squares.

tool n

1. the penis. The notion of the male member as an implement is very ancient. The word tool itself appeared in Middle English and by the 16th century had been recorded as a sexual metaphor. It was at first an acceptable colloquialism, but since the beginning of the 19th century has been considered vulgar.

445

top

‘Play it safe Play it cool Wear a Jiffi On your tool.’

(Promotional slogan for Jiffi condoms, 1988)

2.a fool. Like many other words designating the male member, tool has the secondary meaning of a stupid (male) person. In the US since 2000 the word has also denoted an inept, unpopular or unpleasant male.

3.a weapon. This usage is now rare, but has given rise to the standard underworld and police jargon expression tooled-up (armed with firearms) in British English.

tool around/about vb

to idle or loaf, mess around performing trivial tasks. Originally an upper-class Edwardian phrase, probably from the sense of tool meaning to drive (a coach) skilfully and smoothly, hence to perform without effort. In modern speech there may also be a convergence with the sense of tool as the male member, paralleled in the synonymous usage dick around.

tooled-up adj British

a. armed, issued with firearms. A term used by the underworld and the police since the early 1950s. The noun tool, denoting a firearm, is now archaic. The expression tooled-up became more widely known in the later 1970s and 1980s after references in the media; it is sometimes extended to denote armed with knives, coshes or other weapons.

‘Some of the briefing scenes could have come straight from a movie thriller as the elite Squad members get “tooled up” – issued with snub-nosed revolvers and pump-action shotguns.’

(News of the World, 5 February 1989)

b. equipped with housebreaking implements. A piece of police and underworld jargon.

tool up vb British to arm oneself

We’re going to have to tool up if we take that lot on.

too much exclamation

excellent, exceptional, outstanding. A now dated usage which originated in the jive talk of pre-World War II jazz musicians in the USA and became a (sometimes derided) cliché expression of hippy enthusiasm.

toont n American

the vagina. A variant form of tuntun, recorded in the Midwest in 2001.

toot1 vb

to take any inhaled drug, but especially cocaine or amphetamine crystals (speed). This word had existed in the drug users’ lexicon since the mid-1960s, but became widespread in the late 1970s with the increased popularity of cocaine among otherwise ‘respectable’ people. It employs the predictable simile (as in bugle, hooter) of the nose as a musical instrument.

toot2 n

1a. an inhalation or sniff of a crystalline drug

D’you want a toot of this?

1b. a drug normally inhaled, particularly cocaine

This is grade A toot.

2.Australian a toilet. The word is pronounced to rhyme with ‘foot’, and is used by middle-class speakers.

3.a fart

‘…there is no place, save my apartment, that is safe to let off a toot…’

(Internet chat room posting, July 2004)

tootie-fruitie n See tutti-frutti

tootin’ adv, adj American

absolutely (right). An adjective used to intensify, as in the cliché expression ‘damn/darn tootin’ right’, whence the shortened version ‘darned tootin’’ or simply ‘tootin’’, meaning correct. The word is ultimately derived from ‘rootin’- tootin’’, originally meaning cheering and whistling.

toot sweet adv

immediately. The phrase is an anglicised version of the French tout de suite (‘straightaway’), used jocularly, typically by students.

top1 vb

to kill or execute (someone). The term, which is part of underworld jargon, has existed since the late 18th century when it referred to hanging.

top2 adj British

excellent, fashionable. A vogue term of approbation among adolescents from the late 1980s. In this sense, the word was probably adopted first in the north of England, later spreading to all other regions. Mint and fit were other fashionable synonyms from the same period.

top bollocks

446

‘… do you enjoy being a pop star? I think it’s top, me.’

(Liam Gallagher of Oasis interviewed in NME, 30 September 1995)

top bollocks n pl

female breasts. A vulgarism used by males in Britain and Australia since the early 1960s.

top man n British

a vulgarly or unfashionably dressed male. The ironic term, heard among adolescents and young adults, particularly students and yuppies since the late 1980s, refers to the Top Man stores which sell low-price fashion clothing.

top shatter n British

a leader, commanding male. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003.

The top shatter is the number one bad boy.

torch1 vb

to set fire to something, usually to get rid of incriminating evidence or as part of an insurance fraud

‘But torching the building made little difference to the neighbourhood. There are three other crack houses within easy walking distance.’

