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Blog Glossary
(Definitions)
This is a glossary of blog terminology, including obscure words directly related to blogging and expressions commonly encountered in the blogosphere (qv) which might be obscure to the uninitiated.
Advocacy blog: noun. A blog (qv) focused on (typically) political advocacy. Although most blogs are overtly partisan, an advocacy blogs' content will be pointedly structured to deliver an activist message. Advocacy blogs generally overlap with pundit blogs (qv), but usually have less of a strict emphasis on current news and are more polemical in nature.
Barking moonbat: noun. Someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be. ("Definition of a 'barking moonbat': someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency" -Adriana Cronin.)
Blog: 1. noun. A contraction of weblog, a form of on-line writing characterised in format by a single column of chronological text, usually with a sidebar, and frequently updated. As of mid 2002, the vast majority of blogs are non-professional (with only a few experimental exceptions) and are run by a single writer.
Fisk: verb. To deconstruct an article on a point by point basis in a highly critical manner. Derived from the name of journalist Robert Fisk, a frequent target of such critical articles in the blogosphere (qv). ("Orrin Judd did a severe fisking of an idiotic article in the New York Times today...")
(extracts from the "samizdata" site)
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html
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Buffy Slanguage
(Definitions)
Note: Words in red are a link to download a sound file from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' where they used the term.
A
ANNE RICE ROUTINE--Vampire-with-a-tortured-soul actor
ANYWHERE BUT HERE--Fantasy game where players imagine an
Elsewhere to Be (e.g., Buffy fantisizes about Gavin Rossdale
massaging her feet on a beach at sunset; Willow would be
eating ziti in Italy with John Cusack)
(THE) AWKWARD SILENCE THING--Dating hazard
B
BACKSEAT MOTHERING--Unsolicited advice from non-parent
BAD PART OF TOWN--About 1/2 a block from the good part of town
BAT SIGNAL--Slayer code for distress signal
BAY CITY ROLLERS--What Giles considers real music
(THE) BIG HURT--Slayer force; murder
BITCHA--formally know as "Bitch", Xander just can not spell
BOYFRIENDLY--Worthy of dating exclusively
BREAK-AND-ENTERISH--Comfortable slay wear
BRONZE, THE--Sunnydale's local hangout.
BUTTFACE--used in converstation, looking as though you are going to
say "but" ("You have Buttface")
BUSINESS-CLASS TICKET TO COOL WITH COMPLIMENTARY MOJO
AFTER TAKEOFF--Benefits of being in a band
(extract from the "Buffyworld" site)
http://www.buffyworld.com/slanguage/
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Mama's Boyz Slang Page
(Definitions)
Whether you want to call it jive, slang, lingo or ebonics, there's no denying that there has always been a rather unique form of communication in the African-American community. And while having a conversation with my father, I realized just how much that our way of communication has changed from generation to generation. Actually, it probably changes from week to week, but until I can afford a full staff of employees, we're going to pretend that it happens at a much slower pace.
Below is my attempt is to show three different generations and how their words have changed to mean different things throughout the years. And since I know how fast it changes, as well as how long it's been around, I can definitely use all the help that I can get from you. So if you can add to the list please click on the "E-mail Me" button below and send me your suggestion, and don't forget to tell me which generation your term is from. My only request is to keep it clean, meaning no terms for sex or drugs...
(extract from Jerry Craft's "Mama's Boyz" site)
http://www.mamasboyz.com/slang/index.asp
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'Ya ya papaya' -- saving Singapore slang
(Current usage/news)
"Ya ya papaya" -- a snooty person in Singlish, the vernacular language here -- is one of the many Singlish phrases that the Singapore Broadcast Authority censors out of programs. So, Goh wonders, why does American slang stand while Singlish must go?
"If the authorities want to wipe out imperfect or colloquial English they should do so fairly and across the board," he said at the recent launch of his Save Our Singlish campaign. "They should not unfairly discriminate against Singaporean English."
Goh, 31, is a filmmaker and defender of Singlish -- a blend of English, Malay, Tamil and various Chinese dialects spoken by many of Singapore's 4 million inhabitants. Originally the lingua franca of an up-by-their-bootstraps immigrant class, Singlish has become a symbol of free speech for many young Singaporeans. (extract from the CNN site, article by the Associated Press)
http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/05/25/singapore.singlish.ap/index.html
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The Aliens' Guide to Oxford University: Glossary of terms
(Definitions)
Aegrotat, Aesthete, Ashmolean, Bags, Balls, Batells, Beating the bounds, ... Come up, Convocation, Dame's Delight, Mods, Mortar-board, Over-bump, Oxfam, ... Oxoniensis, Parson's Pleasure, Pimms, Porter's lodge, Punt, Rag Week, ... Spoonerism, Sporting the oak, St. Giles Fair, Subfusc, ... Town and Gown, the Turl
http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oxinfo/guide/section3_10.html#SECTION00010000000000000000
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A Prisoner's Dictionary
(Definitions)
Language is ever-changing. This is particularly true in prisons, where there is the motion of people coming and going, a culture based on a unique set of circumstances, and the need to speak in words that often carry depths of meaning. There are forms of expression that can never be fully understood by the outside world. There are also words that vary from race to race, prison to prison -- as well as slang that find its way into prisons from the outside. As a result, this list will never be complete, and may contain some words that are not current or others that are not used at a particular prison or in a particular state. Please feel free to submit new words to this list.
