There are 22 item(s) tagged with “slang” in this section.
See items tagged with “slang” across the entire site.
Other tags used more than once by these items: definition, military, race
“No one really knows where this came from or how it became associated with magic, but it’s been around for a long time. There are lots of theories about where it came from – most of them conflict, and none can be confirmed. The first usage of the word was in a book from the second century. It was…”
“ This is an anti-police slang/acronym for ‘All Cops Are Bastards.’ It originated in the UK in the 1920s. It’s sometimes represented by the number ‘1312,’ referring to the numeric position of each letter. ”
“It means the commander or officer-in-charge of the unit. Each combat unit has a radioman (who is not the commander). That unit also has a call sign – for example, ‘Unit Bravo.’ That call sign refers to the unit in aggregate, not any one person. The radioman would say, ‘This is Unit Bravo,’…”
“ Comes from the same prefix that gives us ‘aggression’ and ‘aggravation.’ Historically, the prefix meant ‘to approach’ or ‘to attack.’ (See PS below. This might be a British idiom.) ”
“A slang word that’s very nebulous. It’s been defined, then co-opted by others. When used, you have to look at context, because different people use it to mean very different things. In today’s general slang environment, ‘based’ means to be true to yourself and not care what other people think….”
“It means someone who is uninteresting, often due to only enjoying mainstream hobbies and interests. Some choice quotes from the Urban Dictionary : […] A person who has failed to develop their own personal tastes and therefore has adopted boring, conformist, tastes […] A person that follows the…”
“ It literally means ‘black beast’ in French. The first word is pronounced ‘bet.’ In several definitions, I found the word ‘bugbear.’ A bugbear is a random, scary mythical creature, the name of which also means something to be avoid, or a pet peeve. ”
“ There are lots of ideas for etymology listed on the Wikipedia page but none is definitive. ”
“ This refers to either: A means of quick escape (a ‘hole’ through which a human or animal can ‘bolt’) A hidden refuge I’m not sure if the correct spelling has a hyphen. I’ve seen it both ways. ”
“This is a (presumably) mildly racist term mean to describe a low-paid member of the working class of a race other than the speaker. In most cases, the speaker is White, and the worker is either Black or Hispanic. Wikipedia specifies Asians: is a term for a low-wage laborer, typically of South Asian…”
“ Donnybrook was a town in Ireland (now a district of Dublin) which was home to the Donnybrook Fair. That event became legendary for alcohol consumption and subsequent fist fights. ”
“From the definition (and the word itself), this feels pejorative (no one wants to be ‘trash’). Urban Dictionary has some fun with it . A person, male or female, from Continental Europe who spends most of the time partying and jet-setting around the globe in the most conspicuous (sometimes rude)…”
“This is military slang meaning ‘all good.’ It comes from how they used to measure radio signal (1) strength and (2) clarity on a scale of 1 to 5. So, a strong signal that was distorted would be ‘five-by-one’ and a weak, clear signal would be ‘one-by-five.’ A strong clear signal would be…”
“ A Hawaiian name for a white person, someone from the mainland who moved to Hawaii, or something not culturally or natively Hawaiian. It may or may not be derogatory, depending on usage and…venom? It’s pronounced ‘howl-lay’ or ‘who-lay.’ ”
“Everyone knows what this means, but no one is really sure of the etymology. The word ‘high’ is easy, in the sense that it just amplifies what comes after it (‘high fashion,’ ‘high crime’). But what does ‘jinks’ mean? It was a dice game at one time, and it’s been used as slang to mean ‘to move…”
“This is an informal geographic term – it seems to be slang or patois for ‘hollow,’ but some resources reject that and claim it has a definition all its own. It’s an Appalachian term for valley. The University of South Carolina defines it as: A small, sheltered valley that usually but not…”
“A slave in the antebellum South could be a ‘field negro’ or a ‘house negro.’ The former worked as a laborer in the fields, the latter worked as a servant in the house, and usually had an easier workload and better working conditions. However, to work in the house, a slave had to be compliant and…”
“Most people understand that to ‘sic a dog’ on someone general means to direct the dog to attack. This came from an accented form of the word ‘seek.’ When hunting with dogs, you might say ‘seek them,’ to mean ‘pursue them.’ In Southern English, the word ‘seek’ might sound a lot like ‘sick,’ and…”
“This is known as Internet slang, but apparently it’s been around since the early 1900s as a shortened form of ‘simpleton.’ The Urban Dictionary does not disappoint : […] it means a guy that is overly desperate for women, especially if she is a bad person, or has expressed her disinterest in him…”
“ A British idiom that means teasing or joking. To ‘take the piss’ is to joke around, to ‘take the piss out of someone’ is to tease them. It’s the equivalent of the American phrase ‘mess with’ or ‘screw round with.’ There are many conflicting stories of its origin. ”
“This is an acronym for ‘The End Of The World As We Know It.’ It’s a phrase used in the prepping and survivalist communities to refer to the hypothetical period in time where civilization breaks down. From a page about prepping : Inside the prepping world there is a habit of streamlining complex and…”
“This is a term from IT which means to perform some seemingly pointless activity which (1) is required to complete a larger, more important tasks; or (2) is done as a form of procrastination or incidental to the more important tasks. Often, to complete Task X, a programmer must do Task A, which…”
