Argot
Further to a previous post about the Partridge dictionary’s search for new slang…
I offer an old favourite:
Hoser. noun. Canadian (1970s?)
Origin: Rumoured to derive from a tradition of siphoning gasoline, or perhaps a variation on Hoosier)
1) Single, very white male from the suburbs or country. Hobbies include TV, heavy metal, hockey, consuming excessive quantities of beer, deking trees on his skidoo, hockey and driving around in a pick-up truck (ideally with jacked-up wheels) either aimlessly or to get Gary who just got his pogey cheque – beauty, we can get another two-four.
Generally seen wearing a touque and Surrey dinner jacket. Enjoys scatological humour, the scatologicaller the better, and completes each sentence with, ‘eh?’
It’s a gentler version of a redneck – generally baffled by life’s complexities (therein a good candidate for Everyman).
Popularized into the ground by Messrs. Bob and Doug McKenzie, Mn*.
(*Molson)
And… having lost touch with the talk on the streets, and now equipped with a comments feature – thanks, as always, to the heart flutter and swoon-inducing Dean Allen – I’m dying to know:
(Old or new and all languages are welcome, naturlicht.)
· · • · ·
What’s your favourite slang word, expression…?
- Gobsmacked.
As in, I was totally gobsmacked to realise that mine would be the first comment.
— JH Dec 28, 7:11am # - I like absurd vulgarities. Roger’s Profanisaurus is full of them.
— Eeksy-Peeksy Dec 28, 8:45am # - Einsendrafthansa.
As in…
http://www.cwob.com/einsendrafthansa/
OK, I’m partial to people who invent new words.
I do it myself.
Then people who know you actually spread the lore.
Which is fun.
— Heck Dec 28, 1:03pm # - Hell, if you’re talking about “hosers” and “two-fours”, you can’t forget the experience of “getting your 365”.
Interesting new Toronto venacular: the hip crowd no longer calls it “Tee-Oh”. It’s now “Tee-Dot”.
— Marshall Dec 28, 1:38pm # - Rikiki.
It’s French and meaning stingy or small and cheap.
— Manon Dec 28, 1:42pm # - I thought Toronto was and always will be Tee Zero…?
— Claude Dec 28, 2:22pm # - I don’t suppose you remember this, seeing as your in France-land, but on letterman a few years ago they had this hippy. manny the hippy they called him. Anyway, he exposed us to a plethora of new terms coined, obviously, in the parking lots of Dead shows. Such terms include: Dank andor Schwag. Of course, what term wouldn’t go well with a complementing adjective such as Schwiggity Schwag or Diggity Dank.
now, for the meaning of it all:
‘Just remember, if it isn’t Diggity Dank, then it must be Schwag!’
To avoid possible self incrimination, there are absolutely tons of these terms and slangs for you to learn in order to be a true ‘head. In fact, there is a book out about such linguistical quarks. Don’t let Dean know about this for fear he might just get so absorbed in this as he was about the Gene Simmons.
— lincoln Dec 28, 2:42pm # - “Freaking”
or Utah variant:
“Flipping”
as in “I wish I could get my freaking blog to validate but the W3C validator as well as the freakin XLM validator won’t accept certain flipping typologically correct characters.”
— Stan Dec 28, 4:25pm # - I still say hip, cool and groovy, which only goes to show that I am none of these things.
— Melinda Dec 28, 6:47pm # - Thanks Claude! Gail’s comments system has now registered it’s first moron. You’re Number #1 !
— Martin Dec 28, 7:35pm # - I like how comment 3 is signed “Heck” and comment 4 begins “Hell,” as if in answer, but formally. (Comments, by the way, are how you lose control of your blog.)
— Eeksy-Peeksy Dec 28, 11:46pm # - “Insha’allah” which literally translates into “God willing” but, owing to varying degrees of flippancy, can mean anything from “I’ll think about giving it a second thought” to “Don’t hold your breath, mate”.
— esperanca Dec 29, 3:09am # - Despite the hype about book and television series, ‘tipping the velvet’ still makes me giggle every time I hear the phrase. Best usage turned up by Google:
...has anyone seen the show Tipping the Velvet…? I don’t think that anyone who claims to be a fan of shoujoai/yuri/lesbianism/sapphism/tribadism/kinky girl on girl action could dislike it. Unless you’re very militant about how you like your Victorian melodrama.
