Fritz

From German Fritz, pet form of Friedrich (“Frederick”).

Someone sent up a shout and word came that oil had begun to show on the water—that meant one less submarine afloat! Again the roar of guns—again the shout! Two Fritzes sunk. . . !

1918, Elaine Sterne, Over the Seas for Uncle Sam:

(UK, offensive, ethnic slur) A German person, usually male.


hubby

en-adj

hubby (comparative hubbier, superlative hubbiest)

hubbier (comparative)
hubbiest (superlative)

A road that has been frozen while muddy is hubby.


Sambo

(derogatory) A black person, especially one who is accommodating or servile towards whites; an Uncle Tom.

(offensive, obsolete) A person of three quarters African descent and one quarter Caucasian descent.


Sambo

A nickname from the given name Samantha.


peckerwood

Inversion of woodpecker. Application to white people is due to the perception that the woodpecker is a symbol of whites, whereas the crow or blackbird is a symbol of blacks.

All the time I was stretched out on the infirmary cot I kept looking at the blank walls and seeing the mean, murdering faces of those Southern peckerwoods when they went after Big Six and the others with their knives.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 16:

Just as prejudiced as a Mississippi peckerwood when it comes to colored people.

1967, John Oliver Killens, 'Sippi, New York: Trident Press, →LCCN, →OL, page 50:

(US, offensive, slang, ethnic slur) A white person, especially a Southerner, or one who is ignorant, rustic, or bigoted.


sonny

(dated) A familiar form of address for a boy.

(colloquial, dated, derogatory) Form of address to a boy or man, to express contempt, warning etc.


chee chee

en-noun

chee chee (countable and uncountable, plural chee chees)

tlb

(UK, slang, archaic, offensive, 19th century)

Hobson-Jobson (see References) stated that the word is "said to be taken from chi (fie!), a common native (South Indian) interjection of remonstrance or reproof, supposed to be much used by the class in question. The term is, however, perhaps also a kind of onomatopoeia, indicating the mincing pronunciation which often characterises them." Hotten stated in his 1870 The Slang Dictionary "it takes its origin from a very common expression of these half-caste females, "CHEE-CHEE," equivalent to our "Oh, fie! - Nonsense! - For shame!" Merriam-Webster (see References) states "probably from Hindi chī-chī fie!, literally, dirt".

Pretty little Looking-Glasses, / Good and cheap for Chee-chee Misses.

Chee-chees, blacky-whites, half castes, Anglo-Indians. Midnight's orphans. The Brits hated us for giving human form to their rapacious colonial lust.

2021, Robyn Andrews, Merin Simi Raj, Anglo-Indian Identity, page 401:

(countable, ethnic slur) A mixed-race person of British and Eurasian origin and in particular of Anglo-Indian descent.


cellophane

en-noun

cellophane (countable and uncountable, plural cellophanes)

Genericized trademark. Blend of cellulose + diaphane.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head

1967, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, The Beatles (music):

Any of a variety of transparent plastic films, especially one made of processed cellulose.


yarpie

From Afrikaans japie, short for plaasjapie (“farm-boy”), referring to any person who grew up on a farm and is unfamiliar with city life, and hence naive and unsophisticated.

(South Africa, derogatory, slang, ethnic slur) A white South African man.


Chen

From Mandarin 陳／陈 (Chén). Doublet of Tan, Chan, and Tran.

(US, ethnic slur, offensive) A Chinese person whose name is not known to the speaker.


crockpot

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-crockpot.wav

From Crock-Pot (1971), brand name of slow cooker by The Rival Company, from crock + pot. Coined by duplication and assonance.


milk of magnesia

Former trademark; for details; see Wikipedia.

A milky-white solution of magnesium hydroxide, used as a saline osmotic laxative and as an antacid.


Punic

en-adj

Punic (comparative more Punic, superlative most Punic)

more Punic (comparative)
most Punic (superlative)

From Latin Pūnicus, variant of Poenicus, from Poenus + -icus, from Ancient Greek Φοῖνιξ (Phoînix), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀛𐀑𐀍 (po-ni-ki-jo) under influence from φοινός (phoinós, “crimson red”) owing to its relation to Tyrian purple, apparently from or cognate with Egyptian fnḫw (“Asiatics, Semites”), f:n:x-w-V12:Z2. Equivalent to a modified Phoenician + -ic.

(figurative, ethnic slur) Perfidious, treacherous, faithless.


Tylenol

en-noun

Tylenol (countable and uncountable, plural Tylenols)

(Canada, US, uncountable) Alternative form of tylenol (genericized trademark) (the pharmaceutical drug acetaminophen (“paracetamol”))


dobro

From the trade name "Dobro", used by Gibson Guitar Corporation, from Dopyera or Dopjera, name of the inventors + brothers, also punning on Slovak dobro (“good”).

The longest and most incandescent track is “Twilight Kingdom,” which includes Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on dobro and David Grier on guitar.

2007 January 21, Nate Chinen, “Dueling Banjos, Gospel Harmonies, Arabesques and Electric Eels”, in New York Times:

(music) An acoustic guitar with a metal resonator


teleprompter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-teleprompter.wav

/ˈtɛləˌpɹɑmptəɹ/

From tele- + prompter; genericized trademark, originally styled TelePrompTer.

Ahem ... GRBLB BLABT UNT MIT SPEEB!! OOT PIFFOO BLABOO... [pause] Would someone please give the Teleprompter a swift kick...

1984 April 20, Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County (comic):

He was more at ease in reading his speech off the dual screens of a teleprompter than looking up and down at a speech text on his lectern.

A device placed near or on a television camera that displays scrolling text, allowing a person to read a script while appearing to speak spontaneously to the camera.


granola

granola (countable and uncountable, plural granolas)

Globe Pequot Press
Graham flour
Granula
James Caleb Jackson
Will Keith Kellogg
granola

By 1967, American English, probably from Italian grano (“grain”) or granular, with commercial suffix -ola.
Earlier, with a capital G-, it was a proprietary name for a kind of breakfast cereal, registered in 1886 by Will Keith Kellogg and in use into the early 20th century. It was initially known as Granula and renamed Granola to avoid legal problems with James Caleb Jackson, who invented a similar cereal in 1863, named Granula after the granules of Graham flour, the main ingredient. The food and name were revived in the 1960s.

A breakfast and snack food consisting of loose, crispy pellets made of nuts, rolled oats, honey and other natural ingredients.

(slang, countable) Short for crunchy granola.


granola

en-adjective

granola (comparative more granola, superlative most granola)

more granola (comparative)
most granola (superlative)

You see more and more of the granola hippie activist types these days.

[…]behind them a granola-looking mom in denim overalls and a t-shirt was pulling in to do her drop-off . . . from a Prius.

2013 November 21, Jame Schaefer, Tobias Winright, Environmental Justice and Climate Change, page 228:

Rather, the anti-vax movement is almost entirely a phenomenon of the affluent crunchy granola Left—as everyone across the political spectrum acknowledged until the last week or so.

2015 February 13, Dennis Saffran, “The Orwellian Campaign To Project Anti-Vaccination Onto Republicans”, in The Federalist:

Yet some experts believe that voices from the far right are beginning to drown out those of the crunchy granola crowd.

2020 June 18, Kiera Butler, “The Anti-Vax Movement’s Radical Shift From Crunchy Granola Purists to Far-Right Crusaders”, in Mother Jones:

(chiefly Canada, US, of a person) Eating healthy food, supporting the protection of the environment, and having liberal views.


lanolin

en-noun

lanolin (usually uncountable, plural lanolins)

Former trademark (1885-1902), from lana (“wool”) + oleum (“oil”) + -in

She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a tray of leather-bound books in front of her; she was rubbing lanolin into their covers […] ‘Look at these lovely old editions,’ she said, showing me a couple of small tan books, their bindings still glossy and moist from the lanolin, like newly exposed conkers.

2009, Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger, Virago Press (2018), pages 138-139:

A greasy yellow substance chemically akin to wax that is secreted from wooly animals, with a variety of uses from rust prevention, lubrication and waterproofing to cosmetics and skin ointments.


Muzak

The noun is a blend of music + the letters ak from Kodak, a well-known brand in 1934 when the word was coined by the American inventor, scientist, and soldier George Owen Squier (1865–1934), who developed the original technical basis for the service.
The verb is derived from the noun.

coinage

It dawned on her that he was talking about the Muzak. It had been seeping in, in its subliminal, unidentifiable way since they'd entered the place, all strings, reeds, muted brass.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 105:

There's no way I can change internal body functions. Only yogis can do that. Muzak, for example, can't change you. Aaron Copeland [i.e., Aaron Copland] calls Muzak 'the obsequious.' We're super-saturated with shitty music. [Originally published in New Times.]

1975 February 7, Michael Gross, quoting Tom Turicchi, “The Hits Just Keep on Coming”, in Robert Atwan, Barry Orton, William Vesterman, American Mass Media: Industries and Issues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 1978, →ISBN, part 3 (The Sound Media), page 320, column 2:

Some people, of course, have no trouble making that decision: they know they don't like Muzak. Critics charge that Muzak invades what could be pleasurable silence, disrupts conversation, or smacks of George Orwell's 1984. [Originally published in American Way.]

1983 November, Bill Hunter, “It’s Muzak through Your Ears”, in Robert Atwan, Barry Orton, William Vesterman, American Mass Media: Industries and Issues, 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 1986, →ISBN, part 3 (The Sound Media), page 289, column 1:

(music, trademark) Recorded background music characterized by soft, soothing instrumental sounds which is transmitted by wire, radio, or recorded media (originally on a subscription basis) to doctors' offices, shops, and other business premises.


Muzak

The sound you make is muzak to my ears / You must have learned something in all those years

1971 September 9, John Lennon (lyrics and music), “How Do You Sleep?”, in Imagine:

[T]he supermarket is very crowded, because of course it's the time of day when all other people with jobs also try to squeeze in some grocery shopping, and the store is hideously, fluorescently lit, and infused with soul-killing Muzak or corporate pop, and it's pretty much the last place you want to be, but you can't just get in and quickly out.

2005 May 21, David Foster Wallace, This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, published April 2009, →ISBN:

(music) Easy listening music, whether played live or recorded, especially if regarded as uninteresting.

hissimusiikki

easy listening music, especially if regarded as uninteresting

(figuratively) Something (such as speech) regarded as droning on and often boring, or soothing but undemanding.


dumpster

Genericized brand name, from blend of dump + Dempster. The original brand (and some associated things) are no longer trademarked, because the three trademarks involved have either expired or been cancelled. By surface analysis, dump + -ster.

[…]with the uncanny ability to always look like he just woke up in a dumpster

2020 December, Dave Barry, Year in review:

(Canada, US) A large, usually metal trash receptacle designed to be hoisted up by a garbage truck in order to be emptied.


hansom

I rose accordingly from table, got into a hansom, and drove straight to Jekyll's house.