This list contains words dealing with sex or violence, matters that are part of prison culture. Many of the terms relate to specific California procedures -- such as "602s." However, since the list was first compiled, it has grown to contain words and phrases from prisons in various states. Where known, these are identified in parenthesis. Spanish words similarly are identifed as "Sp."
(extract from the "Prison Wall" site)
http://home.attbi.com/~prisonwall/words.htm
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Gay Slang Dictionary
(Definitions)
I began gathering information for this work 28 years ago [1972] when I first, came out into the gay community. I first came out to family, in 1964, than came out publicly, in, Tacoma Washington in 1971, I was Looking for love, and looking for a sense of who I was, where I came from, and why I existed as a gay man. I found a sense of community, and was finding the answer to those questions, in bars, discos and gay bathhouses. This was before books on gay subject started to appear. I soon developed, a love for gay history. I found a sense of power and purpose in these early years, through our history. I found love and heartbreak, in our history. I never could find anyone, or books that could tell me, the hole story of myself, and the great people of our past. We as a people also had a language of our own. In the early 1980s, I started working on a book, the title was going to be Scott international Gay Almanac, with 282 chapters, and chapter 48 was title dictionary of Gay slang. At about that time there was, a new awakening of literature, and information was changing almost daily, outdated much of my Almanac before I could go to press with it. By 1989 I had over 5000 entries, for the dictionary. at that point I could see the slang dictionary becoming a book on its own.
Gay slang is constantly evolving, with new words being added frequently, and for these reasons, we should never, forget the fabulous terms of today, and of days gone by, in the years of the past.
WIZARD'S GAY SLANG DICTIONARY was the first to be posted to the Internet, earnings it a place in our gay history. WIZARD GAY SLANG DICTIONARY is both a piece of your history, and hopefully a source of amusement. This dictionary will always be my on going project. I am pleased to see it become a source for others, that are interested in our heritage of language.
(extract from the "Wizard's Gay Slang Dictionary" page)
http://www.hurricane.net/~wizard/19.html
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Pyramid Lingo
(Definitions)
Pyramid complex: The typical pyramid did not squat on the desert by itself; it was part of a pyramid complex, a group of buildings that normally comprised a "valley temple" on the bank of the Nile, a stone causeway leading from it to a second temple, the "mortuary temple," and the pyramid itself. Besides the king's pyramid, there were often queens' pyramids for his wives huddled at
its base and a small "subsidiary pyramid" that served some uncertain
ritual function.
Sarcophagus: As Egyptologists use the word, it means the big stone box in which the body, usually inside one or more wooden coffins, was placed. The sarcophagus could be either a rectangular block or carved to resemble a mummy, in which case it is referred to as an anthropoid (manlike) sarcophagus. The word, by the way, comes from the Greek words for "flesh eater," because the Greeks heard of stone coffins that supposedly dissolved bodies placed inside them - nothing could be more opposite to the intentions of the Egyptians, whose overriding purpose was to preserve the dead forever.
Canopic jars: These were four jars, usually of fine stone, in which were placed the entrails removed from a body during mummification. They were kept in a "canopic chest" in the burial chamber.
Duat (or tuat in older transliterations): A common Egyptian name for "the Netherworld."
(extract from the "Arizona Republic", article by Dan Kincaid)
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
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Snipe hunting in Afghanistan
(Pondial differences)
In a tiny case of cultures clashing, "Operation Snipe," a name chosen by Britain, fails to take into account the existence of a more jocular American tradition: the "snipe hunt."
What exactly is a snipe hunt? It depends on where you come from -- or which dictionary you're reading.
Webster's defines the snipe as "any of various usually slender-billed birds" -- the accepted British meaning. But The Dictionary of American Slang calls it "a nonexistent animal," and says a snipe hunt is sending out someone on a wild-goose chase.
The quest to clear up the confusion led a reporter on what at times appeared to be a snipe hunt of his own Friday.
It began with the British peacekeepers in Kabul, who were oblivious to the linguistic gaffe involved in the new operation's moniker.
"It's a game bird, a bit like pheasant," said Lt. Col. Neil Peckham of Wiltshire, England. "It would be a bird that is hunted as part of an organized shoot."
And in the United States? Capt. Bill Peoples of the U.S. Army, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, stood silent for a few moments, then exploded.
The American Dictionary of Slang says that in a snipe hunt, "an uninitiated person is left to watch for a `snipe' ... while his supposed hunting companions, the hoaxers, leave him to discover the joke."