— Nan Dec 29, 4:01am # - ‘Apply dialectical materialism’ = to throw in the garbage. As in: ‘If you don’t eat those leftovers today, I’m going to apply dialectical materialism to them.’
— Rubricator Dec 29, 4:11am # - Comment 11 reminds me that I truly love the expression “what the heck!”. Or just “heck” at the begginning of a sentence.
It’s quite a pun among my friends when talking to me. My name is actually Hector, it’s not that I decided to overthrow Lucifer, and impersonate his realm, mind you.
I also agree with 11 on blog-control and comments. The fact that I’m posting for a second time sadly proves the point.
Cheers.
— Heck Dec 29, 4:25am # - “Geisterfahrer” in German means people who drive the wrong way down a highway. We do not know why. If they are not all dead, the people who do it would tell you it is fun.
— Werner Dec 29, 11:36am # - Well, I’m not sure that I agree with the inmates taking over the asylum implication. Discussion can be quite addictive and thrilling if the champagne is chilled just right.
Alas, I realize that I simply didn’t manage to ask a very compelling question (and thus didn’t impress my friends as I swaggered down the street with the excellent new toy I got for Christmas, feigning shiny indifference).
I probably should have said something appalling like, “We need a universal language; English is the obvious choice,” or something common and lovely like, Whats the best book youve read this year? and enjoyed the turkey (and pickled herring)-laden consequences, instead.
Not even Microsoft Graph will allow my learning curve to peak, it seems.
P.S. I discovered Andre Dubus and William Trevor this year, and both made my knees melt with galling admiration.
— Gail Dec 29, 2:19pm # - Well, back to expressions—to have “landed with his/her bum in the butter” (which is a good thing)—I heard this phrase from a S. African friend and have been using it ever since, always enjoying the puzzled looks and sometimes the discomfiture of listeners on this continent…
— Diane Dec 29, 6:16pm # - “Chuffed,” with its connotations of amicable smugness. It literally has something to do with being fattened up with pride, and always makes me think of self-satisfied chickadees. “Gobsmacked” is also delightful.
— Erin Dec 29, 9:41pm # - As a 40-year-old white guy, I like using the phrase “I’m down wit’ dat!” with the younger folks – in particular my late-teen/early-20-something nieces and nephews – and seeing the amusement/bemusement on their faces.
I feel that the exclamations “zounds!” and “gadzooks!” should be brought back into common usage. I’m also partial to the adjective “big-ass”.
Finally, something of my own creation: “rectumfied” (to be screwed (and not in a good way), or to be in big-ass trouble).
— Erwin Dec 30, 3:20am # - As far as slang expressions go, this one recently got me gigglin’: ‘Leave it out’ ... as in …
A: [ironic] ‘you’re a bit of orrright’
B: ‘leave it out!’
— Gaffer Dec 30, 4:59am # - I’ve always assumed that ‘hoser’ had a bawdier derivation, from the resemblance of a certain male appendage to a hose.
Nice try changing the subject, Gail.
— Eric Dec 30, 12:33pm # - i’ve always been partial to slipphappy. are there any other adjectives so picturesquely bemusing? i never thought so.
requisite ex:
A: “how was that party last night?”
B: “couldn’t tell you. i was so sliphappy i’m still not sure where we were.”
or
A: “you look pretty chill kid, what’s up?”
B: “nothing man, just sitting here all sliphappy-like.”
as you see fit.
poocat.
— poocat Dec 30, 12:46pm # - fuck is my favorite, but for describing
stupid people I find that bag of toys works well, as in ‘X is a bag of toys’ or ‘What a fucking bag of toys that bastard X is’.
— x Dec 30, 1:09pm # - asshat, as popularized by the intarweb
— john Dec 30, 9:01pm # - Fleedal – An adjective coined by a friend and I to describe the behavior and/or general manner of one who makes those in his or her company feel stupid. As my friend was often accused of such behavior it was useful to come up with a word to describe it.
This was soon followed by a verb form (To Fleed), altho the precise conjugation of the verb was never nailed down.