(Sunday Times, 10 September 1989)

torch2 n

an arsonist, especially one who is paid to burn down buildings in order to collect fire insurance. The word, which is part of police and underworld jargon, is also used as a verb.

torch job n

an act or case of arson

torn up, to’up adj American

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

tosh n British

1.a term of address to a stranger, invariably used by a man to another man. This working-class word, now obsolescent, was a favourite with spivs and young toughs in the 1950s and early 1960s. It can be used with bravado, in rough comradeship or provokingly. In this sense it possibly derives from Scottish or Cornish dialect, in which it meant smart or welldressed.

2.nonsense. A 19th-century publicschool and university term that was obsolescent, except in affected usage, during the 1960s and 1970s, but was revived in the 1980s. It often forms part of phrases

such as ‘tosh and tarradiddle’ or ‘tosh and twaddle’, equating with ‘stuff and nonsense’. The origin of this sense of the word is obscure; it may be an imitation of a snort of derision (as in ‘tish’ or ‘bosh’) or derive from ‘toshy’, meaning overdressed.

‘He gave me some sort of explanation, but it was basically a load of old tosh.’

(Recorded, film producer, London, 1986)

toss1 n British

1.something futile, worthless or useless. A word usually found in the phrase ‘a load of old toss’. It denotes the semen ejaculated in masturbation, and is influenced also by tosh meaning nonsense.

2.an obnoxious and/or foolish person. The term is a shortening of tosser or tossbag.

toss2 vb

1.to deliberately lose a match, game or contest (usually as part of a gambling conspiracy). A racier version of ‘throw’.

2.to search and/or ransack premises in pursuit of evidence of crime or of booty. An underworld and law enforcers’ term.

3.Australian to defeat. A term used particularly in sport; it probably derives from the image of a wrestler or bull tossing an opponent, or simply from the standard sense of ‘toss aside’.

toss-bag n

an idle, worthless, foolish and/or obnoxious person

tosser n British

an idle, worthless and/or foolish person. A mainly working-class term of contempt which enjoyed a particular vogue in the later 1970s. It is a synonym of wanker and derives from the verb toss off.

‘Yis wan to be different, isn’t tha’ it? Yis don’t want to end like these tossers here. Amn’t I righ’?’

(The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, 1988)

tossing adj British

an intensifier for use with nouns in the same way as the more vulgar frigging, fucking, etc. The term is heard in work- ing-class speech, especially in northern England

toss off vb

to masturbate. This verb, used transitively or intransitively, has been in use since before its first recording in 1735 to refer to male masturbation. In modern English slang the word is restricted to British and Australian speech.

447	tough titty

toss one’s cookies/tacos vb American to vomit. Jocularisms popular among college students in particular.

toss-pot n

1.a drunkard or habitual heavy drinker. This term of disapproval or affectionate abuse has been a British colloquialism for hundreds of years. The pot in question is a jar of ale, which is tossed down the throat.

2.a foolish, weak, unpleasant and/or incompetent person. Users of the term in this sense probably confuse it with tosser, falsely identifying the verb origin toss off with its sense of to masturbate. In Australia the expression toss-pot is sometimes used as a meaningless term of hearty address.

total vb

to destroy completely. A widespread term, especially among teenagers, since the 1960s; it derives from the notion of a ‘total wreck’ or a ‘total loss’ in official accident reports. Originally an Americanism, it is now heard elsewhere.

‘I was so out of control I totalled the car, crashed it somehow into the side of the road.’

(John Philips, Papa John, 1986)

totally adj

an all-purpose, deliberately ambivalent usage (in the same way as very), often heard as an exclamation by female adolescents in the US It frequently, but not necessarily, indicates approbation

It’s, like, totally!

to the max adv American

to the greatest extent, utterly. A Valley Girl term typically occurring in exclamations such as ‘grody to the max’ (utterly awful), but is sometimes used on its own to mean absolutely or completely.

Was it really awful? To the max!

toto adj British

completely, totally. An item of parlyaree recorded in the TV documentary Out in July 1992. It is Italian for ‘all’.