That's the meaning Col. Wayland Parker learned the hard way at his Jacksonville, Florida, high school.
"They took all the new guys out to the beach on a snipe hunt," he said. "Of course, not a single snipe showed up and we were left there to figure it out on our own. I waited there for a couple of hours."
Then he leaned closer.
"Believe it or not, they actually have snipes here in Afghanistan," he confided. "If you go out to the stadium, we'll herd them in to you."
(extract from the "CNN.com" site)
http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/05/03/operation.snipe.ap/index.html
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A Glossary of European Noble, Princely, Royal, and Imperial Titles.
(Definitions)
"Emperor" comes from the Latin imperator, roughly "commander", a title which ancient Roman armies "spontaneously" hailed a victorious general by; this entitled the general to a triumph (a sort of ancient Tournament of Roses Parade and Bowl Game). It was one of the titles of the Roman Emperor.
Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into East and West, with two emperors, each emperor being "Imperator" and "Augustus". Each co-emperor had associates, termed "caesars". This system proved unworkable, but the division of the Empire was permanent by about AD 395.
The fall of the Western Empire is traditionally dated to August 23, 476 when Odoacer was crowned King of Italy. Romulus II, or alternately, Julius II Nepos, is considered the last Western Emperor.
"Caesar", as a title of the Roman Emperor, or an associate of an emperor, entered both German and Russian as the word for "emperor" (respectively, "kaiser" and "tsar"); the Bulgarian word "tsar" is usually translated to "king". In English and the western Romance languages, "imperator" was the word that won out.
The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire continued up to 1453, when Constantinople fell to the forces of the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II. The last Byzantine Emperor was Constantine XI. It has been said that as Rome began and ended with a Romulus, so Constantinople began and ended with a Constantine.
...
"Earl" is related to Old Norse "jarl", and is equivalent to "count", which itself comes from the Latin comes. This in turn is related to the English word "county", which pretty much explains what a count was: the principal figure of the county. In Roman times, the comes was a courtier, an Imperial official, and actually outranked a dux (duke).
William I of England regarded the Anglo-Saxon "earl" as a synonym for "count", and while this was not correct, it was a practical equivalency. Old English lacked a feminine and thus the French term was adopted for an earl's wife as well as for women who hold earldoms in their own right.
The German word "graf" seems etymologically related to the English "reeve", which comes from the Old English "gerefe". A reeve is an important appointed official, as with the "shire reeve", i.e., the "sheriff". What English divides among several words, German uses a single word with prefixes, and generally it has a broader meaning than English "earl" or "count". "Graf", then, should not be understood as being perfectly equal to "earl" or "count", but as also containing the idea of "reeve", or "important official". In German lands, offices normally thought of as being appointive and held by commoners in Great Britain could be hereditary and noble. The House of Thurn and Taxis, for example, started out life as the Imperial postmasters, a job one would not think of in Britain as ennobling.
(extract from Mark Odegard's site)
http://www2.lysator.liu.se/nordic/mirror2/titlefaq.htm
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My Solid Pigeon, That Drape Is a Killer-Diller
(Definitions)
For a guy who divides his time between Berlin and London, Max Dcharne is sure hep to a lot of American jive. He is the author of Straight from the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang (Broadway Books, $12.95). Much of the language, most of it having to do with sex, drinking and violence, originated with mobsters and musicians during a period that began with Prohibition and ended with the Rat Pack. Other terms sprang out of such pulp fiction greats as Michael Storme's novel Hot Dames on Cold Slabs. Some of the terms are familiar and still in use today: cop a plea, sourpuss, painting the town. Others invite translation: If a guy wearing a cookie cutter (a policeman's badge), for example, nabs you slipping the dose (shooting) to some nickel rat (cheap crook) with a Chicago piano (machine gun), you could be sniffing Arizona perfume (get the gas chamber) and then they'll throw that dirt in your face (bury you). Dig?
(extract from the "Forbes" site)
http://www.forbes.com/fyi/2002/0513/012.html
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The inside dope on '420' buzz
(Definitions)
When, where and why did innocuous numbers become a sly reference to "pot smoker"? Its history is hazy but the smoke may finally be clearing on the real story.
...How a random three-digit number became a pot euphemism is, in itself, a story. Either that, or something from the annals of Cheech & Chong.
Links between youth culture and the number surfaced after the April 20, 1999, Columbine massacre, when some postulated that the shooters chose the date of their rampage to coincide either with Hitler's birthday or some date of unspecified importance to teenage youth culture. Well before that, however, pager-toting suburban adolescents throughout the country used the three digits as a code for smoking marijuana. And in 1991, High Times magazine, a staunch promoter of the 420 phenomenon, published an item on a flier that a staffer found circulating at a Grateful Dead concert in Oakland: "WAKE 'N' BAKE. Smoke Pot At 4:20," the flier reportedly said.