1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

“There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom.[…]”

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

The ghost of Selby stirred in him. His thoughts slipped back to the day when he had stolen from his well-appointed office to a waiting hansom—there had still been a good many hansoms in those days—and driven quickly to the docks.

1931, Francis Beeding, “6/4”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:

tweewielig rijtuig met koetsier achterop


hotshot

Indeed, development proceeded so rapidly thereafter that Mopac, for instance, was rebuilding a series of 10-year-old Woodard 2-8-4's into 4-8-4's by 1940 - not because they couldn't steam but because their 63-inch drivers couldn't roll the hotshots fast enough.

1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co.:

(US, rail transport) A fast freight train.

I sniffed glue, transmission fluid, gasoline, whatever drug anybody gave me, I took. […] [Y]ears ago, I was in a drug rehabilitation program and found out that my brother was killed after somebody gave him a hotshot, drugs laced with poison.

1997, Andi Rierden, The Farm: Life inside a women's prison, page 120:

(slang) A dose of recreational drugs deliberately laced with poison.


hotshot

en-verb

hotshot (third-person singular simple present hotshots, present participle hotshotting, simple past and past participle hotshotted)

hotshots (present singular third-person)
hotshotting (participle present)
hotshotted (participle past)
hotshotted (past)

(transitive, slang) To give (somebody) a dose of recreational drugs deliberately laced with poison.


Lycra

en-noun

Lycra (countable and uncountable, plural Lycras)

Being a gym bunny is simply unbecoming. Not as unbecoming, perhaps, as the bicycle bunnies, with their helmet hair, their strangely padded Lycras that suggest a degree of sexual depravity and those ridiculous clacky shoes. But we’re not very pleasing to behold.

2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times:

(countable) A tight-fitting garment made of Lycra.


touch-tone

software to decode touch-tones


jacuzzi

A generic use of the proprietary name Jacuzzi. Doublet of Jacob and James.

A hot tub or whirlpool bath with underwater jets that massage the body.


goddamn

From God + damn; originally, and sometimes still, a present subjunctive expression of a wish that God smite someone for their wickedness; compare also antonymous God bless, God bless you, and God love (someone or something).

The goddamns (British soldiers) are coming / To steal your children. / Awaken! Awaken! / Acadian men / To save our heritage.

2009, Shane K. Bernard, The Cajuns: Americanization of a People, page 72:

Alternative form of goddam (“an English person, from French perspective”)


excelsior

From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark.

(archaic) Loftier, yet higher, more elevated; ever upward.


excelsior

w:Excelsior (Longfellow)#Adaptations and parodies

A greeting, farewell or acclamation, presently associated with comic book fandom and famous comic book writer Stan Lee, but continuing a long tradition of parodies of the New York State motto, first by Longfellow and continuing through Thurber to Lee.


excelsior

These little mangers, with baby dolls representing Jesus, porcelean Josephs and Marys, wide-eyed cows of papier-mâché, and excelsior for straw, were purchased by pious parents for well-behaved children at Christmas-tide.

1942, Elliot Paul, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Sickle Moon, published 2001, page 91:

Working both [of them] at Kroll's then, she selling candy and cashews in a white smock with "Jan" stitched on her pocket and he lugging easy chairs and maple end tables around on the floor above, hammering apart packing crates from nine to five, the itch of the packing excelsior getting into his nose and eyes and making them burn.

1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 13:

Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior.

2015 March 31, Margalit Fox, “Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Canada, US) Stuffing material (as for furniture and mattresses) made of slender, curled woodshavings, as a substitute for hair.

lastuvilla

stuffing made of slender, curled wood shavings


trailer park trash

I didn't wear my “Trailer Park Trash” T-shirt that day.

1996, Annalee Newitz, White Trash: Race and Class in America:

I swear, this whole thing sounds like we're talking about some hillbilly trailer park trash.

Eric's remark about “trailer park trash” is strictly his. I have some very good friends who live in trailers and they are not trash.

2004, Sam Warren, Tales from the Tijuana Jails II:

(US, idiomatic, derogatory) Alternative form of trailer trash


porta-potty

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-porta-potty.wav

Blend of portable + potty, from the commercial name Porta Potti. Equivalent to porta- (“portable”) + potty.

So let’s talk about infrastructure tonight, and let’s begin with dams, because dams are amazing. They’re the most powerful device we have for holding back liquid aside from the idea of using a porta-potty. “I’ll wait. I’ll just wait forever. I cannot go in there.”

2015 Mar, Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Julie Weiner, “Infrastructure”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 4, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

A portable toilet, (in UK, particularly) a chemical toilet comprising only the fixture rather than an entire enclosure.


sis

head

sis (third-person singular, feminine, nominative case)

en-pron

sis is living my delusions, happy for her

2023 February 2, ㅊ (@jaja_girly), Twitter:

The internalized colorism that has inflicted Will is just… Referring to gorgeous Veronica as “Black bald dark-skin woman.” How she didn’t snatch him from his Mama’s highchair I do not know.. Sis dodged all the bullets.. #loveisblindbrazil

“Sue Me” sis snapped

2022 September 29, Kahlen Barry (@KahlenBarry), Twitter:

sis really said fuck the police go off

2023 January 3, sésé/gee☆♱ (@d0llydeathw1sh), Twitter:

Call me when ur 3 year old daughter knows SZA lyrics, girl said “you still playin the pick me, I’m still playin the victim” we don’t care if it’s backwards sis learned that all on her own 🥹

2023 January 3, amanda 🍒(@ amc0124), Twitter:

(chiefly African-American Vernacular, slang) she


realtor

From real (in real estate) and -or. Coined by Charles N. Chadbourn in 1916, on the model of Latin agent nouns ending in -tor (such as actor, creator), to refer to real-estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors, a trade association in the United States. Equivalent to realt(y) + -or.

It was composed of an engineer, if I remember correctly, a town planner, a realtor, and occasionally an architect […]

1919, Mr. Shannon, U.S. Housing Corporation. Hearings Before a Subcommittee, United States Senate:

First place, we ought to insist that folks call us ‘realtors’ and not ‘real-estate men.’ Sounds more like a reg’lar profession.

1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:

Intrigued by the prospect of an additional commission, the realtor hurriedly assured me he foresaw no problem in obtaining the lease.

1975, Jerzy Kosiński, Cockpit, Grove Press, published 1998, page 189:

The terms agent, broker, and realtor are often used interchangeably.

1997, Douglas A. Gray, Canadian home buying made easy, second edition, page 72:

The realtor was like a carnivore, ready to spring. He was originally from New York and he seemed like the kind of guy who could smell a deal.

2003, Gary Andrew Dresden, Confessions of a Gynecologist, iUniverse, page 111:

(Canada, US) A person or business that sells or leases out real estate, acting as an agent for the property owner.

National Association of Realtors
realtor


realist

He's the realist dude I know.


spandex

en-noun

spandex (usually uncountable, plural spandexes)

Coined as an anagram of the word expands.

A synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity.


munchkin

en:Munchkin (disambiguation)
munchkin
munchkin (cat)

Coined by American author L. Frank Baum in 1900 in his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Perhaps reflective of German Mensch or munch + -kin. Compare Low German Menschken and Low German Minschken

coinage

(informal) A pet name one uses for something adorable like a pet, child, or a romantic partner


hustler

(corporate jargon) One who is willing to suffer the most for the sake of company profits; a hard worker.


regulo

20th century, from Regulo, trademark for a type of thermostatic control on gas ovens.

any of a number of temperatures to which a gas oven may be set. e.g. regulo 4


gippo

en-noun

gippo (countable and uncountable, plural gippos or gippoes)

→ Swedish: jippo

An alteration of gypsy, which is in turn an alteration of Egyptian.


hick

(derogatory) An awkward, naive, clumsy and/or rude country person.


jungle bunny

Originally US English, 1950s. From jungle (“referring to the alleged origins of black people in the African jungles”) + bunny.

Merry Christmas to all the little jungle-bunnies. — From momma jungle bunny.

1952 December 18, The South Side Times, Fort Wayne, Indiana, page 8, column 6:

"[W]e are concerned that outright harassment such as being called nigger, jungle bunny, porch monkey, boy, son, etc., is occurring entirely too much."

1983 January 14, “Racial incidents, declining sales sour Volkswagen dream”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, page 6:

He doesn't say Judge Brown's last name, telling me Brown's just another jungle bunny far as he's concerned, robe or no robe.

2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, page 90:

(US, UK, ethnic slur, derogatory) A black person.


X-Acto

→ Portuguese: x-ato

English: Exacto knife

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-X-Acto.wav

Trademark, 1920s, presumably from exact.

A utility knife, usually with a short, sharp, disposable blade mounted on a pen-like body, usually for crafts and hobbies; an X-Acto knife.


Jedi Master

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Jedi Master.wav

The highest of orders in the Jedi Order of the Star Wars universe, similar to a bishop.

(humorous) Respectful term of address for an expert in a particular field.


pepsi

(slang, ethnic slur) Alternative form of Pepsi (“person from Quebec”)


TV dinner

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-TV dinner.wav

Originally used for a brand of packaged meal (TV Brand Frozen Dinner) developed in 1953 for Swanson & Sons.

Like foil-tray frozen meals, which were used by airlines before Swanson branded them as “TV dinners,” Twitter was not initially invented to be an adjunct to the tube.

2023 July 10, James Poniewozik, “The Twitter Watch Party Is Over”, in The New York Times:

A prepackaged meal purchased frozen and heated at home.


sweety

Ses I, "My sweety, see how I'll fetch you down in less than no time."

1976, Henry A. Hawken, Trumpets of Glory, page 158:

"Yes, dear," he tells her. "You're right, dear. Of course, honey. I'll take care of everything, sweety."

1998, Jed Diamond, Male Menopause, Sourcebooks, page 269:

'He's my sweety pie, my darling man, my honey pot. ...

2003, James Riordan, The Cello, Oxford University Press, page 54:


jap

en-verb

jap (third-person singular simple present japs, present participle japping, simple past and past participle japped)

japs (present singular third-person)
japping (participle present)
japped (participle past)
japped (past)

Shortening of Japanese, in reference to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

(Canada, US, ethnic slur, slang, transitive) To carry out a sneak attack upon (something or somebody).


mortician

/mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/

“And I prefer mortician to funeral director. It sounds more professional and, well, it is more precise. I deal with more than mere funerals; I deal with death, passing on, the transition.”

2021, Percival Everett, The Trees, Influx Press (2022), page 91:

(US) An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.


dreamboat

From dream + boat, probably suggesting a person “carrying” or embodying the dreams of another; the term appeared in some 1930s and 1940s love songs, referring to a metaphorical boat carrying a lover’s dreams, such as “When My Dream Boat Comes Home” (1936) written by the Canadian-American bandleader Guy Lombardo (1902–1977) and “Someone’s Rocking My Dreamboat” (1941) by the American songwriters Otis (1898–1970) and Leon René (1902–1982), and Emerson Scott.