Everyone could see she was toto blotto.

tottie, totty, totsie n British

a girl or women in general, seen as potential sexual partners. The word meant a prostitute or woman of easy virtue in the 19th century and is probably an affectionate diminutive of Dorothy. It is still a fairly common term all over

Britain, particularly among workingclass males and servicemen.

a nice little tottie

touch adj

good. The word, sometimes used in the 1990s as an exclamation of solidarity, affection, etc. (originally accompanying the literal touching or slapping of hands), has, since 2000, also been used adjectivally by UK teenagers and gang members.

touch blade

That new game is so touch.

touch down vb

to have sex (with). The term, which probably originated in black American usage as a sports metaphor, invariably refers to male success in seducing/penetrating females.

touch (someone) for (something) vb

to solicit, cadge. This colloquialism, used almost invariably in connection with a loan, has been recorded since 1760. Touch up is a less common alternative form, particularly in the USA.

touch-respect exclamation British

an all-purpose greeting or indication of approval in use among teenage gangs. The term, an elaboration of the earlier respect, was recorded in use among North London schoolboys in the 1990s.

touch up vb

1.British to caress sexually, grope. A phrase (often used derogatively) prevalent among adolescents.

2.to touch (someone) for (something) (in the sense of solicit a loan from)

tough adj

1. excellent. A vogue term from the early 1990s, applied particularly to music.

tough sounds

2. unpleasant, disgusting, ugly, etc. A vogue term of disapproval that originated in the language of black street gangs in the early 1990s and was adopted by other adolescents

‘He’s well tough.’

(Recorded, London schoolboy, 1994)

tough bounce/buns n

hard luck. These are rueful or, alternatively, unsympathetic versions of the colloquial ‘tough luck’. The expressions originated in American speech.

tough titty n

hard luck, a raw deal. The expression is most often heard as an unsympathetic dismissal of another’s complaint.

toup

448

toup, toop n American a toupée or wig

touristas n pl American

an alternative spelling of turistas

tout n British

an informer. A Northern Irish expression, used typically by the IRA or its supporters of a turncoat or grass.

towel-head n

an Arab. A predictable pejorative term. Rag-head is a more widespread synonym.

‘Some towel-head from Hizbullah marched up and down the street twice.’ (Republican Party Reptile, P. J. O’Rourke, 1987)

town bike/pump n

a local woman supposedly available for sex with all and sundry. A form of this masculine term of contempt occurs in all English-speaking countries; the first variant employs ride as a sexual metaphor; the second is American.

townie, towny n British

a member of an urban underclass, working class or youth subculture characterised e.g. by tattoos, jewellery, sports clothes, etc. Like its near-equivalent, chav, the term came to prominence in the UK media in 2004. It had previously been used by teenagers in distinguishing youth ‘tribes’, also including goths, skaters, etc.

toy n

a novice or unskilled practitioner. The term is part of the jargon of graffiti artists.

toyboy n

a young male lover of an older woman. A vogue word from 1987 which started as a code term among sophisticates and was eventually popularised by the press.

trabs n pl British

trainers, sports shoes. The term was in use among adolescents in Liverpool in 2003.

tracks, trackmarks n pl

needle marks or scars on the limbs of addicts of hard drugs resulting from regular injections into the veins

‘You got more tracks on you baby than the tracks of this train.’

(Lyric from ‘Been on a Train’, Laura Nyro, 1970)

trade n

a sexual partner or partners, particularly a paying customer of a prostitute. A

generic term for custom or customers in the jargon of male and female streetwalkers, the word has sometimes been extended in the gay lexicon since the late 1960s to refer to any sexual partner.

‘He’d been having the trade back and finally his landlady said “You’ve been bringing people back, haven’t you?”. She looked disapproving.’

(Kenneth Williams, quoted in Joe Orton’s Diary, 25 April 1967)

tradesmen’s entrance n British

the anus. A vulgar euphemism often used jocularly, dating from the 1940s when even middle-class houses might have a rear or side entrance for hawkers, deliveries, etc.

tragic adj

1.disappointing, unattractive

2.embarrassingly and/or reassuringly unfortunate

Peter Andre’s chart career? Tragic.

In its slang sense the word is an intensified successor to sad.

trailer-trash n American

(a member of) the white underclass. The phrase became fashionable in the later 1990s, both to denigrate poor whites of the sort who are characteristically forced to live in trailer-parks and to describe a fashion for cheap, garish and kitsch accessories. A synonym for poor white trash.

train n

an act of serial sexual intercourse. The word is usually used as part of a phrase such as ‘do a train (on someone)’.

trainspotter n British

an unfashionable, excessively earnest, unattractive individual. The phrase, originally referring to hobbyists who collect train numbers, became a vogue term as a synonym for anorak and nerd in the mid-1990s, before being used as the title of Irving Welsh’s cult novel, Trainspotting.

train surfing n

joy-riding on the top or outside of mainline or underground trains. A lethal teenage prank of the 1980s in the USA and, more recently, Britain.

tramp adj British

inferior, inadequate, shabby. An all-pur- pose pejorative, formed from the noun, in use particularly amongst younger schoolchildren since the later 1990s.