The term, however, appears to have been coined long before then, according to those who have tracked it. Stern, for example, says she heard it as long ago as the late 1980s, when she was working with young people in a Pennsylvania drug treatment facility. Ron Angier, field supervisor for the Marin District of California State Parks, has recollections that are older still, from his first days as a park ranger 22 years ago on Mt. Tamalpais.
"Crowds of teenagers just started showing up on the mountain at 4:20 p.m. on April 20," Angier said. "Maybe a thousand kids went up one year to Bolinas Ridge, this open vista that overlooks the Pacific Ocean and Stinson Beach."
...
In fact, the only documented story behind the 420 phenomenon is the most comically mundane one, starring a group of now-middle-aged former slackers at San Rafael High School in 1971. One -- now a commercial lender in San Francisco -- told the story on condition that he be referred to only by his first name, Steve.
...
The group agreed to meet that afternoon after school at 4:20 p.m. by a campus statue of Louis Pasteur, he said, and head out to search for the marijuana patch. "But one thing led to another," he laughed, "and suffice it to say we never found it. Every day we'd meet at 4:20 by this statue, and every day we'd just end up getting high and driving around for hours." Over time, the mere phrase "four-twenty" -- exchanged in a hallway, or discreetly mentioned in the presence of teachers and parents -- became their personal code for "time to get high," he said.
(extract from the "LA Times", article by Shawn Hubler)
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-la420-0420.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
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Scottish Dialect
(Definitions)
Listening to a native Scotsman speak English should give us all a newfound appreciation for the might of the Roman Empire. That Hadrian's Walll could prevent the spread of the English language north is a true tribute to the ingenuity and skill of those Roman craftsmen. Even today some of Scotland still speaks significantly different language to English. Some of the Western Isles speak Gaelic yet, and on the East Coast Doric still has a few strongholds left.
Scotland has not only different words for things, but different pronunciations for words that English speakers from around the world may not be familiar with.
Here are some of the more common words that may be heard when visiting Scotland. Some of the words are normally considered taboo1 in polite society, but who among us doesn't curse from time to time?
Please bear in mind that for most of these words have never been written down, so spelling is done phonetically.
(extract from the BBC site)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A139033
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American Slang
(Definitions)
One thing's for sure: it's almost impossible to compile a definitive list of American slang because every little town has its own words. But this hasn't stopped our researchers from posting their favourite words to this forum, and here's a selection of the most useful - and the most obscure - slang words used in the USA.
As always, if you know of a particularly interesting American slang word that's not listed, start a new conversation below and we'll add it in when the article gets revised.
(extract from the BBC site)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A128143
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The Great Jones
(Etymology)
Q: East Third Street becomes Great Jones Street between Broadway and the Bowery. Who was Jones and what was so great about him?
A. Jones is Samuel Jones, a lawyer sometimes called Father of the New York Bar. He owned the land on which Great Jones Street now runs and bequeathed the property to the city with the caveat that any street that ran through the land be named for him.
In 1789 a street was opened there, but New York already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village. So the new street was named Great Jones Street because it was wider than the norm.
In his desire to be remembered, Jones may have linked himself with a different aspect of the city's culture. The slang term "jones," meaning an addiction to drugs, is said to have originated among addicts who lived in Great Jones Alley, off Great Jones Street, between Broadway and Lafayette Street.
(extract from the "New York Times" site, article by Ed Boland, Jr)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/nyregion/17FYI.html
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A Glossary of the Low Life
(Definitions)
A collection of historic words and phrases from the Barbary Coast, the French Quarter, New York, Chicagoand other havens of the sinful and depraved
Collected and annotated by Joel GAzis-SAx
http://www.notfrisco.com/prisonhistory/glossary/index.html
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The Rap Dictionary
(Definitions)
Learn about the rap lingo; get educated.
http://www.rapdict.org/
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Cockney Rhyming Slang at the Stevies
(Definitions)
With the release of East End drama "Last Orders", we thought it was Harry Lime to celebrate film stars who feature in the Cockney rhyming slang lexicon. Feel free to use them the next time you're in Shoreditch or coming out of a Guy Ritchie movie...
The Cockney rhyming slang is listed first, with the meaning in brackets.
(extract from the BBC site)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/01/09/cockney_rhyming_slang_article.shtml
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Glossary of "Gay" Slang
(Definitions)
This is a collection of gay slang that you may hear around the way. Much of this lingo may not be wide spread, or something you'd hear in communities where gays are not the majority.
I apologize for any of this jargon that may offend you. I realize that some terms may be abrasive, or cruel, which is why a lot of them are labeled as "used in gay bashing." They are not presented to educate those who gay bash, but rather to raise your awareness, so that you know what something may specifically mean.
(extract from the GSAglobal site)
http://gsaglobal.net/jargon/?u=a.html
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Jazz Age Slang
(Jargon and Slang)
Herein is contained an alphabetical listing of slang words used in the 1920's. The twenties were the first decade to emphasize youth culture over the older generations, and the flapper sub-culture had a tremendous influence on main stream America; many new words and phrases were coined by these liberated women. These are the most common words and phrases of the time, many of which we still use today!