My new fella is such a dreamboat. He can dance, can sing, and is the captain of the school hockey team.

(informal, dated or humorous) An exceptionally good-looking and sexually attractive person, particularly a man.


homie

Ella Mae Morse
Freddie Slack
The House of Blue Lights

Earliest known reference is in the 1946 tune "The House of Blue Lights" by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack, when Morse improvises a spoken-word intro. Equivalent to home + -ie.

(African-American Vernacular) Someone, particularly a friend or male acquaintance, from one's hometown.

maat

a friend; somebody one often hangs out with


niggerball

en-noun

niggerball (countable and uncountable, plural niggerballs)

It's easy to see how Amerika's so easily turning into a police state, give the unwashed masses their television and some niggerball and they'll ignore the fact that they're slaves.

2002, Lieberal Death, “Your TV viewing for This Evening”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):

[…] two-hundred dollar tennis shoes named after some niggerball player […]

2004, H. A. Covington, A Distant Thunder:

(uncountable, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) The sport of basketball.


pocketbook

→ Gulf Arabic: بوك (būk, “wallet”)

→ Najdi Arabic: بوك (būk, “wallet”)

1610s, from pocket + book, popularized in its sense as a paperback by the success of Pocket Books in the United States after its 1939 launch.

The publishers brought out small format pocketbooks of the whole of their nature series.

The kit is produced in three parts including a pocket book designed to fit into a shirt pocket for everyday on-the-job use, a more detailed guide and a training CD. The kit includes a hazard reporting and feedback notebook and hazard management process prompt cards to remind workers of common hazards they may encounter in day-to-day operations.

c. 2005, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Risk Management Pocket Guide:

"I have now lost", he wrote in his pocketbook, "the last barrier between me and death..."

2011, Leslie Stephen, Swift, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 10:

Dave recorded the information in his pocketbook and looked Gibbs straight in the eye.

2015, Graham Ison, Whispering Grass, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(uncommon) A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (UK) notebook able to fit into a pocket (of any genre, from reference work to fine art).


band-aid

Genericization of the trademark Band-Aid, registered and coined by Johnson & Johnson in 1924, from Clipping of bandage + aid.

(Australia, Canada, US, Philippines) An adhesive bandage, a small piece of fabric or plastic that may be stuck to the skin in order to temporarily cover a small wound.


pogo stick

An acronym of the surnames of German inventors Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall, trademarked.

A toy, used for hopping up and down on, consisting of a pole with a T-bar handle at one end, and spring-loaded footpads on the other.

An internal cargo handling winch and “pogo stick” are provided for handling cargo inside the main cargo area.

1959, Aviation Storekeeper 3 & 2, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 394:

(aviation, informal) Synonym of tailstand


shoneen

Borrowed from Irish Seoinín (“Johnny”), from Seán (“John, John Bull”) + -ín (diminutive suffix).

Good Father John O'Hart
In penal days rode out
To a shoneen who had free lands
And his own snipe and trout.

1889, W B Yeats, The Ballad of Father O'Hart:

So then the citizens begin talking about the Irish language and the corporation meeting and all to that and the shoneens that can’t speak their own language

(Ireland, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Irish person considered excessively Anglophile, an Irish person who acts English or desires to be part of English society.


sheeny

Shylock chimes with the jewbaiting that followed the hanging and quartering of the queen’s leech Lopez, his jew’s heart being plucked forth while the sheeny was yet alive.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

"I've told you before now not to push that long, sheeny beak of yours into my affairs."

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

One time in Humboldt Park Leo "Bow" Gisensohn, our leader, didn't like the way a cop down by the lake called him "sheeny."

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 6:

Max Baer ain't no Jew.
Sure he is. Everybody knows that. Sheeny to the core.

2005, “Creed, OK”, in Carnivàle, episode 17:


Baileys

Brand name, originally adopted from the name of a restaurant.


windbreaker

From a trademark of the John Rissman company; wind + breaker.

A thin outer coat designed to resist wind chill and light rain.


pollywog

(New Zealand, slang, ethnic slur, offensive) A person of Polynesian (usually Samoan) descent.


Quaalude

Supposedly a blend of quiet + Maalox + interlude.

(pharmacology) A proprietary name for methaqualone.


lambkin

A lambkin's snowy fleece

1781, Richard Hole, Homer's Hymn to Ceres, Exeter: B. Thorn & Son, p. 38

There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.

1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 3:

She has no real cognisance, dear lambkin, of anything at all.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, page 28:


kleenex

From the name of brand of tissues trademarked by Cellucotton Products Company (now Kimberly-Clark) in 1924–25. Alteration of clean + -ex.

Could you hand me a kleenex? My nose is running.


holy shit

/ˌhəʊli ˈʃɪt/

Holy shit, that car just exploded!

(idiomatic, vulgar, slang) Expression of terror, awe, surprise, astonishment, etc., often at something seen for the first time or remembered immediately before using this term.

me cago en Déu, en la creu i en el fuster que la féu!


Rohypnol

From the F. Hoffmann-La Roche brand name for flunitrazepam, a blend of Roche + hypno- + -ol.

Rohypnol like a chloroform / Sugar from the day you are born / Washed out like a dinosaur

2003, “Brothers and Sisters”, in Think Tank, performed by Blur:

Moss: [sniff] Why are you drinking rohypnol, Jen? Flunitrazepam, histomet... Yep, that's definitely rohypnol. Are you having problems with insomnia or?

2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6

(pharmacology) Flunitrazepam, a powerful sedative sometimes used as a date rape drug.


berdache

From French bardache, from Italian bardassa, perhaps from Arabic بَرْدَج (bardaj, “slave”). Doublet of bardash.

These culturally bound assumptions have bedevilled the entire anthropological literature on the berdache in Native American cultures, and it is because of this that I have followed the lead of Angelino and Shedd when referring to the phenomenon of the berdache-transgenderal, for as Fitzgerald (1977) points out: "A berdache . . . may be a transvestite, but a transvestite need not be a berdache; and neither need be homosexual."

1980, Kenneth E. Read, “Observations on the Current State of Anthropological Research on Homosexual Behavior”, in Other Voices: The Style of a Male Homosexual Tavern, Novato, Cali.: Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 187:

Gender is the sociocultural designation of biobehavioral and psychosocial qualities of the sexes; for example, woman (female), man (male), other(s) (e.g., berdaches²). Notions of gender are culturally specific and depend on the ways in which cultures define and differentiate human (and other) potentials and possibilities. While many people in Western society may think first of heterosexual women and men when the word "gender" is mentioned, there are more gender possibilities than just those two.

1989, Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Christine Roberts, “Sex, Sexuality, Gender, and Gender Variance”, in Sandra Morgen, editor, Gender and Anthropology: Critical Reviews for Research and Teaching, Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 439:

Male berdache have been documented in nearly 150 North American societies, while female berdache (females who take on the lifeways of males) appear in half as many groups.

2005, Michael J Horswell, Decolonizing the Sodomite, University of Texas, published 2006, page 20:

(anthropology, dated, now offensive, ethnic slur) Among Native Americans, a person who identifies with any of a variety of gender identities which are not exclusively those of their biological sex; a transgender person.

wíŋkte

Native American who identifies with a gender identity not exclusively corresponding to their biological sex — see also two-spirit


wetback

1920
Operation Wetback
Rio Grande
wetback (slur)

First used in the 1920s from the presumed effects of swimming or wading across the Rio Grande. Used by the U.S. Government in 1954 with Operation Wetback.

1920, Temporary admission of illiterate Mexican laborers: Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 66th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 141,
Mr. HUDSPETH. […] I stood here and did all in my power to keep the “wetback” […] from coming across. And I stand here to-day asking for that.
The CHAIRMAN. […] What is a “wetback”?
Mr. HUDSPETH. You have heard a “wetback” described; he is a fellow that crosses the river surreptitiously.

The charges against the U.S. had cited cases of peonage and labor under forced contracts in Maine, Connecticut, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia and California. They had revealed that thousands of “wetbacks” (i.e., Mexican laborers who wade the Rio Grande in search of work in the U.S.) lived in squalor and poverty, sometimes were paid as little as $8 a week.

1950 March 27, “United Nations: Objectivity”, in Time:

He went through a couple of bottles of wine and made a speech denouncing wetbacks and Asian immigrants.

1997, Saul Bellow, The Actual, New York: Viking, page 12:

A successful wetback, the limo driver was thinking—that was his assessment of his Mexican-American passenger.

2015, John Irving, chapter 2, in Avenue of Mysteries, Canada: Knopf:

United States of America
United States of America

(derogatory slang) A Mexican or Central American who illegally enters the United States of America from its southern border.


Tayto

From Tayto (Northern Ireland), a manufacturer of crisps and corn snacks; presumably from potato.


whipper snipper

whipper snipper (plural whipper snippers)

(Australia, Canada) A string trimmer; a strimmer.


Levi's

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Levi's.wav

From the Levi's brand of blue jeans, named after the company's founder, Levi Strauss (1829–1902).

It is the prelapsarian Polynesia of free love, noble savagery, Kon Tiki rafting and Easter Island statuary, not the Levi’s-wearing, Toyota-driving, pédalo-pushing, efflorescent-cocktails-in-a-split-coconut-serving pseudo-paradise that awaits latter-day travellers.

2001, Stephen Brown, Marketing – the Retro Revolution, London: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 139:


sweetie pie

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sweetie pie.wav

(chiefly endearing) A sweetheart; a beloved person.


greaser

From grease + -er. Applied to mechanics because they frequently become greasy during the course of their work. Applied to toughs because they frequently greased their hair, and, like greaseball, to Italians for the same reason. Applied to Mexicans because, at the time the phrase originated, they commonly worked greasing the axles of carts.

A pair of Greasers were ahead of me, but I could see only their outlines, and they didn't seem to interfere any with the scenery.

1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 11, in Arizona Nights:

(US, offensive, ethnic slur) A Latin American, especially a Mexican.

(US, offensive, ethnic slur) An Italian.


baby girl

My beautiful sister Marveen. You are my babygirl. I didn't know what I had been missing until you appeared in my life.

2010, V. J. Gotastory, Year of the Crackmom:

"I mean, if you're not interested, it ain't nothing but a thang, baby girl. Just let a nigga know."

2010, Chunichi, The Return of a Gangster's Girl, page 26:

“Hey I missed your call. What's up?” “Hey babygirl, I was calling to check on you duh. What you doin?”

2011, Kristina Caraballo, Lileannas' Journey, page 103:

(chiefly African-American Vernacular) (sometimes endearing, sometimes derogatory) Friendly or intimate term of address for a woman.


(US, Internet slang, leetspeak) Censored spelling of ass.


zot

Regretfully there is nothing that can be done about things .. just a time bomb ticking, ticking, ticking .. until one day soon, the zots will decide to take a property here, and a property there (they have after all started with vacant land and been successful), so why not progress to property?

