Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (16 page)

berk
n

a fool. This word, which has been widespread since the early 1960s in Britain and Australia (where it was introduced via British TV comedies), is used as a form of
mild derision by many speakers who would be shocked by its original meaning in rhyming slang. The origin is ‘Berkeley hunt' or ‘Berkshire hunt', meaning
cunt
which, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a cockney synonym for a fool.

‘How tempting it must have been to add: “…despite what you may gathered from that posturing berk, Chirac”.'
(Quentin Letts writing in the
Daily Mail
, 24 June 2005)

berko, berco
adj Australian

enraged, uncontrollable. The term may originate as a contracted form of ‘berserk'. It is also heard in Ireland where it can also denote drunk.

He went completely berko!

berlimey!
exclamation British

an expression of surprise or wonder, sometimes feigned. An item of student slang in use in London and elsewhere since around 2000. It is an exaggerated pronunciation of the old ‘blimey'. It was still in use in 2005.

bernie
n British

the sum of £1 million. In UK financial slang the term commemorates the attempt by motor racing impresario Bernie Eccle-stone to donate this sum to the Labour Party in 1997.

bertie
n British

1.
a male homosexual. The connection between the name and the subject is unclear.

He looks a bit of a bertie to me.

2.
a fool, dupe. In this sense the word (probably based on the names Albert and
Herbert
as supposedly epitomising foolish individuals) is typically used in London working-class speech.

‘We're going to get a right pounding and they'll [the IRA] make berties of us.'
(Londoner calling an
LBC
radio phone-in programme, 25 October 1993)

berties
n pl British See
take berties

besrek
n See
beresk

bessie
n British

best friend. A term which probably originated in North West England but which, since 2000, has become widespread, especially in the speech of younger females.
Bra
is a contemporary synonym.

bestest
adj

superlative

You're my bestest bestest friend!

bestie
n British

an unpleasant or despicable individual. A term of playground abuse from ‘bestiality'.

betch
n American

a variant form of
bitch
, in teenage conversation sometimes used affectionately, popularised in 2006 by the comedian Liam Kyle Williams in role as his female alter ego Kelly. By 2013 the term had come to categorise a supposed social subgroup consisting of spoilt, self-assured, ultra-consumerist female adolescents, typically wealthy college students.

You're such a betch.

Betty
n

a girl, particularly a nonparticipant in sports such as skateboarding. A mildly derisory usage among some teenagers, possibly inspired by the character played by Michelle Dotrice in the TV comedy series
Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em
. In the late 1980s Betty became a vogue word in the USA, often used to mean an attractive or popular girl. (In East Anglian dialect Betty – perhaps coincidentally – is a prefix signifying female, as in ‘Betty-cat'.)

Betty Bracelets
n British

a police officer or the police in general. A jocular and ironic nickname bestowed by members of the
gay
community from the later 1950s. (Bracelets is archaic slang for manacles or handcuffs.)

‘I was sitting there minding my own business when up comes Betty Bracelets looking all obstreperous …'
(Recorded, male transvestite, London, 1992)

bevvied
adj British

drunk. From the increasingly popular use of the noun and verb shortenings of ‘beverage'.

bevvy, bevvie
vb
,
n British

(to take) an alcoholic drink. A predominantly working-class abbreviation of ‘beverage' in use since the 19th century, usually referring to beer. The term gained a new popularity among students, etc. from the end of the 1980s.

They've been bevvying since lunchtime.
‘We had a few bevvies on the way here.'
(Recorded, workman, York, 1986)

bewer, bure
n Irish and British

a woman, wife, sweetheart. The word is used by travellers and some prisoners in the UK but is Irish Gaelic in origin. In 19th-century wordlists of criminal language in England it is spelled
byohr
or
beoir
and it
appears as
buor
in an English account of tramps' lives of 1886.

beyond the black stump
adj Australian

See
black stump

Bezz, Bezzie
n British

a cloddish, unsophisticated person. This term from the 1980s street slang of Manchester probably derives from an eponymous individual who bore this nickname, such as Mark Berry of the band the Happy Mondays. The music impresario Tony Wilson, when reminiscing, commented of the band New Order, ‘They were all Bezzies'.

bezzie, bez
n British

best friend

B.F., b.f.
n

1.
British
‘bloody fool'. A pre-World War II, mainly middle-class, euphemism, now sounding rather dated. The initials have sometimes been used with more vehemence, probably on the assumption that the ‘f' in question stood for
fucker
.

2.
boyfriend

BFE
n American

an abbreviation of
Bumfuck Egypt

B.F. Egypt
n American

a disguised version of
Bumfuck Egypt

BFF
n

‘best friend forever'

B-girl
n American

1.
a prostitute or woman of dubious morals who frequents bars

2.
the female counterpart of a
B-boy
.
Fly-girl
is a more common synonym.

