Slang is a type of language that consists of words, and phrases, that are regarded as very informal.
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What is the origin and history of the word “motherf---er”?
I'm not a native English speaker, but I would like to know how and why people started using mother fucker. Today it seems it has lost its meaning because people use it all the time, but was there a ...
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Are Pounds Sterling referred to as squid (in addition to quid)
Commonly pounds are called quid,
but I've come across references to pounds as
squid
Is that a typo or actually a common usage?
Example from Football forums:
It is believed they have ...
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What does the “atta” mean in “attaboy” and “attagirl”?
What does the prefix atta mean? What is it trying to abbreviate? What a? Wiktionary claims that it stands for that's a or that's the, but I do not see the resemblance to atta.
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Is using “all” instead of “all used up” a regional thing?
My inlaws from Central Pennsylvania will say, "The milk is all" instead of "The milk is all gone". Another very common example, "Can you bring me some cookies?" "Sorry, the cookies are all". Anyone ...
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Origin and status of “hosed”, meaning “broken”
Are the etymology and status of hosed known, and if so, what are they? For this question, "hosed" is used as at onlineslangdictionary or at urbandictionary. (That is, with meaning broken, messed up, ...
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Why are spies called “spooks”?
In many books, I've seen the word 'spook' used to mean some kind of spy. Definition 5 on dictionary.reference.com confirms this usage, but is not very helpful about the origin.
Does anyone know how ...
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Connotations of using “boy” by upper-class liberal Britons in beginning of 20th century
Could someone provide (ideally documented) evidence for the following details of the possible meanings/connotations of the word "boy" as used by a start-of-20th-century upper-class British person of ...
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Origin of the word “spraunce”
I was recently talking to someone who said a restaurant was spraunce, meaning it was well-presented and high-quality (that being the sense I was familiar with). We briefly discussed the fact that he ...
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Are the terms “welsh” or “welch” (as in reneging on a bet) derogatory toward the Welsh people?
From the casual research I've done, it's assumed to be offensive (like "gyp" for Gypsies), but I've not found anything definitive. I'm also curious when it first entered the language with this ...
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Would sir like something for the weekend?
"Something for the weekend" is a euphemism heard in barber shops, when the above phrase is used to enquire of a customer whether he would like a packet of condoms. Does anyone know how this phrase ...
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Meaning and acceptability of “One fifty” when speaking of dollars
I was watching Errol Morris' ‘11 Excellent Reasons Not to Vote?’. At some point, the dialog goes this way:
― If I could sell my vote, I probably would.
― How much?
― How much? Psssh... ...
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What is the meaning of the term Herbert in British slang?
In the song Get Out of My House by The Business, the chorus is:
Out, out get out of my house, you'd better take your sheepskin too
no son of mine's going round as a hippie
or a scruffy ...
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Etymology of “to be like” meaning “to say”
It seems that "to be like" is an informal phrase for "to say". E.g.
She was so angry, she was like "I'm breaking up with you", and I was like "I'm sorry", and she was like "Go away".
Is this a ...
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Colloquial definition of “douchebag”
Obviously "douchebag" has a literal meaning - however if we see someone wearing sunglasses indoors, we would call them a douchebag. I'm trying to explain this to a friend. How do you verbalize this ...
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Do any non-transitive (in a mathematical sense) slang terms exist?
Are there any words that are slang for another word which is itself a slang term for something else, but the secondary slang term is not slang for the original word?
That is, given words Y and Z, ...
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Is “how come” slang?
Sample Conversation:
A: How are you?
B: I am mad.
A: How come?
I thought that how come was a logical word choice but upon speaking with somebody for whom English is a second language, ...
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Etymology of 'ripped' as in 'ripped abs'
ODO provides the following definition for the word ripped:
3. informal having well-defined or well-developed muscles; muscular:
through his slightly-too-tight shirt you could see he was ripped
...
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What is the etymology of “fanboi”?
In a recent Daring Fireball post, John Gruber wondered about the origin of "fanboi" as a spelling of "fanboy".
I tried searching for this, but couldn't find anything definitive. Harry McCracken has ...
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Use of “them” as an article, not a pronoun
I've seen a lot of times the pronoun them used like an article. For example, in the title of the Delta Rhythm Boys Them bones, or in the first sentence of "Money for nothing":
Now look at them ...
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Why the opposite meanings of the word “bollocks”?
The phrases the dog’s bollocks, the bee’s bollocks, and golden bollocks are used to mean something or someone excellent, fine, or well thought of. But if one were to say a load of bollocks, or ...
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Why does “klick” mean kilometer in US military slang?
Wiktionary says it is either likely a pseudo-condensed pronunciation of kilometer or onomatopoeic of the sound of a military odometer.
Though kilometers are not commonly used to measure distance ...
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Origin of “for the birds” (Trivial; worthless; only of interest to gullible people.)
I really have looked, but the best I can come up with is this
To say that something is "for the birds" is to call it horse manure. Dating from the days of horse-drawn traffic, the expression is ...
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Where did the phrase “batsh*t crazy” come from?
I am curious how this term came to be. I've found this question on various forums, but none of them seem to agree where the term came from. The most popular explanation seems to come from "bat in the ...
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'Ours' meaning 'our home' - where is it used outside the UK, if anywhere?
In expressions like:
Let's go back to ours and have some food.
There's a party at ours on Friday.
There's a bottle of brandy at yours, isn't there?