2000 April 9, Squirrel, “SA Silence on Mugabe's actions”, in soc.culture.south-africa (Usenet):

(SA) ¶ The government has TACITLY condoned the actions of the zots by allowing them to continue their illegal occupation.
(Zimbabwe) ¶ The government condoned the illegal activities and progressed to the point where they were actively supporting it.

2000 October 29, Nude Raider, “Here are the facts...”, in soc.culture.south-africa (Usenet):

The zots will destroy the barns, the homesteads, the tractors, everything - reducing them to their component parts without the aid of explosives.

2002 July 5, Alistair, “Re: Tobacco barn and other assets- disassembly instructions”, in soc.culture.zimbabwe (Usenet):

(South Africa, Zimbabwe, ethnic slur, offensive, derogatory) A black person.


mackintosh

mackintosh (countable and uncountable, plural mackintoshes)

From Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), who patented a type of rubberized cloth in 1823. Former trademark. The letter k is a later addition.

A waterproof long coat made of rubberized cloth.

мушама

waterproof coat made of rubberized cloth


freecycle

en-verb

freecycle (third-person singular simple present freecycles, present participle freecycling, simple past and past participle freecycled)

freecycles (present singular third-person)
freecycling (participle present)
freecycled (participle past)
freecycled (past)

Blend of free + recycle, popularized by The Freecycle Network and the general freecycling movement.

I freecycled most of the junk cluttering my house.

Here in New York's Hudson Valley, we've freecycled swing sets, Little Tikes outdoor climbers, freezers, computer equipment, entertainment centers, baby furniture, and much, much more!

2004 April 15, Nancy Castleman, “Freecycle for the Earth! Earth Day's coming up!”, in misc.consumers.frugal-living (Usenet), retrieved 2024-09-08:

To recycle by giving away an item for free.


rice rocket

So called because rice is a staple food in Japan, and rockets are known for their high speed.

(slang, ethnic slur, humorous) A Japanese high-performance sport motorcycle or street-racing car.


rice burner

(slang, ethnic slur, humorous) An ordinary automobile, especially a Japanese one, made to look fast or special by adding aftermarket parts.

(slang, ethnic slur, humorous) A person who drives such an automobile.


hot stuff

Hey, hot stuff, wanna dance?

(idiomatic, colloquial) An attractive person. (often used as a come-on or pickup line)


wanta

Written form of a reduction of want to, used informally in most English dialects.

“We don’t wanta. Come on aid us. It might be night time when de water hem you up in heah. Dat’s how come Ah won’t stay. Come on, man.”

1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial, published 2000, page 163:


wot

Wot, no bananas? ― (popular slogan during wartime rationing)

Then, wot with undertakers, and wot with parish clerks, and wot with sextons, and wot with private watchmen (all awaricious and all in it), a man wouldn't get much by it, even if it was so.

1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:


wot

Fer, as the poit sez, me 'eart 'as got / The pip wiv yearnin' fer - I dunno wot.

1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13:


douchebag

That douchebag ruined my shrimp cocktail.

Why doesn't that guy get a job? He’s a regular douchebag.

It's fine to help your friends eat healthy, but don't be a douchebag and harass them about it.

(US, slang, vulgar, humorous) A jerk or asshole; a mean or rude person; someone seen as being arrogant, snobby or obnoxious.


sista

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sista.wav

[…] but if you were a colorist and texturist and couldn't get down with a sista who had tighter than 3B hair, you'd confirm she was a knockout.

2020 December 22, G.L. Tomas, The Love Bet(A BWWM Romantic Comedy), Rebellious Valkyrie Press, →ISBN:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of sister.


superstar

Want to hire a coding superstar? Call the agent.

2014 November 17, Lizzie Widdicombe, “The Programmer's Price”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 2022-12-28:

Is your organization looking for its next new hire, that superstar performer to take things to the next level? Be careful: Organizations are greater than just one individual. If you're that superstar, remember to be a good team player. You'll feel better about your job and you'll perform at an even higher level.

2017 May 19, Hui Liao, “Career Coach: How to handle the new hotshot on your team”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2020-08-28:

"A superstar employee that is creating that toxic work environment is probably costing that company more than he or she is bringing in," Martin says.

2017 October 15, Tara Golshan, “Study finds 75 percent of workplace harassment victims experienced retaliation when they spoke up”, in Vox, archived from the original on 2023-02-11:

There's no sense in hiring a superstar developer who will quit after three months because she can't stand the management style or requires flexibility the hiring company doesn't offer.

2022 June 27, Ariel Shapira, “As 'Tindery' hiring dies down, Unboxable's AI steers companies toward retention”, in The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 2023-02-07:

(corporate jargon) An exceptionally productive employee.


clip strip

Some retailers use clip strips to boost impulse purchases of related merchandise. Clip strips are plastic strips that clip onto store shelving and display small items, which complement the merchandise in the main display area.

2006, Rosemary Varley, Retail Product Management: Buying and Merchandising, page 152:

As a result, battery manufacturers have tried to meet the diverse needs of the retailers by providing different displays and other tools such as clip-strips, which are small hangers attached on the end of a grocery or merchandise aisle, to place batteries in limited spaces.

2007, Kevin K. Boeh, Paul W. Beamish, Mergers and Acquisitions: Text and Cases, page 381:

The Hotdog EZ Bun Steamer® was best suited to become a clip strip product hanging next to the hotdog buns in every grocery store in America […]

2011, Janessa Castle, Your Complete Guide to Making Millions with Your Simple Idea or Invention, page 174:

Clip strips are used to display high profit, impulse items that are displayed throughout the store.

2011, Judith Adkins-Spears, Jump-Start Your Merchandising Career:

A retail product display consisting of a length of plastic or metal with clips or hooks at regular intervals, upon which merchandise is hung.


Teflon

Trade name, 1940s. From the first letters of tetra- (“four”) + fluoro- (“fluorine”) + -on, modeled after nylon etc. From the fluorine count of polytetrafluoroethylene.

af

A brand name of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”) products, latterly applied to other fluoropolymer products.


cashpoint

Genericisation of Cashpoint, originally a registered trademark of Lloyds Bank introduced in 1972, from cash + point.

Gordon Brown today urged police across England and Wales to offer to walk the last mile home with people who feel unsafe after they visit the cashpoint.

2009 May 12, Alan Travis, “Gordon Brown urges police to walk people home from cashpoint”, in The Guardian:

automated teller machine
automated teller machine

(British, Ireland, banking) An automated teller machine.


wuz

She wuz robbed!

‘We wuz talkin’ and the monk got loose, and she sent me off to catch him.’

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 64:


hacky sack

en-noun

hacky sack (countable and uncountable, plural hacky sacks)

A trademark of Wham-O. It uses reduplication of the word sack with the word hacky; a "hack", in the game's terminology, is akin to a point, and happens when every player in a group successfully passes the footbag.

(uncountable, games) A game or activity in which one or a group of players try to keep a footbag off the ground using only the feet.


veronal

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-veronal.wav

Former trade name, after the Italian city Verona.

He was by now so worn out that he could not resist my firmness. I gave him a sufficient dose of veronal to insure his unconsciousness for several hours. I thought that was the best service I could render him.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 29, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

She died of an overdose of veronal. She's been taking it lately for sleeplessness. Must have taken too much.

1926, Agatha Christie, chapter 1, in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd:

I have seen the Brazilian press photograph of Zweig and Lotte, his second wife, lying dead of their overdoses of veronal on two pushed-together single iron bedsteads, he on his back, mouth a little agape, in a sweat-stained shirt and knitted tie, she on his shoulder in a floral wrap and clean hair, and you can practically hear the ceiling fan going round.

2010 January 28, Michael Hofmann, “Vermicular Dither”, in London Review of Books, volume 32, number 02, →ISSN:

A barbiturate, used formerly to induce sleep.


Canola

Genericization of a trade name, of a rapeseed oil from Canada. Acronym of "Can"adian "o"il, "l"ow "a"cid..


Campari

An Italian mildly bitter apéritif, coloured with cochineal, often drunk with soda water or orange juice.


malathion

en-noun

malathion (countable and uncountable, plural malathions)

Ecoparasite control, with appropriate concentrations of carbaryl, malathion, or pyrethrin dusts, is permissible if the agent is applied externally to both test and control animals not less than seven days prior to the start of the test.

1983, D. E. Kaukeinen, Vertebrate Pest Control and Management Materials, page 102:

Although effective in degrading pesticides with P-O bonds, washing of the vegetables sprayed with the thiolester organophosphate insecticide malathion with the enzyme did not yield any improved degradation.

An organophosphorus insecticide, Diethyl [(dimethoxyphosphinothioyl)-thio]butanedioate.


pedalo

Borrowed from French pédalo, a registered trademark. By surface analysis, pedal + -o.

It is the prelapsarian Polynesia of free love, noble savagery, Kon Tiki rafting and Easter Island statuary, not the Levi’s-wearing, Toyota-driving, pédalo-pushing, efflorescent-cocktails-in-a-split-coconut-serving pseudo-paradise that awaits latter-day travellers.

2001, Stephen Brown, Marketing – the Retro Revolution, London: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 139:

On the other hand: I’m sorry the sculpture hurt your feelings. But it’s just art. It can’t harm you. You don’t have to like it – not at all – but it’s going to be gone in a month or so, and you can still use the pedalos while it’s there.

2018 August 16, Marina Hyde, “Sorry to break it to you, far-righters: James Bond is not on your team”, in The Guardian:

(UK, nautical) A small boat propelled by pedals that directly turn external paddles, used for recreation.


tha

(US, African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of the.


grenadine

grenadine (countable and uncountable, plural grenadines)

/ˈɡɹɛnədiːn/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-grenadine.wav

Borrowed from French grenadine, from Middle French grenade (“pomegranate”).

A thin gauzy fabric of silk or wool, used for women's clothing and men's woven luxury ties.

(dated, formerly a trade name) A dyestuff consisting essentially of impure fuchsine.


nigga

From nigger, coming from dialects of the English language which are non-rhotic.

(offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, dated) Pronunciation spelling of nigger.


frigidaire

/ˌfɹɪdʒɪˈdɛə/

/ˌfɹɪd͡ʒɪˈdɛɹ/

From Frigidaire, proprietary name of a brand of refrigerators, from Latin frīgidārium. Doublet of frigidarium.

He [...] had everything necessary to the Modern Man, / A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.

“Have you seen Kipper?” I wouldn't say she snorted, but she certainly sniffed. “Bertie,” she said in a voice straight from the frigidaire, “will you do me a favour?” “Of course. What?” “Don't mention that rat's name in my presence,” she said, and pushed off, the eyelids still weary.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Carpets were spread, divans appeared, as also the latest creation from Italy, a portable frigidaire which held countless bowls of sorbet and iced lemon tea.