449

trick

‘… this is a tramp school anyway.’

(Truanting schoolboy interviewed in the Sunday Times, 27 October 1996)

trampling n

dancing, especially energetically. The term was used by clubbers and salsa aficionados in the UK in 2004.

tranks, tranqs, trancs, tranx n pl tranquillisers. The abbreviations are employed by drug abusers rather than the estimated three million people in Britain suffering from dependency on prescribed drugs.

tranny, trannie n British

1. a transistor radio. An abbreviated form which has survived beyond the dated full phrase from the 1960s.

‘Records were less affordable in those days (a “trannie” and Radio Caroline being the nearest thing to free music).’

(Maureen Nolan and Roma Singleton,

Very Heaven, 1988)

2a. a transsexual

2b. a transvestite

Both shortenings were part of the gay lexicon of the 1980s.

3.a (photographic) transparency. This is particularly popular in the parlance of designers and publishers.

4.a transport café

5.a Ford Transit van. Formerly the means of transport for many (humbler) pop groups.

trash and ready adj

attractive, exciting. The term is applied typically to someone who has dressed up and embellished themselves in a showy or deliberately vulgar style. The phrase originated in the US but was used by UK females in 2003.

trashed adj American

drunk. A teenage and preppie term on the familiar lines of destroyed, smashed, etc.

‘I’m getting trashed, man. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at a party?’

(10 Things I Hate About You, US film, 1999)

trashed out adj American

exhausted. A popular phrase among teenagers and students since the 1970s. The term recalls synonyms such as ‘shattered’ or wrecked.

tray adv See très

tray-bits, the n Australian

an attack of diarrhoea. A ‘tray-bit’ is a British term for a threepenny piece from

the turn of the 20th century (from parlyaree; ‘-tray’ is from the Italian for three, tre). The phrase was adopted in Australia as rhyming slang for the shits. Widespread in the 1950s, the expression is now obsolescent.

treach adj

a hip hop term of approbation. Its origins are uncertain, but it is probably a shortening of ‘treacherous’, by analogy with wicked and bad.

‘This month’s music selections are frightfully def, totally treach and all those other hip hop clichés.’

(I-D magazine, November 1987)

treads n pl British

shoes, trainers. The term was posted on the b3ta website in 2004.

treat vb American

to seduce. An item of black street slang of the 1990s.

tree n American

cannabis, marihuana. A predictable borrowing of the word by college students and others, perhaps influenced by the earlier use of bush.

tree-hugger n American

an environmentalist or green activist. A derogatory term which featured in the 1992 Montana State Election debate. Synonyms are prairie-fairy, eagle freak, etc.

trembler n British

a burglar alarm. This example of the jargon of cat burglars was recorded in FHM magazine in April 1996.

très adv

very. The French word is used for comic effect, e.g. ‘très cool’.

Trev n British

an unfashionable, crass male. Defined by one user as ‘a loser boy’. Like Darren, a more recent synonym for Kevin and

Wayne.

trews n pl See troos

trey-bits, the n Australian

an alternative spelling of the trays, the tray-bits

tribal chieftain n British

an unpleasant and/or obnoxious person. An elaboration of the earlier chief, in playground usage since 2000.

trick1 n

1a. a prostitute’s client

‘Sandy had invited two girlfriends to live with them who gave Ordell “rent money”,

trick

450

twenty per cent of what they made entertaining tricks, so it wasn’t like Ordell was pimping.’

(Elmore Leonard, The Switch, 1978)

1b. a session or transaction between a prostitute and client

These senses of the word have been current in the USA since the first decade of the 20th century. They derive from the notion of an entertainer’s ‘turn’ or stratagem. Trick has appeared in British English since World War II, often in the phrases ‘on a trick’ or turn a trick.

2. American a promiscuous female. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

Mary slept with the whole team; she’s such a trick.

trick2 vb American

to sell sexual favours for money. This derivation from the noun form has not crossed the Atlantic.