'ours' and 'yours' are synonyms for ...
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Origin of “hating on”
What is the origin of the slang phrase hating on?
Google Trends suggests that the phrase did not enter the lexicon until early 2009. I'm curious where the phrase originated.
As Stefano Palazzo ...
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How did the word “copacetic” come into use?
I once heard the late John Ciardi (NPR's "A Word in Your Ear") try to explain that the 1920s idiom, "copacetic" (meaning completely satisfactory), entered into the African-American vocabulary in ...
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How did the slang meaning of “flog” come about?
I've searched multiple dictionaries and Etymonline but the only origin for "flog" that I can find is:
1670s, slang, perhaps a schoolboy shortening of L. flagellare "flagellate."
This clearly ...
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Etymology of “ruggit”?
I did something stupid yesterday. "What a ruggit", I said to myself, meaning a stupid person. It occurred to me I hadn't heard the word for a while, so I looked it up, and found this source here
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“Bash” vs. “party”
Our management team ask us to join a pizza/beer bash, which is essentially nothing but a pizza lunch held for all employees.
My concept of the word bash still remained somewhere near the name of the ...
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Why is “bloody” considered obscene in the UK but not in the US?
Why is the word bloody considered obscene in the UK but not so in the US?
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What exactly does it mean to “mug somebody off” in British English?
I tried looking this up at the Urban Dictionary, but it gave only one net-upvoted definition, and that definition wasn't even clear. The background for my question is coming my watching from a movie ...
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Do Americans “gee things up”, or is it just a British usage?
As a Brit, I've always thought to "gee things up" (often followed by "a bit") was a relatively well-known Americanism - probably because I assume most figurative usages relating to horses come from ...
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Origin of “in a pig's eye”
This Wikipedia article says that "in a pig's eye" is rhyming slang for "lie", but I'm not convinced. The article also claims "in a pig's bottom" exists as a variant - but I doubt that's ever had any ...
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Why are pounds sterling called “knicker”?
I asked the price of an article the other day, and was told that it cost 120 knicker. This is a slang term for pounds sterling that always appears in the singular. I have failed find any reason why ...
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What is the origin of the slang term “book” meaning “leave” or “hurry”?
This verb is used in expressions such as “I’ll see you later – gotta book now”.
Dictionary.com has:
Slang. b. to leave; depart: I’m bored with this party, let’s book.¹
Anybody know the ...
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Why does one “stand there like a lemon”?
I was standing around like a lemon the other day (meaning, standing doing nothing when I ought to have been a little more active) when it occurred to me to wonder, why does one stand there like a ...
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Origin of “cracked the shits”
I heard someone use the expression "he cracked the shits" today which is universally recognised (at least in Australia) to mean "lost his temper".
It struck me that it is a strange expression and the ...
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What is the etymology of “todger”?
What is the etymology of "todger"? My Concise OED is rather vague:
ORIGIN 1950s: of unknown origin (also tadger)
"Tadger" is just listed as a "Variant spelling of TODGER"
Other references ...
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Are the acronyms FYI, BTW, LOL, WTF now considered “normal” words?
Are these "words" moving out of the elitist slang stage and into popular usage? It is hard for me to tell, because in the techie culture I work in they are ubiquitous. However, I've tried them out ...
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Etymology of “catch a bosso”
Reading Look to the Lady, by Margery Allingham, I came across the apparent slang "catch a bosso," used by Lugg, the Cockney manservant, at the beginning of Chapter 6:
As soon as I caught a bosso ...
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Long lived slang
Every year new slang words enter the popular lexicon but which ones actually 'stick'? Every since I can remember, 'cool' has been an acceptable word whereas 'groovy' passed out of usage in the 70s. Is ...
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What is the origin of the word “wog”?
Some friend of mine told me it was an acronym for "western oriental gentleman" and was a form of sarcastic politeness. Is this true, and is it offensive to use this word?
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meaning and usage of 'teh'
“I wouldn’ say no teh a bit o’ yer birthday cake, neither.”
“He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him.”
—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hagrid’s ...
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What does “five O” mean (and why)?
I've heard quite a few times the term "five O" (eg in the US TV show "the Wire").
It seems to mean "police" (inferred from the context), and I'm curious to know where the expression comes from, and ...
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A polite substitution for “lamer”
Is there a polite word that can be used to designate someone who didn't really understand what he or she was doing? Or, in general, someone who is intentionally ignorant of how things work. A "lamer" ...
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What is the difference, if any, between 'porn' and 'porno'?
I had never thought of a potential difference between 'porn' and 'porno' until I encountered the following dialogue from Family Guy Season 9 Episode 9(thanks to FumbleFingers for reminding me the ...
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“Kebabs, fruit machines, and brasses” — what do these slang words mean?
More from the British movie The Football Factory. In the following dialogue, the main character, a Cockney English speaker played by actor Danny Dyer, waxes philosophical about why he enjoys being a ...
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Is “embiggen” considered a formal or slang word?
If my memory serves me correctly, I first encountered the word embiggen a year or so ago. I thought it seemed odd, but in context, the meaning was quite obvious.
Since that time I've seen this word ...
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How offensive is it to call someone a “slag” in British English? (NSFW)
One more colorful slang term I gleaned from the British movie I recently watched is slag. In the movie, it was used in curses like, "Fuck-ing dogs! Slags." "Right slag, that one."
Now I know via ...