Some entries were the exclusive domain of students (or rather, those of student age; only a very small percentage of the population attended college) or flappers and have been indicated as such with italicized monikers. Also, the words that emerged in a particular year are noted appropriately.
Note: the majority of the entries were gleaned from a great slang dictionary called Flappers 2 Rappers, written by Tom Dalzell (Merriam-Webster, 1996). This is the resource for those interested in slang from any decade of the 20th century. The reader will find more Jazz Age slang, along with literally hundreds of other words and selected etymologies. Details can be found at the Merriam-Webster site here.
Many entries have also been added from The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition through World War II, by Marc McCutcheon. This book is an indispensable guide to all those minutiae of life during one of the most story rich periods in history. A must have for those interested in the Twenties! Check it out (along with all the other books in the Writer's Guide series) here.
http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm
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Carleton County Colloquialisms
(Other)
The language of Carleton County did not develop in a vacuum - travel anywhere in the Maritimes or even the State of Maine, and you'll hear words contained in this site. So, instead of calling it a "Carleton County Dictionary," which would imply that it contained words heard only in Carleton County, using colloquialisms in the title implied familiarity and informality, not exclusivity. Indeed, it took my eventual return home to fully understand that my language, while home-grown in many ways, nevertheless owed much to the culture and vernacular of Atlantic Canada in general.
http://www.dooryard.ca/index0.html
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A Big List of Non-Standard Theatrical Terms
(Definitions)
Over the next couple of weeks list members sent in their favorite terms, phrases and stories from their experiences working in the theater industry. I've taken the liberty of organizing them under loosely-defined categories while trying to maintain the conversational flavor of the posts. If you'd like to contribute ... and I'll add your terms to the list.
Yo-yo = Measuring tape.
Slipstick = Tape Measure.
Guesser... Tape measure
Toeing in - driving nails or screws at an angle
Gazinta - A piece of hardware that fits into another (that piece gazinta the other one).
Gravity Test, v. to drop something (usually being thrown out anyway) from a great height to make sure gravity is still working. Brandeis University, 1994. We did a Gravity Test with a huge wooden desk during strike, trying to see if we could hit the dumpster from the 4th floor (rather than carry it all that way). Yep, Gravity Works!
(extracts from the "Sapsis Rigging, Inc" site)
http://www.sapsis-rigging.com/NSTTerms.html
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Spook Lingo
(Definitions)
Words and phrases used by intelligence agencies, security services, law enforcement, resistance movements, guerrilla groups, and other underground organizations.
http://www.chymerick.com/orgs/spyvsspy/fs012.html
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Slayer Slang (Part 1)
(Definitions)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS), a recent teen television hit, coins slang terms and phrases in nearly every episode, many of them formed in the usual ways, some of them at the crest of new formative tendencies, and some of them interesting, not only lexically, but morphosyntactically. The show incorporates familiar slang, too; the familiar and newly coined "slayer slang" together compose a particularly vivid snapshot of current American teen slang. Examina-tion of mainstream and cult magazines, fan books, and websites, however, suggests that slayer slang, far from being ephemeral vocabulary, steadily intrudes on everyday speech and may be here to stay.
[...]
Of course, the show employs plenty of familiar slang, some recorded in dictionaries and some not. The oldest item, five-by-five, Faith may have gleaned from the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, where it appears, in the sense Faith employs, in a single quotation from 1983: "How are you?" Buffy asks Faith, to which she responds, "Five-by-five." "I'll interpret that as good," glosses Buffy in turn, and very near the dictionary's 'perfect, fine.' If Faith's Goth-chick slang veers towards the obscure, other characters favor the teen mainstream: "Don't worry, I can deal," Buffy assures her companions; "So, you're not down with Angel," she acknowledges of Spike, Angel's rival among Sunnydale vampires; "That's the sound she makes when she's speechless with geeker joy," Xander explains of Willow; "Don't forget, you're supposed to be a girly girl, like the rest of us," Willow reminds Buffy. "Great," says Willow, "I'll give Xander a call. What's his number? Oh, yeah, 1-800-I'm dating a skanky ho"; "You just went O.J. on your girlfriend," Buffy remarks to one unfortunate; "My egg went postal on me," she explains after a monster hatches from it. Buffy, just like any real American teen, develops crushes on hotties, but if the love is unrequited, the situation is, like, totally heinous. Buffy, far from abject, chills. Maybe she'll stay at home on Saturday and veg rather than indulge the boy's unromantic riff. If the hottie in question asks her out again, she might see an upside and be good to go, or she might ask herself, "What's up with that?" refuse him sarcastically with archaic, and therefore insincere, slang, like "Wow, you're a dish," and then bail. Whatever, you get the idea.