Whenever she runs out of dope she goes out tricking.

trick3 adj

a. fancy, attractive and sophisticated. A 1980s term used by enthusiasts in fields where high technology is admired.

‘A legendary homemade speed machine dominated the bike park last summer: a Kawasaki-powered, Harris-framed, turbo-charged, nitrous oxide-assisted rocket. To bikers, this bike is “trick”, very trick.’

(Independent, 6 April 1988)

b. attractive, fashionable. From the mid1990s the term was adopted by adolescents as a synonym for cool. The phrase ‘totally trick’ was used in a TV advertisement for plastic toy effigies of the ‘Buttugly Martian’ cartoon characters in April 2001.

trick (out) vb American

to decorate, embellish, customise. The term has been in vogue in hip hop culture and among car and motorcycle enthusiasts since the 1990s.

trick cyclist n

a psychiatrist. A humorous alteration of the standard word, evoking, like shrink, a suspicious contempt for the profession. The phrase was first heard in the 1930s.

‘They are suspicious of the “trick cyclist” (nearly every policeman I have met uses the phrase to describe psychiatrists).’

(Town magazine, March 1964)

trickified adj Caribbean cunning, crafty

tricksy, trixie adj, n

(behaving like) an ostentatious, pretentious or otherwise obnoxious female, flossie. The term is used by females of those they disapprove of.

triff adj British

terrific, wonderful, exciting. This shortening, like the more widespread brill, became a vogue term among teenagers in the 1980s.

trim1 n British

a female, especially an attractive girl. A briefly fashionable phrase used in hip circles and among medical students, etc. in the early 1990s. It was probably adapted from the (somewhat dated) black American use of the word to denote the female genitals or women as sex objects.

trim2 vb American

to kill. The term was employed in the US film, Plain Clothes, in 1988.

trimmed adj

cheated, swindled. In the parlance of gamblers the word implies the neat removal of a dupe’s (excess) money or winnings.

trip n

1a. an experience of a ‘psychedelic’ drug such as LSD. A typical LSD trip would last around 6–8 hours, during which time the user would undergo profound sensory and psychological changes. The image evoked is that of an ‘inward journey’.

‘Leary himself has been on over 300 trips although he has abstained for nearly a year.’

(Sunday Times colour supplement, 1 January 1967)

1b. a single dose, tablet or capsule of LSD 2. a state of mind, state of affairs or personal experience. The original 1960s counterculture sense of an LSD experience was soon broadened to encompass these meanings. The word was used in a variety of sub-senses, in expressions such as ‘a guilt trip’ (a bout of remorse), ‘lay a trip on someone’ (subject someone to one’s own preoccupation, obsession or problem), ‘a heavy trip’ (a devastating or oppressive experience) or ‘on one’s own trip’ (preoccupied with oneself or introverted).

trip (out) vb

to experience the effects of LSD or a similar hallucinogenic drug. The term was coined in California in the early 1960s to describe the period (often

451	trots, the

around 8 hours) under the influence of the drug wherein one is ‘transported on an inner voyage’.

tripehound n British

a term of abuse, now often used affectionately but formerly used with real venom, particularly in the north and Midlands of England. The image is that of an offal-eating dog.

tripped-out adj

a.under the influence of LSD or a similar hallucinogenic drug

b.exhibiting signs of euphoria or eccentricity caused by, or typical of, the use of LSD

tripping1 adj British

strange, weird. This adjective, unknown before the 1990s, denotes a generally bizarre situation, thing, person, etc., rather than referring specifically to the simulation of the effects of LSD.

tripping2 n American

enjoying oneself, having fun. In the slang of black hip hop aficionados the 1960s term for LSD usage has been generalised.

trippy adj

exhibiting or suggesting the euphoric, surrealistic effects of ‘psychedelic’ drugs such as LSD. The word, based on trip, was heard from about 1967.

Listen to this – it’s got a really trippy guitar solo.

trog1 vb British

to trek, walk energetically or wearily. An armed-services’ term which passed into civilian usage in the 1970s. It is probably a blend of ‘trek’ and ‘slog’.

trog2, trogg n British

a simplistic, (literally or figuratively) lowbrowed person, someone of restricted intelligence or no social graces, a ‘Philistine’ or ‘Neanderthal’. This shortening of ‘troglodyte’ (a cave-dweller) was used in the armed forces in the early 1950s and particularly by jazz enthusiasts, beatniks and students in the late 1950s and early 1960s to describe those who were dull, boorish or out of touch. Since around 2000 in adolescent usage the term has denoted an unpleasant and/or unattractive female. Users have claimed it is a blend of troll and dog.