1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Penguin, published 2004, page 659:

(now historical) Trademark for a refrigerator.


blackfellow

Coordinate term: whitefellow

"Me like my country — no much too hot, no much too cold. By and bye, white fellow come — soldier-man come. White fellow say, this our land, that our land — ALL country our land. Black fellow say no! my country no white fellow's country, and black fellow take spear.

1842 February 16, The Inquirer, Perth, page 5, column 2:

He was squatting on the ground like a blackfellow, quiet and still and cunning.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 40:

It was as if the blackfellas were their property, and the Board could do with them as they saw fit.

2000, Daryl Tonkin, Carolyn Landon, Jackson's Track: Memoir of a Dreamtime Place, page 256:

A blackfella and a whitefella are sitting at the bar. The whitefella says to the blackfella eh boss, whadya reckon?
The blackfella says since you ask, I consider it a metaphor of the historic case of the Coorong massacre of 1840.

2002, James Roberts, “At the Bar”, in Rebekah Clarkson, editor, Forked Tongues: A Delicious Anthology of Poetry and Prose, page 29:

Most police officers had no blackfella cultural background, no knowledge of Aboriginal priorities in life, yet they were the power in the town.

2007, Noel Olive, Enough is Enough: A History of the Pilbara Mob, page 212:

(Australia, now usually considered offensive, ethnic slur) A (male) Australian Aborigine.


saltine

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-saltine.wav

Originally a US brand name in the late 1800s, presumably salt + -ine.

(Canada, US) A thin, crisp, salted, customarily white-colored cracker; a soda cracker; a soda biscuit.

(Canada, US, ethnic slur) A euphemism for cracker ("white person").


texta

By trademark erosion from Texta, a registered trademark of Australian stationery company Jasco Pty Ltd. Presumably from text. Usage of the word began from the 1970s, when primary school children in Australia used the brand of felt-tip markers with bright, colourful packaging, prominently displaying the name "TEXTA".

Here is what a wombat burrow may look like. Using coloured pencils or textas, colour in the wombat burrows.

2003, Mark Fox, Discovering Australian Animals, page 34:

He pencilled a map of India onto a piece of chipboard, and then went over the outline with a texta. He went over the texta outline with a razorblade and then, with a knife, he cut away the excess chipboard.

2008, Ghristopher Cyrill, “The Ganges and Its Tributaries”, in Alice Pung, editor, Growing Up Asian in Australia, page 40:

2009, Colin McLaren, Infiltration: The True Story of the Man Who Cracked the Mafia, Melbourne University Press, page 53,
Minute weighing scales sat on top of desks, glass syringe kits lay idle, mug shots were pinned here and there, some with a dart in the forehead, or ′caught′ written in texta.

(Australia) A coloured felt-tip pen, usually wide-tipped for use by children.


crapaud

Borrowed from French crapaud (“toad”). Doublet of crappo.

(derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive, slang) A French person.


should of

Eye dialect spelling of should have or should've.


would of

Eye dialect spelling of would have or would've.


could of

Eye dialect spelling of could have or could've.


bubble wrap

bubble wrap (countable and uncountable, plural bubble wraps)

From the registered trademark of Sealed Air Corporation (US).

Cushioning material consisting of small spheres of air trapped in plastic, sold on long rolls for tearing off, and used as packaging for fragile items.


mimeograph

Coined by A. B. Dick in 1889 and originally a trade name. From Ancient Greek μῖμος (mîmos), combining form mimeo + -graph.

So it also is in regard to the mimeograph, whose forerunner, the electric pen, was born of Edison's brain in 1877. He had been long impressed by the desirability of the rapid production of copies of written documents, and, as we have seen by a previous chapter, he invented the electric pen for this purpose, only to improve upon it later with a more desirable device

1910, Frank Lewis Dyer, Thomas Commerford Martin, chapter 27, in Edison, His Life and Inventions:

The old “work horse” of the office, the mimeograph, was a starred performer at the National Business Show, which was recently held at the New York Coliseum. Although glamour equipment such as the electronic computers have had most of the headlines in recent years, the mimeograph machine is still grinding out billions of copies of material a year.

1956 November 8, Alexander R. Hammer, “Duplicator Still The ‘Work Horse’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(historical) A machine for making printed copies using typed stencil, eventually superseded by photocopying.


aout

... and aout he come rasher nor iver, knockin' here and knockin' there, tell you couldn't hardly sleep for he.

1895, Harry Jones, Fifty Years: Or, Dead Leaves and Living Seeds, page 144:

Git aout, else I'll split yer faice !

1919, Thomas Burke, Out and about London, page 115:

Ye see, they was able to live both in ant aout o' water–what they call amphibians, I guess.

1936, H.P. Lovecraft, Shadow Over Innsmouth:


Scotch tape

→ Romanian: scoci

→ Russian: скотч (skotč)

Genericized trademark from Scotch Tape. Reportedly a reference to the stereotypical tendency of the Scottish towards thrift, due to cutting of corners with the product initially produced. Compare Dutch oven for similar sense of origin.

(US, Philippines, Singapore, Canada) Transparent or translucent pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, used for sealing items together, especially paper.


Winnebago

From Ojibwe Wiinibiigoo (“Winnebago person”), from wiinibiig (“murky water”) (of Lake Winnipeg), from wiini’ (“to make someone dirty”), wiinad (“it is dirty”), plus nibi (“water”), plural nibig (“waters”).

A small city in Faribault County, Minnesota, United States.

Faribault County
Faribault County#English


whirled

without the wine–whine merger, non-rhotic


half-breed

(of a person, derogatory) having dual heritage; having mixed racial parentage or ancestry


Cliff notes

From the given name Clifton. Derived from Cliff's notes, a series of literature study guides published by Clifton Hillegass.

Ryker stepped forward and blurted out the cliff notes of the current crisis.

2012, Gary Wayne Clark, The Devolution Chronicles: Rise of the Chimera, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 105:

Well, of course there's more, a lot more. But that's the cliff notes of what faces us once we find Sanderson.

2014, CP Moore, Legacy of the Gods, CP Moore, →ISBN:

“If this is you being serious, I'll just give you the cliff notes of the plan for tonight,” said Ray.

2015, Jack Fisher, The Escort and the Gigolo, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

Can you give us the, the Cliff notes version of that?

2017, “What North Korea Wants”, in Reuters War College:

(US) A rundown (rough outline) of a situation, event, etc.


paraquat

paraquat (countable and uncountable, plural paraquats)

(chemistry) A poisonous yellow herbicide derived from bipyridine


photostat

Positive (black on white) or negative (white on black) reproduction of printed matter or artwork made on a photostat machine, which uses photographic paper instead of a transparent negative, and uses a prism to render the paper negative readable instead of reversed.


smol

en-adj

smol (comparative smoler or smoller, superlative smolest or smollest)

smoler (comparative)
smoller (comparative)
smolest (superlative)
smollest (superlative)

Smol doggos with cute messy hair from the rain.

2017 September 28, “Nope/Dope”, in The Rocky Mountain Collegian, page 8:

However, our penchant for smol puppers means lots more people are breeding these so-called teacup dogs.

2018 June 26, Jessica Lindsay, “Meet Otis-Woody, the dog gunning for the record of smallest pug in the UK”, in Metro:

A baby octopus the size of a pea was hitchhiking on a piece of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean when Hawaiian researchers spotted it and scooped up the smol, smol cephalopod.

2018 October 25, Mindy Weisberger, “Ridiculously Tiny Baby Octopus Riding Ocean Trash Is So, So Smol”, in Live Science:


boong

Suggested sources are
* Malay bung (“brother”),
* Indonesian dialectal bung (“brother”)
* A New Guinea native language
* An Aboriginal Australian language.
Previously the word Binghi was used widely in similar fashion to the present-day use of the term Negro for peoples of African ancestry; see titles from this booklist and also writings of Xavier Herbert (e.g. in Capricornia), for example.

I heard Bruce tell one of the drinkers he'd bought a place in Queensland where you could ‘still call a Boong a Boong’.

1988, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, page 92:

‘[…]I quit the feds because I didn't want to be a showpiece boong cop.’

2010, Peter Temple, The Broken Shore, page 82:

“Yeah,” he said, “them boongs are a useless lot. The sooner they all die off, the better.”
“And why is that?” Bill asked.
“The Abos are nothing but a pack of boozers. All they wanna' do is get pissed.” The man glared at his beer. “Useless, they are.”

2011, Linda Lee Rathbun, Tjuringa, unnumbered page:

(Australia, slang, offensive, ethnic slur) An Australian Aboriginal person.


metol

From a trade name, presumably a shortened form of the chemical name.

(chemistry, photography) The sulphate of 4-methylaminophenol, used as a photographic developer


merry widow

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-merry widow.wav

Franz Lehár
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (1952 film)
Warner's
merry widow (Corselet)

(corselet): Originally a 1952 trademark of the Warner's lingerie company for a product eponymous of that year film The Merry Widow, itself based on the 1905 homonymous operetta by Franz Lehár.


corten

Rudi Jass has developed a distinctly complementary style with copper, corten steel bronze, glass and stone.

2009 January 29, “Exhibitions”, in Herald Sun:

Any type of weathering steel, a steel alloy which does not require painting and acquires a stable, rust-like appearance over time


whiteout

en-noun

whiteout (countable and uncountable, plural whiteouts)

Correction fluid (from the brand name Wite-Out).


sugar-plum

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sugar-plum.wav

A round or oval sweet/piece of candy made of boiled sugar.


Bushman

(now sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) A member of one of the foraging ethnic groups native to southwestern Africa, mostly the Kalahari.


snow-white

From Middle English snow whit, snowe-white, snouwite, snawhwit, from Old English snāwhwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *snaiwhwīt, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwahwītaz; equivalent to snow + white. Cognate with Dutch sneeuwwit (“snow-white”), German schneeweiß (“snow-white”), Swedish snövit (“snow-white”).

(ethnic slur, offensive, slang) A Caucasian person, especially a woman.


silly string

silly string (usually uncountable, plural silly strings)


nigger in the woodpile

nigger in the woodpile (plural niggers in the woodpile or niggers in woodpiles)

niggers in the woodpile (plural)
niggers in woodpiles (plural)

Democra s^([sic]) placed no nigger in the woodpile—the imputation came with a bad grace from the gentleman from Kosciusko.

1858 December 20, “The Huntington and Whitley Case”, in The Legislative Sentinel, volume I, number 14, page 137:

(Bus traffic in the London area fell 33 per cent, although the total for public transport increased by 8 per cent; but private car journeys, the nigger in the public transport woodpile, went up 78 per cent in the decade).

1964 September, “News: BR role in London traffic patterns”, in Modern Railways, page 200:

(offensive, ethnic slur, dated) A hidden motive, influence or factor; a concealed (potential) snag; something suspicious.


punx

punx pl (normally plural, singular punk)

(slang, eye dialect) Punks (members of punk subculture).


nicka

(euphemistic, vulgar, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) nigga.


skee ball

Amy: Wow! I could swear I was really playing virtual skeeball!