But the show does more than merely capture current teen slang; rather, it is endlessly, if unevenly, inventive. Thus Buffy, only tentatively supporting the romance budding between Xander and Cordelia, assures them, "I'm glad that you guys are getting along, almost really." Vampires, apparently cast into fashion Limbo on the day they become undead, are often marked by their unstylish wardrobes. "Look at his jacket," says Buffy of one them. "It's dated?" asks Giles, to which Buffy responds, "It's carbon-dated." When Cordelia dumps him, Xander asks a young, not awfully proficient witch to cast a love spell on Cordelia; when it backfires and affects everyone BUT Cordelia, he muses to Giles, "Every woman in Sunnydale wants to make me her cuddle-monkey."
[...]
Evidence already quoted proves that the English language often occupies the writers' minds, and thus it often occupies the characters' minds, as well. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an especially language-conscious television show. The characters are backhanded definers ("Man, that's like, I don't know, that's moxie, or something."); bemused grammarians (in one episode, Willow struggles to determine whether one should say "slayed" or "slew"), amateur etymologists (""The whole nine yards"-what does it mean? This is going to bother me all day."); or self-conscious stylists ("Again, so many words. Couldn't we just say, "We be in trouble? . . . Gone." Notice the economy of phrasing: "Gone." Simple, direct."), whatever the situation demands. "Apparently Buffy has decided that what's wrong with the English language is all those pesky words," Xander remarks in one episode. But the problem may not be the absolute number of words so much as the plethora of inadequately expressive ones. As the show continually demonstrates, teens dissatisfied with the language they inherit can invent a language in which the words are, not pesky, but relevant.
While much of the show's slang reproduces the current teen lexicon (good fortune for slang lexicographers, who comb the media for words generally spoken, and then only recently), Buffy the Vampire Slayer not only invents slang, but intends to do so. As Sarah Michelle Gellar, the actress who plays Buffy, explained to the Rolling Stone (April 2, 1998), "Let me tell you how un-Buffy I am . . . For the first episode, I come in and yell, "What's the sitch?" I did not know what "sitch" meant. I still have to ask Joss [Whedon], "What does this mean?" because I don't speak the lingo. I think he makes it up half the time.' "The slang? I make it all up," says Whedon cheerfully, though Gellar's estimate is more accurate. Once America's busiest teen, Gellar nonetheless surely knows plenty of slang, and her ignorance of Whedon's lingo is one indication of its novelty. Viewers recognize and appreciate the show's characteristic innovation: while playing the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Drinking Game (for which the official shot glasses come in handy), viewers are invited to drink whenever "Buffy utters a 'Buffy-ism,' though we are told that this category "Does not include CBS's (Cute Buffy Sayings) like: 'Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatalities.'" According to the rules, CBS's deserve two sips, where Buffy-isms warrant only one, but the game neatly distinguishes the show's linguistics from its poetics. Naturally, the former interests us primarily, and the sequel to this first of a two-part article will consider the semantics and morphology of slayer slang in some detail.
(extract from "Slayer Slang", by Michael Adams)
http://www.verbatimmag.com/slayer1.html
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The Online Slang Dictionary
(Definitions)
Though Webster publishes a slang dictionary, it could potentially take years for a new word or phrase to enter its pages. Now, with the power of the Internet, it can be in a dictionary in a matter of hours. This page depends entirely on your contributions. You'll find a form at the end of each dictionary page to add new material. Read with caution. This dictionary has been written as tastefully as possible, but some language might be offensive to some readers. Note that dates are in day-month-year format.
Use the letters on the right side of your screen to browse the dictionary. If you don't see any letters listed, you'll find a clickable alphabet towards the bottom of this page. Or, click here to start with the letter A.
(extract from the "Online Slang Dictionary" site)
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/
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English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom
(Pondial differences)
"...A monster online dictionary of the rich colourful language we call slang... all from a British perspective, with new slang added every month. If you are unable to immediately find the term you are looking for, try the slang search. A short essay giving an outline of the parameters of this site and brief information on slang can be accessed on the introduction page..."
(extract from "A Dictionary of Slang")
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
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Best sites on slang
(Jargon and Slang)
1. Experts believe there are at least 90,000 slang words and phrases in common use in the UK, 10% of which can be traced to what we eat and drink.
2. Jonathan Green, who has been dubbed "Mr Slang" by Martin Amis for compiling both the Cassell Dictionary of Slang and the Penguin Slang Thesaurus, has written a guide called the Language of Food. Mr Green says: "Slang has its roots in making comparisons or subverting the meaning of innocent words."
3. Among his findings is an explanation of the term "save one's bacon", which apparently dates back to 1300 when the whole body was known as a bacon."
4. Other examples rely on rhyming slang - popular with London's Cockneys. For example, "jam pies" or "lamb's fries", means someone's eyes, while "Britney Spears" means beers.
5. The guide also includes contemporary teen slang, much of which is influenced by music such as hip-hop.
6. The guide says that "bacon" can be a derogatory term for the police, "cheeseball" is for someone unattractive, and "cherry" means an annoying individual.
7. There are also terms such as "he irks my tater" for "he irritates me", "open the lunchbox" to mean breaking wind, or "veg out" for lapse into inactivity.