Trojan n American

a condom. The word is a trademark name used generically in the USA in the same way as Durex in the UK.

troll1 vb, n British

(to take) a prowl, wander or cruise. This alternative form of ‘trawl’ has existed since the 15th century. It acquired the sexual sense in the 1930s and was a vogue gay term of the 1960s.

‘Orton insisted the trolling fed his work; but it also fed Halliwell’s rage.’

(John Lahr, preface to Joe Orton’s Diaries, published 1986)

‘I don’t just get married because I enjoy trolling down the aisle.’

(Joan Collins, TV talk show, 1988)

troll2 n

an unpleasant and/or unattractive person. The standard term, denoting a mythical monster or goblin, has been applied especially to females in UK and US usage since the 1990s.

trolleys, trollies n pl British underpants. A fairly rare public-school expression. It is of uncertain origin but may be related to the archaic ‘trolleybobs’, a nursery version of trousers. (In her diary entry for 8 January 1934, Barbara Pym mentions buying trollies at Marks and Spencers.)

trollied, trolleyed adj British

drunk. The term, recorded in 2001, may be derived from the phrase ‘off one’s trolley’ or from trollies in the sense of visible, undignified and/or comical underpants.

trombone n British

a telephone. A rhyming alternative to dog (and bone).

tronk n British

a foolish, clumsy or contemptible person. A rare schoolchildren’s and student’s term, possibly related to the Australian synonym tonk.

troos, trews n pl

trousers. The preferred term among many British teenagers and students since 2000.

troppo adj Australian

unhinged, deranged, crazy. The word is an abbreviation of ‘tropical’ and is usually heard in the phrase to ‘go troppo’, originally referring to someone overcome by tropical heat but now generalised to mean something like over the top. The word originated among armed-service personnel in World War II.

trots, the n British

an attack of diarrhoea. The expression, heard since World War I, evokes swift

troub

452

but controlled movement to the lavatory.

troub, troubs n British See trub

trouble (and strife) n British

a wife. A piece of cockney rhyming slang which is still in (mainly jocular, ironic or self-conscious) use; it is now generally shortened simply to ‘trouble’ by Londoners.

trough vb British

to eat. A humorous middleand upperclass verb evoking (but not necessarily involving) gluttony.

trounced adj British

drunk. One of many synonyms in use among students since 2000.

trouser1 vb British

to pocket something. A humorous alternative term from the 1980s.

‘Strobes then insisted on accompanying Chancellor to the prize-giving in Milan, and trousered the cheque himself.’

(Private Eye magazine, 17 March 1989)

trouser2 n British

a generic term for males as sex objects. A 1980s women’s version of ‘(a bit of) skirt’, satirising the ‘predatory’ male expression.

trouser bandit n British

a male homosexual. A humorous, though pejorative, euphemism, evoking the image of a predatory or promiscuous gay male. ‘Bum bandit’ and arse bandit are alternative versions.

trouser chuff n British

a fart. A mock-childish term used by adolescents in the 1980s and popularised in the best-selling Viz comic.

‘Johnny Fartpants’ “trouser chuffs” always get him into meddlesome scrapes – losing his pocket money or causing the San Francisco earthquake of 1906…’

(Time Out magazine, December 1988)

trouser snake n

1.the penis. A young person’s joky euphemism adopted by adults; the full version is one-eyed trouser snake.

2.a disreputable or reprehensible person. This sense of the expression was typically used in the 1980s by American girls as a term of disapproval applied to males, emphasising the treachery inspired by ‘snake’ rather than the sexual aspect of the image.

trout n See old trout

trouting n British See out trouting

trout-pout n British

the result of lip-enlargement injections. The term was given wide circulation by media comments on the TV actress Lesley Ash’s cosmetic enhancement in 2001.

trub n British

trouble. A shortening used typically in middle-class badinage.

We’ve been in a spot of trub recently. trucking n See keep on trucking

true-say, true-dat exclamation indications of agreement, acceptance, approval. From black speech used in e.g. street-gang code and its imitations.

‘True-say, but what can you do about it? Nothing!’

(Recorded, contributor to www.wassup.com, November 2003)

trump vb British

to fart. The term, popular since the late 1990s, is based on the noun trumpet.

trumpet n British

1. a fart. A children’s word which enjoyed a vogue in the late 1980s.