1999 April, Matt Groening, “Episode Two: The Series Has Landed”, in Futurama, season 1, episode 2:

An early arcade redemption game in which balls are rolled up an inclined lane, aimed at holes of various point values.


Plastic Paddy

From the sense of plastic as fake, ersatz, inauthentic, etc. and Paddy (“Patrick”) as a generic name for any Irish man.

(derogatory, ethnic slur) An Irish person considered to be inauthentically Irish, especially (UK) recent Irish arrivals to London.


draino

From the Drāno brand by S. C. Johnson & Son, constructed from drain + -o.

Farnsworth: they'll burrow so deep into the bowel that not even Hermes' famous Jerk Prunes could dislodge them!
Hermes: I call it Caribbean Draino.

2001 January, Matt Groening, “Parasites Lost”, in Futurama, season 3, episode 4:


Tippex

Tipp-Ex is originally a trademark, owned since 1997 by Société Bic. Its use in the general sense is an example of trademark erosion. The first component is from the German verb tippen (“to type”), and the second from Latin ex.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A particular brand of correction tape, or correction tape in general.


Beetlejuice

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Beetlejuice.wav

Compound of beetle + juice, from the similar sound to Betelgeuse.

(informal, humorous) Eye dialect spelling of Betelgeuse.


skyjack

From the brand name Skyjack, from sky + jack.

Concrete was placed continuously, with an observer in a skyjack above the column communicating with the pump operator to avoid overfilling[...]

2003, Concrete International, volume 25:

A skyjack—a thirty-foot-high filming platform that rises on a hydraulic scissors lift—is in place, with a cameraman overseeing the practice.


Mack truck

Named after the Mack brothers who founded the company in 1900.

their hearts were too small to pump blood to their huge bodies. It was like trying to run a Mack truck on a Volkswagen engine, and their hearts gave out.

2005, Temple Grandin, Catherine Johnson, Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, pages 71–72:

A motor vehicle produced by Mack Trucks, especially a semi-trailer.


rototiller

(US) a motorized cultivator having rotating blades


Purell

The brand name of a brand of a particular alcoholic sanitizing gel.

Alternative letter-case form of purell (any alcohol-based hand sanitizer)


Romex

(US) Brand name of a kind of NM electrical cable common in house wiring.


old boy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-old boy.wav

Listen, old boy, I've got some news.

(UK, dated) A familiar term of address for a man of any age.


schvartze

(chiefly US, offensive, ethnic slur) Alternative form of shvartze


Skidoo

en-verb

Skidoo (third-person singular simple present Skidoos, present participle Skidooing, simple past and past participle Skidooed)

Skidoos (present singular third-person)
Skidooing (participle present)
Skidooed (participle past)
Skidooed (past)

From the trademark Ski-Doo, originally an erroneous rendering of "Ski-Dog" that was adopted as the official brand name of the first snowmobile.

Alternative letter-case form of skidoo: To use a snowmachine


old bean

Possibly from playful mid-word substitution of "boy" in "old boy"

[…] it is really an uncommon piece of exaggerative imagination which we find in the description of this old bean's elaborate costume, with its pads, straps, strings […]

1876, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 37, page 238:

When this here old Bean told me, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

(British, slang, dated, sometimes as a term of address) An old friend; an old chap or fellow.


claymation

en-noun

claymation (countable and uncountable, plural claymations)

A blend of clay + animation. Originally registered as a trademark by Will Vinton in 1978, then entered the English language as a genericized trademark.

As my friends deserted our weekend movie-making for more teenagerly pastimes, I had turned to the cold, clean world of claymation and animated LEGOs.

stop-motion animation where each animated piece is made from a deformable substance, typically Plasticine clay.

Knetanimation

stop-motion animation using pieces made from a deformable substance


botty

Bye bye, botty.

(informal, rare, computing) A term of address for a bot (automated software process).


cineplex

Blend of cinema + complex or from cine- + -plex

Maybe twice a month they go to a movie at a cineplex in a giant mall over on Palmetto Palm Boulevard two miles away

(US) A cinema having multiple theatres (showing rooms).


God damn

"Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."

1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:


scantron

Genericized trademark. By genericization of Scantron (from scan + -tron), a manufacturer and brand name of the devices.

The Grievant, however, insisted on using the scantron himself.

1989, Bureau of National Affairs, Labor Arbitration Reports, volume 91, page 897:

2008, Audrey Denise Bowser, Transforming Teacher Education to Support Multicultural Technology Pedagogy, PhD Dissertation, Iowa State University, page 66,
Additionally, a scantron bubble sheet and a statement of informed consent were given to students for review and a signature was required before the survey was administered.

Applicants must submit a completed application form together with the scantron sheet; cover sheet; student activity and community activity sheets; personal essay; and a copy of unofficial transcript (signed by the counselor).

2008, College Blue Book: Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants, and Loans, 36th edition, volume 5, page 277:

According to Jenny's story, everything each of us does, every decision made during each day, is indelibly marked on a lifetime scantron sheet in Heaven. (This, of course, made sense because it was very similar to the scantron sheets we filled out every day in school.)

2010, Bill Golembeski, The English Setter Dance, page 29:

(education, often attributive) A device used to scan prepared forms used for multiple-choice and true-or-false testing.


iPhone

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-iPhone.wav

From i- + phone. Many Apple products have an i- prefix in their names.

This concept puts the curve back on the iPhone 5 with a silhouette that's reminiscent of a banana phone.

2012, “Best iPhone 5 concept photos”, in CNet:

“This is before everyone had [geographic information system] mapping, before iPads, iPhones, laptops, Google,” he says. “This is doing research way back with a hammer and a chisel.”

2023 September 19, Yessenia Funes, quoting Robert D. Bullard, “The Father of Environmental Justice Exposes the Geography of Inequity”, in Scientific American:

(trademark) A smartphone of a series produced by Apple, which typically combine a camera phone, PDA, multimedia player, and wireless communication device.


playbill

A program/programme/pamphlet for a theatrical performance.


killa

Rude Boy was a killa and, to him, taking life was as simple as eating a hamburger.

2011, Maurice Rice, Seeds of a New Breed, page 159:


daddy-o

Hey daddy-o, make that type O huh? That a boy.

1956, Nervous Norvus, "Transfusion" (lyrics)

He walks in the classroom cool and slow, / Who calls the English teacher Daddy-O?

1959, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, "Charlie Brown" (lyrics)

But Godot also means 'ot Dog, or the dog who is hot, and it means God-O, God as the female principle, just as Daddy-O in Hip means father who has failed, […]

1959, Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself:

(informal, dated) Term of address for a man.


laserjet

From LaserJet, a trademark of Hewlett-Packard, from laser + jet; compare inkjet.

The application, form and all, can be printed on hundreds of printers including inkjet and laserjets.

1994, Dennis V. Damp, The Book of U.S. Government Jobs, page 88:

Printers, such as inkjets and laserjets, typically print at resolutions ranging from 300 to 720 dots per inch (dpi).

2000, Phyllis Davis, The GIMP for Linux and Unix: for linux and unix, page 282:

the Samsung SCX-4100 compares well with other small, desktop laserjets and you get a copier and scanner thrown in.

2004 November 14, “Business Tools: Miniature copier is a jack of all trades”, in Times Online:

Profiles are available for inkjets, dye-subs, and small event printers (Sony); Kodak- and 8600-series printers; Fuji Pictography printers; RA-4 printers (Light Jet, Durst Lambda/Epsilon, Fuji Frontier, Noritsu QSS, Gretag Sienna, Kodak LED, Agfa D-Lab, etc.); color laserjets; and thermal printers.

2004, Bill Hurter, The Best of Digital Wedding Photography, page 85:

Did you know that the famous computer printer companies can sell their laserjets, inkjets and dot printers at under production cost?

2008, Adam Corres, Raffles and the Match-Fixing Syndicate, page 29:

HP aims to improve energy efficiency of its inkjet and laserjet printers 40% by 2011 and to triple its use of recycled material in inkjet products by 2011.

2009 March 27, “Inside HP's Ink Jet Cartridge Recycling Process”, in InformationWeek:


jet ski

Genericized trademark of Jet Ski. By surface analysis, jet + ski.

"Jet ski" is actually Kawasaki's name for their PWC (personal water craft) models, but like hoovers and speedos has become genericised.

2006 October, “Gimme Fuel: High Octane Advise for Buying a Ski”, in Tracks magazine, page 154:

A small motorized watercraft with a flattish hull and an upright centre, which a rider sits astride.


jumar

From the name of the Swiss firm Jümar Pangit which manufactured it, in turn from the surnames of Adolf Jüsy and Walter Marti.

Jacob handed her the ATC belay device and jumar.

2019, Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift, Hogarth, page 552:

(climbing) A device, used to clip on a rope, that tightens when weight is applied, thus allowing the rope to be climbed.


Pinkerton syndrome

In reference to the character Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton in the opera Madama Butterfly (first performed in 1904) by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924).

When I’m with my white partner, I am a proponent of the ‘Pinkerton Syndrome’, a caricature not unlike the Other Asia’s mail order bride.

1996, Westerly, volume 41, Crawley, Perth, W.A.: Western Australia Westerly Centre, the University of Western Australia, →ISSN, page 70:

Like vampires, the ang moh crowd comes out at night, dressed in their best shirts and armed with plenty of tax-free Singapore dollars to woo those local darlings tragically struck down by the Pinkerton syndrome. Like the character in Madame Butterfly, they are somehow lured by the attraction of drunken voices and the possibility of a fat wallet.

2001, Neil Humphreys, Notes from an Even Smaller Island, Singapore: Times Books International, →ISBN, page 213:

The Pinkerton Syndrome, then, seems to me non-operative in American cultural masculinity at the moment. […] Pinkerton's casual imperialist hubris, an expression of first-generation Manifest Destiny complete with brass-buttoned naval uniform, has an official status that lone action heroes as implicitly populist individuals must stay well clear of. No, the condition is really much more suited to Europeans.

2006, William Beard, “M. Butterfly (1993)”, in The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg, rev. and exp. edition, Toronto, Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 346:

The home-wrecking bimbo who had succumbed to the Pinkerton Syndrome had been transformed into a 'bad girl' – a phenomenon not unfamiliar to Asian societies – and recovered for herself an empowered cultural agency.

2015, Chris Hudson, “Dangerous Sexuality in Singapore: The Sarong Party Girl”, in Adeline Koh, Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, editors, Women and the Politics of Representation in Southeast Asia: Engendering Discourse in Singapore and Malaysia (Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series; 8), Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN:

(chiefly Singapore, derogatory, politics, ethnic slur) The tendency of some Asians to regard Caucasians as superior or more desirable, especially where marriage or relationships are concerned.


cuz

(informal) cousin (usually as a term of address, but not necessarily towards one's cousin)


Christer

The village people called his father 'Righteous Christer,' which shows that he too must have been 'stiff as a tree' in following what he knew to be right.