8. Calling someone "duck", popular in Yorkshire apparently dates back to the 1500s and appears in the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Meanwhile "chick" or "chicken" have been around as terms of endearment as far back as the 1850s.
(extract from "Slang", Mike Oliver, The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,588830,00.html
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Dictionary of Contemporary Slang
(Definitions)
Trying to keep up with current slang is like trying to capture water in a sieve. So we must applaud the industry of lexicographers like Tony Thorne, whose Dictionary of Contemporary Slang was published in a new edition by Bloomsbury this week.
He points out that slang changes so fast that only a proportion of it ever reaches any form of print, so the only way to capture it is to go out and listen for it. "You have to hang out in as many low-life locations as you can," he says. As he is in his forties, this means going in mild disguise so as not to be conspicuous in cardboard cities, raves, football matches, homeless shelters and other places where good listening is to be had. He argues that language researchers are now more like "successors to the pioneering anthropologists of the last century" than the "harmless drudges" that Dr Johnson, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, defined lexicographers to be.
The British bookshop chain Dillons runs an annual survey of teenage slang in association with the OED, whose 1997 results came out in July. This year's list is almost completely different to last and it is interesting that few of the words are in Thorne's compilation, though as Dillons collected their examples around the country by asking young people in schools rather than by just listening to their conversation, I suspect systematic regional bias complicated by a bit of quiet leg-pulling. The principal words in the Dillons list that also appear in Thorne's are banging (exciting, powerful; from rave culture), boff (a swot, unconnected it seems with any other meaning), full-on (with maximum effort, powerful), large (excellent, exciting; from rave contexts), monged (stoned, intoxicated), safe (something good), and skank (horrible, disgusting).
(extract from the "World Wide Words" review section)
http://www.quinion.com/words/reviews/thorne.htm
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Encyclopedia Georgetannica
(Definitions)
boomerang bill - n. 1. A bill that is entered in one location, and then hit in the same or a nearby location with a user note saying that the hitter got it in a faraway location
Natural George - n. A bill that is entered in the Where's George? database, but not marked. Also: Ghost George, Stealth George.
star bill - n. From the Where's George? FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page: "The star after the serial number [means that the bill] is a replacement note that was issued to take the place of a defective note that was discovered. Since it's too cost-prohibitive to re-issue the same serial number, it's easier to print up a bunch of star notes and then use them to fill the stack once the defects are pulled out. Star notes don't command a premium unless they are uncirculated, and/or have a real interesting serial number. Using the * ('asterisk'=SHIFT-8) key will get it into the system." Also: star note, star.
(extracts from the glossary at the "Where's George" site)
http://www.wheresgeorge.com/
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The Nature of Kinship: Glossary of Terms
(Definitions)
A kinship glossary defining such terms as "affinity", "agnatic descent", "ambilineal descent", and other terms.
http://anthro.palomar.edu/kinship/glossary.htm
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Netlingo
(Definitions)
Welcome! NetLingo is an online dictionary about the Internet. It contains thousands of words and definitions that describe the technology and community of the World Wide Web. To start using NetLingo, click on a term to the left or scroll down to view more words.
The terms and definitions in NetLingo come from a variety of sources. Many entries widely used in the industry are standard technical terms that we have indexed and further defined or edited over the years. Other NetLingo jargon and phrases come from authoritative sources on a particular subject. And many NetLingo acronyms and smileys come from you. We aim to keep the definitions practical, useful and full of technology references while at the same time, written in a style that's easy-to-understand. To set a standard for this lexicon every effort has been made to accurately describe the information, but if you think something is inaccurate please let us know; this is how we will remain a vital part of the online community. Thanks for using NetLingo!
(extract from the "Netlingo" site)
http://www.netlingo.com/
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The Great Aussie BBQ Game
(Pondial differences)
The barbecue is a well-recognised staple in the Australian diet. Try this interactive game to test your culinary skills - cooking an Aussie Barbie might not be as easy as you think!
Australians have a unique use of the english language, sometimes referred to as 'Strine'. The following words and phrases can be found within the Aussie BBQ game, and are defined within the context that they were used.
(extract from the 2002 World Lottery Association Congress web site)
http://www.wla2002.com/game/dictionary.html
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Dictionary of Corset-related Words and Terms
(Definitions)
A sample of entries:
Bents (c16th) Stiffening for stays made from bunches of hollow-stemmed reeds.
Farthingale (c16th,17th) A hoop formed of whalebone of other material used to extend the petticoat outward, or a skirt or petticoat covering such a hoop.
Vasquine (basquine) (c16th) Close-fitting bodice with tabs, or a basque, but in England the word has been used for a petticoat.
(extracts from the "Dictionary of Corset-related Words and Terms" page)
http://www.staylace.com/resourcelist/diction.htm
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British Slang
(Jargon and Slang)
British slang stems from Shakespeare to Chaucer and encompasses nearly every generation of human speech. From Cockney rhyming slang to short-lived colloquialisms, England contains a mixture of euphenisms that often leave Americans scratching their heads.