BI
n American

another abbreviation of
bitch
, verbalised as ‘bee–eye'

bi-
n
,
adj

(a person who is) bisexual

bi-atch, bia
n American

an unpleasant or offensive person. The word, featured e.g. in the lyric to
Look in My Eyes
by US rapper Obie Trice in 2009, is used in place of the word
bitch
: the two-syllable pronunciation is in imitation of a Southern drawl. Like
ho
, it can be highly pejorative or a term of mild rebuke or affection among friends. It has been adopted by teenagers in the UK since around 2008.

See also
bish

bible
n See
Tijuana bible

bible-basher
n

an over-enthusiastic evangelist Christian

bicycle
n See
town bike/pump

biddy, biddie
n

a.
British
an old and/or unattractive female. The old term became newly fashionable in metropolitan and media circles in 2012. It originated as a diminutive, affectionate form of the name Bridget, generalised to refer to Irish servants.

‘Summing up why older members of the Tory faithful oppose measures such as gay marriage, [Environment Secretary] Mr Paterson quipped: “It's simple – biddies don't like botties”.'
(
Daily Telegraph
, 16 December 2012)

b.
American
a female,
hot chick
. The appreciative use of the word is applied typically according to users to a high-spirited college girl.

Let's hit the bar and round up some biddies.

c.
American
a
MILF
or
cougar

Wow, check the hot biddy over there in the convertible
.

biddy-fiddler
n British

a male attracted to older women.

Compare
kiddy-fiddler

bidet
n British

a rear wash-wipe mechanism on a car. An item of slang from the motor trade, posted online by one Clive Watkinson on 22 December 2007.

bif, biff
n British

1.
a cigarette. A vogue term among adolescents from the later 1990s, the derivation is given at
bifta
.

Chas's just caned my biffs.

2.
an internet user deemed to be embarrassing or unfortunate, in the patois of
cyberpunks
and
net-heads
. This categorisation is defined in
Surfing on the Internet
, by J. C. Hertz (1994), as ‘the archetypal ultimate loser-cum-cyberpunk-wannabee stuck in the fantasy world of low-end equipment, limited software and all-caps mode'.

3.
the vagina

biff
vb British

to have sex (with). A rarer alternative form of
boff
, heard particularly among male adolescents since the early 1990s. The word can be used both transitively and intransitively.

biffa, biffer
n British

1.
an ugly or unattractive female. Biffa is sometimes used as a children's nickname, usually denoting a burly, boisterous individual, so probably from the colloquial verb ‘biff' meaning to hit. It is also the
name of a UK waste disposal company. ‘Biffa Bacon' is the name of a male cartoon character in
Viz
comic.

2.
the vagina. A vulgarism heard in the North of England.

3.
a
spliff

biffage
n British

an attractive female or females in general. The usage derives from
biffa 2
.
Damage
is a synonym.

biffie
n Canadian

a toilet. The origin of the word, heard in the 1960s and currently popular among male adolescents, is obscure. It might possibly be a corruption of the French
buffet
in the sense of a bench or stool.

biffin bridge
n British

the perineum

biffle
n American

a close friend. The word is formed from the initials of ‘best friend for life'.

She's my biffle
.

bifta
¹
n

a.
a cigarette

b.
a marihuana cigarette

c.
marihuana, cannabis

In the sense of cigarette the word originated in playground slang in the 1970s. It is a deformation of the medical term
spina bifida
.

bifta
²
n
,
adj

(something) wonderful, impressive. In this sense the word is of uncertain origin. It often occurs in the phrase ‘the full bifta'.
Compare
berifta

big A, the
n Australian

a shortened form of the phrase ‘the big arse', meaning the
heave-ho
or the
elbow
.
See also
arse
¹
4

Big Apple, the
n American

the nickname for New York City. It seems to have originated among jazz musicians, perhaps from the notion of ‘a bite of the apple' meaning a chance of success.

big-ass
adj American

very large

big cack, the
n Australian

a wild celebration, an enjoyable experience.
Cack
in this case is probably a short form of ‘cackle' with a nod to its other ruder sense. The term was popularised by Australian revellers in London in 1994. It denotes, according to the
Sunday Express
, ‘the holy grail of funlovers, the ultimate party experience'.

big E, the
n

the
elbow
.

See also
arse
¹
4

big enchilada
n American

an important or self-important person, the boss. A humorous phrase from the 1970s. An enchilada is a Mexican filled pancake. The term is a later imitation of the pre-World War II colloquialisms ‘big cheese/potato'.

big girl's blouse
n British

a weak, ineffectual or pathetic male. A phrase usually heard in the north of England. It first came to prominence in the late 1960s.

‘Naff ballet roles – the big girl's blouse in “Les Sylphides”.'
(
The Complete Naff Guide
, Bryson
et al.
, 1983)

big hair
n American

a spectacular teased or bouffant female hairstyle. This Americanism, dating from the 1950s, began to be used in other English-speaking areas in the 1990s, usually sarcastically.