1917, L. V. Hodgkin, A Book of Quaker Saints:

(sometimes derogatory) A Christian who publicly displays his or her religion.

fundamentalist

person who publicly displays his religion


Primus stove

Any portable stove marketed under the Primus trademark that may use also other fuels, particularly butane or propane gas ("camping gas").


eight-ball

eight-ball (countable and uncountable, plural eight-balls)

When a white fellow gets in the ring with an eight ball the eight ball's got no chance. You see, 'cause they call boxing the sweet science. And that's where your colored just runs into trouble. That's just that science part.
Yeah, but Joe Louis is a big 'un.

2005, “Creed, OK”, in Carnivàle, episode 17:

(countable, slang, ethnic slur) A black person.


raghead

(slang, ethnic slur, religious slur) A Middle Easterner, Arab, Hindu, Sikh, Indian or member of any group that traditionally wears a headdress such as a turban, keffiyeh or headscarf.


beer nut

Possibly from the US trademark Beer Nuts (named for their intended use as a snack with beer), though the US brand is not sold in Australia.

Stanley crumbled the husk of a beer nut between his thumb and middle finger.

1984, Steve Katz, Mongolian Whiskey: Stolen Stories, page 37:

For instance, there's Phillip's opinion of chocolate: to him, it's just another snack—like beer nuts or a piece of fruit.

2006, Robin McGraw, Inside My Heart: Choosing to Live with Passion and Purpose, page 28:

At the end of the party, the parents of the birthday boy handed me a party bag and my prize: a bag of beer nuts. I've since wondered what kind of parent would possibly give an eight-year-old beer nuts, but whatever. It was the seventies.

2008, Tim Schenck, What Size are God's Shoes?: Kids, Chaos, and the Spiritual Life, page 37:

(Australia) A peanut served with its husk (but not its shell).


young lady

Don't you "grateful" me, young lady. Get yourself ready to go with Paris to Saint Peter's church next Thursday, or I'll drag you there myself.

1986, John and Leela Hort, The Inessential Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet: A shortened and simplified version in modern English, Act 3, Scene 5, page 34

“Come back here, young lady! Get back here, now!”

2010, Odessa Cleveland, In the Zone of Changes, page 29:

A term of endearment or admonishment by adults for a young girl.


Chinee

But the hands that were played / By that heathen Chinee, / And the points that he made, / Were quite frightful to see,— / Till at last he put down a right bower, / Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

1870, Bret Harte, Plain Language from Truthful James:

We endure our abuses of orphanotrophism even when they are repulsive to the heathen Chinee.

1910 September 10, Bayard Holmes, “Orphanotrophism”, in The Lancet-clinic, volume 104, number 11, page 238:

(dated, offensive, Chinese Pidgin English, ethnic slur) A person from China.


spigger

(slang, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of mixed Hispanic and African-American heritage.


heelies

Blend of heel + wheelie. Heelys, the original, are a branded version.

Trainers with one or more wheels fitted to the heel, allowing the wearer to walk normally then skate by shifting the weight to the rear.


f--k

en-verb

f-[[]]-k (third-person singular simple present f--ks, present participle f--king, simple past and past participle f--ked)

f-[[]]-k (canonical)
f--ks (present singular third-person)
f--king (participle present)
f--ked (participle past)
f--ked (past)


Sunyavadi

en-noun

Sunyavadi (plural Sunyavadis or Sunyavadi)

(colloquial, derogatory, Hindu, India, religious slur) A Buddhist, Taoist, or other impersonal worshipper.


Galalith

Trade name, from Ancient Greek γάλα (gála, “milk”) + -lith.

A product, resembling celluloid and made from casein, that was an early substitute for ivory.


Maxiton

Maxiton (countable and uncountable, plural Maxitons)


pegamoid

pegamoid (countable and uncountable, plural pegamoids)

A waterproof varnish used, applied to surfaces, in bookbinding and upholstery


matchbox

A small cardboard box in which matches are kept.


pacer

In harness racing, a horse with a gait in which the front and back legs on one side take a step together alternating with the legs on the other side; as opposed to a trotter.


permastone

Originally a trade name, from perma- + stone.

Any superficial surface constructed to look like stonework, usually made of concrete or thin sheets of rock assembled over an existing surface.


Angrez

From Hindustani انگریز / अंग्रेज़ (aṅgrez), from Portuguese inglês (“Englishman”). Doublet of English.

(North India, Pakistan, ethnic slur) An English person.


Saran Wrap

→ Japanese: サランラップ (saran rappu)

/səˈɹæn ˌɹæp/

From Saran, the trade name of a number of monomers and polymers made from vinylidene chloride (especially polyvinylidene chloride or PVDC, because the wrap was originally made of PVDC). Saran was coined by a combination of Sarah and Ann, the names of the wife and daughter of John Reilly of The Dow Chemical Co. + wrap.

In the kitchen, many dishes, covered for the moment with Saran Wrap, were laid out along the main table.

2005, Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Penguin Books (2006), page 84:

(US) A thin, clear, (self-)clinging plastic film used to wrap food, etc.


groomer

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia declared that "communist groomers" wanted to "allow a for-profit medical industry to chop off these confused children's genitals."

2022 December 10, Maggie Astor, “Transgender Americans Feel Under Siege as Political Vitriol Rises”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:

"Sooo...the groomers are calling anti-groomers 'dragphobes' now... got it," conservative comedian Tim Young posted.

2022 December 16, Andrew Mark Miller, “LGBT group warns 'dragphobia' is on the rise, conservatives blast post on Twitter”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 2022-12-22:

In December, far right groups including the Patriot Front and Proud Boys contributed to the cancellation of an Ohio drag storytime event. Many demonstrators showed up armed, while others held up signs with slogans like: "Groomers not welcome" and "Groomers are Child Abusers."

2022 December 21, Andrew Davis, “Drag queens take on Tennessee bill seeking to restrict their performances”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:

"It seems to be essentially a sort of pedophilic, predatory farm system that the groomers have set up," Walsh said.

2022 December 21, Anya Zoledziowski, “How 2022 Became the Year Trans Hate Went Mainstream”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2022-12-27:

After his takeover, use of the N-word increased by 202 percent; the use of homophobic, misogynist, and transphobic slurs went up at double-digit rates; the use of the slur groomer has increased exponentially.

[2022 December 23, Annie Lowrey, “Why Is Elon Musk Lighting Billions of Dollars on Fire?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:

By the way, the buried lede of this is that 60 percent of this school board is LGBT, is gay. The question is, do Christians run for school boards as much as the LGBT community does? No. As I said yesterday, which is groomers can't reproduce, so instead they recruit. So, they go serve on school boards. And they go do drag queens. And they do all this other sort of disgusting nauseating stuff.

2023 March 3, Charlie Kirk, quotee, “Charlie Kirk: "Groomers can't reproduce, so instead they recruit. They go serve on school boards."”, in Media Matters, archived from the original on 2023-03-04:

Attacks against these librarians and administrative employees started to multiply over a year ago when a new Facebook group called Two Moms and Some Books was born. “I think the lowest point, at least for me, is when they started calling us groomers,” said a current librarian who we will call Avery. “That’s not really a word you throw around to people, even people you don’t like.”

2024 May 8, Faith Bugenhagen, “Librarians Under Siege in Montgomery County?”, in Houston Press:

(alt-right, derogatory, offensive, anti-LGBTQ slur) An individual, particularly an LGBT person or drag queen, framed as a predator or threat to children; in particular, someone who makes children aware of LGBT people or drag, from the perspective of those who consider this to be sexual.


sharpie

It is harder to gauge the shorter tail of sharpies, but on sitting birds the tail shape is a more useful character than it is on flying birds. Sharpies of all ages and sexes almost always show a notched tail when they are sitting.

2005, Bill Thompson, Eirik A. T. Blom, Jeffrey A. Gordon, Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges, page 93:

My mother had lost a considerable number of spring chicks to a raiding sharpie.

2010, Era S. VanDenburg, The Natural World of Ivy Lane, page 48:

sharp-shinned hawk
sharp-shinned hawk#English

(birdwatching) Clipping of sharp-shinned hawk.


siree

/ˌsɜː(ɹ)ˈiː/

"Are you coming?"
"Yes, siree."

(slang, used as an intensifier, emphatically, after yes or no) Sir.


rollerblade

From Rollerblade, a trademark for a brand of inline skates, from roller + blade.

A roller skate with all wheels aligned in a single row along the sole, resembling an ice skate.


land mine

(always written together, from a Landmine™ developed in 1999 by a US company called Sorinex) A piece of exercise device consisting of a pivoting tube attached to the ground to which a barbell can be fitted to lift it off the ground.


Trademark; an abbreviation of "Water Displacement, 40th formula" or "40th attempt" used by Norm Larson of the Rocket Chemical Company of California, the oil's developer.

A penetrating oil used as a lubricant and to protect electric circuits from moisture.


milord

From French milord, from English my Lord. Compare milady.

Not since the year 17—, when milord Castlebrilliant's curricle was whirled to sea with her ladyship within, had there been such vehement weather.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, section 49:

(British, obsolete, humorous) An English nobleman, especially one traveling Europe in grand style; a wealthy British gentleman.


milord

A variant spelling of m'lord, elided from my + lord.

1986, Ben Elton & al., Blackadder II, 3: "Potato"
Aah-ahhh! You have a woman’s hand, milord! I’ll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm.


binky

* (US) Commercial child's pacifier brand name. (1948–1977)
* Perhaps a child's pronunciation of blanket.

(informal, childish) A stuffed animal, pillow, blanket, or toy that a small child is more attached to than any other, and often sleeps with.


Hizzoner

1930, John Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson: An Idyll of Chicago, [book title].

Minnesota: Meet Hizzoner the Mayor... Canon... would go through an elaborate bowing-and-scraping routine as he addressed Hizzoner the Mayor.

1991, Max M. Kampelman, Entering New Worlds: The Memoirs of a Private Man in Public Life, page 56:

In 1989, they wrote a book, entitled His Eminence and Hizzoner, in which they set forth their differences in amicable fashion.

2002, James Gill, For James and Gillian: Jim Gill's New York, page 121:

(slang, US) Eye dialect spelling of His Honor, the mayor, especially of a large city.


Kango

Originally a trademarked name, now sometimes used for any type of jackhammer regardless of manufacturer.


big wheel

She's a big wheel at IBM.

(idiomatic) A person with a great deal of power or influence, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.

(US) A low-riding tricycle with a large front wheel.


Timbit

From Tim + bit.
A brand name: From Tim (the name of Canadian hockey player Tim Horton, and the doughnut shop chain he founded, now Tim Hortons) + bit.