(extract from the British Trivia page)
http://www.uselessknowledge.com/britain/britishisms.shtml
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QUESTION: What is a blogger'?
(Definitions)
QUESTION: What is a blogger'?
ANSWER: Bloggers are those individuals who share their thoughts or musings with other Internet users by posting Weblogs. Weblogs are diary-like entries on a given topic that are added to a Web site over a period of time. A shortened term for ''Weblog'' is ''blog.'' Hence,
the person who creates entries for a blog is frequently referred to as a blogger.
(Tamara E. Holmes, USATODAY.com)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech.htm
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"Slanguage"
(Other)
A collection of contributed English language slang accessible by geographic region.
http://www.slanguage.com/
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English/Cockney Rhyming Slang Dictionary
(Other)
Note: Although the list originally started out as a cockney rhyming slang list , it now contains some plain rhyming slang and other slang words that are in common use as well.
After looking at the dictionary, have a look at this passage and see if you can understand it!!
http://www.bio.nrc.ca/cockney/view.html
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English, as She is Spoke at McMurdo.
(Other)
A dictionary of Antarctic slang.
http://penguincentral.com/MCMslang.html
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The Law of the Playground (playground slang)
(Current usage/news)
The least coherent encyclopaedia of playground insults on the internet: anne marie anne marie anne marie / beetroot song, the / brucie bonus (addition) /
bum-tit-tit / bundys bank / bursar / chalk balls / chef fozkin's cheese balls / cock-on-the-rock / external bladder, the single boon of having an / first the worst / gold watches /
gorfargan / hacking / i'm an alley cat! / i'm telling, you're smelling / jackie d / jumble-gippo / kippering / lab assistants / lickadickaday / nuclear hand grenades /
operation sex / packets don't come in tins / pal / pinfinger / poppy day with flair / quaid / melinda / rain-bone / resusci-annie / ruler smelling / schnell! schnell! / school pond, the / skiing / slow clapping, attempted disruptions / son, humpedinck's, engelbert / special unit children, unpunished abuse of / speednob reversal / speednob, advanced / spit dangling / sticky belly flap cock / stuck in the mud / testicular pursuit / top gun / tracksuit trumps / twinkle twinkle / uppadine, mrs. / uzis from blackbush / well, you're not at home now / were you born with happiness? / word swapping / xenophobia, odd
http://www.log.dial.pipex.com/playground/html/news.htm
Jargon for graffiti artists
(Jargon and Slang)
http://graffiti.org/index.html
This is the Jargon File, a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor.
(Jargon and Slang)
http://info.astrian.net/jargon/
Jargon for coin collectors
(Jargon and Slang)
http://malakoff.com/cms.htm
Many of the slang terms used in mountain biking come from the off-road motorcycling culture, from "trials" bicycling and BMX, and from road cycling. And some of the (numerous!) terms for "crash" came from skiing, snowboarding, surfing, or skating (inline
(Jargon and Slang)
http://world.std.com/~jimf/biking/slang.html
The a.b.m.e. "Capping" glossary
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.abmefaq.net/
Drug Related Street Terms/Slang Words
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.addictions.org/slang.htm
Baggot Leaf Gilding Glossary
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.antiquerestorers.com/Articles/GOLD/GLOSSARY2.html
Rabbit language
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.farthingwood.mcmail.com/wdrpg/lang.htm
A large collection of glossaries
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.glossarist.com/
European nobility background
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/odegard/titlefaq.htm
Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: This is the language spoken by Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer and the Continental Op. When Cagney, Bogart, Robinson and Raft got in a turf war, this is how they talked.
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.miskatonic.org/slang.html
Jargon for bullfighting enthusiasts
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.mundo-taurino.org/alt_word.html
Nitpickers Guild Glossary
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.nitcentral.com/members/glossary.htm
These pages contain words and expressions you most likely won't find in a normal dictionary. This is an experimental "internet collaborative project", which means that all entries are made by internet users
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/
The online dictionary of playground slang
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.odps.org/slangb.html
A glossary of palace terms
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.palaces.org/Glossary/glossary.htm
A monster online dictionary of the rich colourful language we call slang... all from a British perspective, with new slang added every month.
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
Jargon for license plate collectors
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.pl8s.com/terms.htm
The place where words you've made up can become part of an actual online dictionary! slang, webspeak, colloquialisms...you name it, if you know a word that should be in the dictionary but isn't, submit it and we'll post it on this site (with credit given
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.pseudodictionary.com/
A collection of Naval slang, abbreviations, legends and historical tit-bits which was originally compiled by Commander A. Covey-Crump, RN, a former Naval Assistant to the Chief of Naval Information
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/content/348.html
The Ultimate Silicon Valley Slang Page - Index
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.sabram.com/site/slang.html
A Glossary for Medieval English Towns
(Jargon and Slang)
http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/glossary.html