‘Lucy did a trumpet.’

(Recorded, 10-year-old boy, Devon, 1986)

2. a telephone. A rare synonym of trombone, the blower, etc.

trunk1 n

1.American the backside. By analogy with the trunk (UK: boot) of a car. The term has been popular since 2000, sometimes in the phrase ‘junk in the trunk’, i.e. a ‘packed’ or very prominent posterior.

2.also trunker or trunky the penis. By analogy with either the trunk of a tree or an elephant’s trunk.

Man, I slammed my trunk into her. He gave her a trunky.

trunk2 vb

to have sex (with), penetrate. Derived from the noun form, the usage was recorded in 2004.

He claims he trunked her.

trust1 n British

money. The slang usage, possibly from trust-fund, has been in vogue since around 2000.

trust2 vb British to lend (money)

Trust me a Pavarotti, will you?

453

tude

tsotsi n South African

1.the South African patois as spoken in Cape Town and Johannesburg, especially by black speakers. The language is a combination of English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Sotho.

2.a stylish black male, a young gangster

T.T.F.O. phrase British

an item of doctor’s slang, as written facetiously on a patient’s medical notes. The letters stand for ‘told to fuck off’.

tub n

1a. a boat

‘Can’t this tub go any faster?’ (Friday 13th part VI, US film, 1986)

1b. a car, truck, bus, etc.

2. a ‘tub of lard’; a fat person. A widespread colloquialism.

tube n

1.the Tube the London Underground railway system, from the tubular construction of the tunnels. This nickname dates from the turn of the 20th century.

2.the hollow formed by a breaking wave. A surfer’s term from which the term of approbation, tubular, is derived.

3.Australian a can of beer. (Tinnie is a slightly later synonym.)

‘Alex Buzo, who is minder of the Australian language among his other activities, records that it is 20 years since he last heard beers referred to as tubes.’

(Observer magazine, 13 December 1987)

4.the tube television, from the cathode ray tube

5.British a person. A vogue word among teenagers in the late 1980s; it was a synonym for dude, although it sometimes had the added sense of someone foolish or gormless.

tube it vb American

to fail an examination, test, task, etc. This common campus expression is based on the colloquialism ‘down the tubes’ in the sense of lost or ruined

tube steak n American

the penis. A euphemism heard in hip circles in the 1980s, from black street usage of the 1970s. It was originally a jocular term for a frankfurter sausage.

tubular adj

an all-purpose term of teenage approbation, deriving from riding the tube as being the highest form of surfing experience. Like many 1960s surfing terms this

expression (often intensified as ‘totally tubular’) was adopted by Valley Girls in the later 1970s and subsequently became a vogue usage in international English in the 1980s.

tuchis n American See tush

tuck, tucker n

food. The first version of the word is typical of British public-school vocabulary, the second Australian. Both date from the 19th century and probably derive from the verb to ‘tuck in(to)’, which originally implied the humorous notion of tucking food surreptitiously into oneself or behind one’s clothing.

tucked up adj British

1. imprisoned, incarcerated. A homely euphemism for a grim reality in the tradition of London working-class usages.

‘Adjusting back to normal society is not easy when you’ve been tucked up for a bit.’

(Recorded, ex-prisoner, London, 1986)

2. cheated, duped. A London workingclass usage paralleling the more widespread stitch (someone) up.

tuckered (out) adj

exhausted. This is originally an American term deriving from an archaic sense of the verb ‘tuck’, signifying rebuke or reproach. (In Old English tuck also had the sense of to ill-treat.) Now, as heard in such phrases as ‘plumb tuckered out’, the word has folksy overtones.

tuck-tuck n British

a ‘break’ at school, from the old schoolboy use of tuck to mean food

tuck (someone) up vb British

a.to defeat, capture

b.to confound, dupe

This all-purpose phrase is in London work- ing-class usage, particularly amongst criminals and the police. The image is that of putting a helpless child to bed.

tud, tut n British

rubbish. The word was used by clubbers and some teenagers in 2000. It may be a dialect term in origin but its etymology is unclear.

a load of old tud It’s no tud.

tude n American

(a bad) attitude; a surly, defiant or negative disposition. A short form of the type (i.e. the burbs, nabe, perp, tard) fashionable in adolescent circles in the late 1970s