When colleague John Stackhouse was searching for a title for his lovely book on travelling across Canada, he decided to go with Timbit Nation.

2003 June 26, Roy MacGregor, “When size definitely matters: How you order a coffee reveals what type of Canadian you are”, in The Globe and Mail, page A2:

(Canada) A bite-sized doughnut ball sold at the Canadian Tim Hortons restaurant chain and sometimes jocularly regarded as an icon of Canadian culture.

timbit

genericization of the trademark, used in Canada to refer to any donut hole ball pastry informally


guido

From Italian Guido, a male given name. Doublet of Guy and guy.

In a way, he looked like one of those guidos from MTV's Jersey Shore, but he resembled them only in appearance.

2013, Nathan J Morissey, 62 Hot Gay Stories:

(slang, US, ethnic slur) A stereotypical working-class or lower-class and usually urban-dwelling Italian-American male; sometimes more generally a stereotypical Italian or person of Italian descent.


JCB

From the initials of the company founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) An earthmoving machine made by the J. C. Bamford (JCB) company.

(through trademark erosion) any backhoe/endloader combination, or similar machinery.


JCB

Initialism of Joint Configuration Board.

Japan Credit Bureau
w:Japan Credit Bureau


Londonistan

The term “Londonistan” apparently originated with a sarcastic remark by a French intelligence officer frustrated by Britain’s failure to crack down on radical Islamists in their midst.

2017 April 6, Leela Jacinto, “Is Londonistan calling jihadists back to the fold?”, in France 24:

(informal, derogatory, ethnic slur) London, perceived as having been culturally conquered by Muslims.


glad wrap

From Glad Wrap, a trade mark owned by the Union Carbide Corporation.

‘My best one was using a Coles bread cake,’ says Ngareta Rossell. ‘You could cut it in half, take out the centre, put in a phone or charger wrapped in glad wrap, put the top back on and wrap it all up in glad wrap so the guards could see what it was.’

2008, Margot O'Neill, Blind Conscience, page 97:

Cover with a piece of glad wrap or a large tea towel and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

2010, Lukas Volger, Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, page 118:

Wrap each portion in glad wrap and place in freezer.

2011, Patricia Murray-Chute, From Dinosaur to Dynamite: The Secret of Joyful Sex, page 123:

(Australia, New Zealand, sometimes US) Thin plastic film used as a wrap for food, etc.


WiTricity

The Relay Effect on Wireless Power Transfer Using WiTricity

Highly resonant wireless power transfer, especially as developed by the WiTricity company.


davenport

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A. H. Davenport and Company
Davenport (sofa)

The sofa sense is a genericized trademark named after the defunct furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company.

He blundered into the living-room, lay on the davenport, hands behind his head.

Beezus felt a little better. She curled up on the davenport again with 202 Things to Do on a Rainy Afternoon and read about making Christmas tree ornaments out of cellophane straws, until she heard her aunt's car turn into the driveway.

1955, Beverly Cleary, Beezus and Ramona:


dumb ass

(sometimes considered, vulgar, slang, mildly derogatory) Alternative spelling of dumbass


dumb ass

en-adj

dumb ass (comparative more dumb ass, superlative most dumb ass)

more dumb ass (comparative)
most dumb ass (superlative)


dumb-ass

dumb-ass (comparative more dumb-ass or dumber-ass, superlative most dumb-ass or dumbest-ass)

more dumb-ass (comparative)
dumber-ass (comparative)
most dumb-ass (superlative)
dumbest-ass (superlative)


snookums

term of endearment
term of endearment#English

(informal) A term of endearment, especially for a child.


wiffleball

en-noun

wiffleball (countable and uncountable, plural wiffleballs)

From (onomatopoeia) whiff (“to strike, to strikeout”) + ball.
Not derived from whiffle, though both derive from same onomatopoeic sources, namely a sound of wind.

(US, sports, uncountable) A game similar to baseball, played with a lightweight bat and ball and suitable for children to play in confined areas.

(US, countable) The ball used in that game.


goo-goo

A variety of origins have been proposed:
* Perhaps from a Philippine word imitative of babbling,
* Possibly from Tagalog gugus (“tutelary spirit”).
* Perhaps from gago (“idiot”).
* Possibly influenced by goo-goo eyes, which "was in vogue c. 1900 and may have contributed to this somehow" since early uses of goo-goo and gook refer specifically to prostitutes who followed army camps.
Adopted as an ethnic slur by American troops during the Filipino-American War. Gook seems to be a later shortening; see that entry for more.


snakehead

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person.


uv

That gives them an advantage over their better-known peers, the Invisible Scratch Pickles: on the recent single "Invisbl Skratch Piklz vs. da Klamz uv Deth" the San Franciscans can spin heads with their superathletic scratching, but the side-length cut doesn't hold up as a piece of music.

1997 October 17, Peter Margasak, “Return of the Turntable/ Reich and Wrong”, in Chicago Reader:

On the scale of linguistic complexity, basic leet is about on a par with pig Latin, and with five minutes' practice just about anyone can crank out elegant prose such as: y c@N' p30p13 R3kO9nIZ3 eh 834UTy uv 1337???

2003 January 10, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in Chicago Reader:

(sometimes leetspeak) Eye dialect spelling of of.


m'lord

1986, Ben Elton et al., Blackadder II, 3: "Money"
There's a priest wants t'see you, m'lord.
Well, tell him I'm Jewish.

2012, David Benioff et al., A Game of Thrones, 2.3: "A Man without Honor"
And, girl.
My lord.
Lowborn girls say "m'lord", not "my lord". If you're going to pose as a commoner, you should do it properly.

(British, now often historical or humorous, also law, in India) My Lord (used to address peers temporal, judges, etc).


m'lady

(now often historical or humorous) My Lady (used to address peers temporal, judges, etc).


everclear

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Near-synonyms: white lightning, moonshine, mountain dew

genericized trademark
genericized trademark

(chiefly US, dated, humorous, genericized trademark) Any home-brewed distilled grain alcohol, especially one with a very high concentration of alcohol (such as 90-some percent, that is, 180-some proof); but generally not one rife with impurities or adulterants.


nigger rich

The hos were young, nigger-rich and sassy. On a good night these girls age 16 to 23 could earn $80 minimum.

2004, Red Jordan Arobateau, The Rich/The Poor in Spirit, →ISBN, page 177:

People who spent money foolishly on ostentation were nigger rich.

2005, Robert B. Parker, Double Play, →ISBN, page 35:

"What is this ‘nigger rich’ you speak of?" Grandmother Nina asked, interrupting Walter's saga.
. . . "Well, ‘Nigger rich’ is an expression in America, especially the southeast, which loosely translated means: When a man who has an abundance of money, who has never had that much money, he usually goes out and spends it foolishly. It was attributed to blacks in America, because often, when they acquire a windfall of money, they seem to go out and purchase big cars, usually a Cadillac."

2007, Johnny Wright, The Lost Chagall, →ISBN, pages 186–187:

Bernie Mac: Yeah, but she think we're old country club rich—Shoot, we just nigger rich. — SCENE FROM THE THE BERNIE MAC SHOW

2009, Robert E. Pierre, Jon Jeter, A Day Late and a Dollar Short: High hopes and deferred dreams in Obama's "postracial" America, online edition:

(idiomatic, offensive, ethnic slur, of a person) Living ostentatiously; spending money recklessly, especially a limited supply of money.


oiler

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From Middle English oyler, equivalent to oil + -er.

Near-synonym: greaser

There were a lot of renegades down towards the Mexican line who made a raid once in a while, and a few oilers livin' near had water holes in the foothills, […]

1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 4, in Arizona Nights:


speerit

I’d call it a speerit, if speerits could handle sich rocks as that.

1882, James Jackson, Tom Terror, the Outlaw:


gyppo

gyppo (countable and uncountable, plural gyppos or gyppoes)

(UK, slang, offensive) Alternative spelling of gippo


little one

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The toy store was full of little ones.

I do but sing because I must,
And pipe but as the linnets sing:
And unto one her note is gay,
For now her little ones have ranged;
And unto one her note is changed,
Because her brood is stol’n away.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXI, page 36:

"How about you, little one? What do you think of me?"

2014 January 14, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 481 - Lady:

A term of endearment, especially toward a child.


Valium

Valium (countable and uncountable, plural Valiums)


ofay

Unknown; perhaps from an African language (possibly Yoruba ófé (“to evade, disappear”)). Pig Latin for foe, though popularly posited, is probably not accurate.
A possible point of origin is Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary, where the word is defined as "Policeman or law enforcement, 'The Man'".

For example we have words like ofay, pink, fade, space, Mr. Charlie, cracker, peckawood, hoojah, and so on—nice words and bitter.

[1929, Claude McKay, Banjo, published 1957, →ISBN, page 217:

You get outa my alley, Lucas -- and take that ofay with you, hear?

1983 May, Kurt Busiek, “The Chemistro Connection”, in Power Man and Iron Fist, volume 1, number 93, Marvel Comics Group:

The rival, the foe, the ofay, veins stretched and bulged between white knuckles.

(US, ethnic slur, slang) A white person.


ofay

en-adj

ofay (comparative more ofay, superlative most ofay)

more ofay (comparative)
most ofay (superlative)

“You better tell your little ofay kid friend move along.”

a. 1969, John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, Penguin, published 1981, →ISBN:

‘Baby,’ April Elgar said, ‘you may be an uptight ofay milk-toast limey bastard, but you ain’t no fag.’

1984. Anthony Burgess, Enderby's Dark Lady

Everything is strictly peachy keen, as the ofay kids say.

1959. Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

(US, ethnic slur, slang) White; white-skinned.


onesie

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From the Gerber Childrenswear brand name Onesies. The name became generic and was reinterpreted as a plural, hence the new singular and decapitalized "onesie". Equivalent to one + -sie.

Name given to a number of one-piece attires

(US) A one-piece garment for an infant or small child, generally worn over a diaper.


ritalin

From Rita + -lin. Coined by chemist Leandro Panizzon, who synthesized it. Named after Marguerite Panizzon, wife of Leandro. Ritalin, a trade name from the 1940s. Genericization of the trademark.

(pharmacology) methylphenidate, used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder


your Honor

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(chiefly Philippines, formal) you (a form of address for a representative or senator in the Philippine Congress during hearings and inquiries, and for canvassers during the canvass of electoral results).


jello

en-noun

jello (usually uncountable, plural jellos)

Genericization of the brand name Jell-O.

The jello was gone in five minutes and the cigarette smoked.

1940, Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Houghton Mifflin, published 2004, →ISBN, page 306:

Distribution of cherry jello was stepped up to college campus towns across America.

2002, Rich Zubaty, Your Brain Is Not Your Own, →ISBN, page 159:

She didn't want to eat anything heavy and decided that jello had zero fat content.

2006, Xana, Harvest Moon, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 178:

(Canada, US) A dessert made by boiling gelatine, sugar and some flavoring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.