All are invited to use the word(s) as the need arises.
— Phineas Dec 31, 1:17am # - While leading a crew of teenaged laborers in rural southern Ontario, I encountered the term ‘hose monster,’ defined in Roger’s Profanisaurus as “a woman of loose morals” (and, quite possibly, a hoser’s female counterpart).
Well, you asked for it.
— Eric Dec 31, 1:28am # - Goat Rodeo
e.g.: The project manager was such a disorganized idiot that the project turned into a total goat rodeo.
(A oft-used word on my job at a large technology corporation whose nickname has the past tense of the word “blow” in it.)
— Beerzie Boy Dec 31, 11:53am # - i used to say “rats”. my son has replaced shit with “shoelaces!”
of course, upon missed opportunity, the standby is “devil!”
— jocelyn Dec 31, 2:17pm # - “Shitfaced.”
— Joe Clark Jan 1, 11:19pm # - I like “Pebbledash people”—as explained by the BBC e-cyclopedia.
(I’m pleased you are now ‘at home’ to receive comments).
— Peter Jan 2, 1:01am # - honkin’HONK-in,adjective:
exceptional, huge, amazing
e.g. Get a load of my honkin’ new boots
— Kath Jan 2, 12:14pm # - Smack the cow. I have no definition for it, though.
— Marq Ed Jan 2, 4:55pm # - hrm, i suppose it’s not witty, but i always liked the word “clusterfuck” (meaning, any situation that is chaotic and disorganized) – i’m pretty sure it was coined somewhere in the (US) Army.
it’s fun to exclaim “what a clusterfuck!”
ahem.
— warren Jan 2, 5:01pm # - Yahtzee!
In the beginning, this was used a freind as a general use exclamation in joyfull or exciting situations.
“Yahtzee! I have enough money for another pint of swill! Bartender, make it a cold one!”
We have since decided that Yahtzee! would be a wonderful thing to have screamed during sex. Maybe the best thing.
— sr Jan 3, 2:15pm # - Comment 34 and your original remark about “hosers” brought to mind the two terms of endearment “fucknozzle” and “arsecandle”, neither of which should be used in polite company.
— Mike Jan 6, 9:21am # - Hey, can anyone further elucidate Nan’s phrase in #13? This phrase has been all over pop culture lately, but no one seems to know what it means more than vaguely. Derivation info would be appreciated…
— mortimer Jan 6, 4:43pm # - 1. I swear [insert problem] is a perpetual monkey on my back!
2. Poop on you!
3. a) Booyah! b) You’ve been moded.
4. You and your hippy-dippy counter-culturalist ways.
5. You are so crunchy granola. You only eat healthy, natural stuff, don’t you?
6. The idea of [insert person] getting married has been eating me for the past few days. I just can’t get over it.
7. a) Break out the whoop-ass! b) Don’t make me open a can of whoop-ass on you!
8. Man, you need to fire all your cylinders. [NOTE: technically this would be very bad for an engine if done simultaneously.]
9. Big fat deal
10. Go figure.
11. Keep your piss away from my watering hole.
12. The general implications of a “night of happiness”, and the specificity of its use.
13. The fact that we spend so much time beating a “dead horse” when most of us have never seen one.
14. Honey, I’m going to the store—you take care of the rug monkey while I’m out, okay?
15. Chickenhead.
16. That’s how you get got—flashing all your valuables around that way.
17. He was alone at night and he got jacked, rolled, gaffled, rocked, beat down, mugged. [NOTE: there are many other slang words for various kinds of robbery and the person who robs or gets robbed.]
18. What a knuckle-walking goon.
19. What a bunch of monkeyshine.
20. Damn rubberneckers.
21. She was just depressed and now she’s all gigglehappy.
22. I’m just a slaphappy fool, learning from all my hard knocks.
23. Giving/getting Bill Clinton, Billy Clint, etc.
24. That’s a doozie.
25. ‘Boo-boo’ means “poop” but ‘boo’ is the same as ‘hubby’, ‘main squeeze’, boyfriend/girlfriend/lover, etc.
27. I’m gonna 86 [or “deep six”] this car as soon as I get the 411 on the Jody who’s two-timing me with my wife, with all his fancy kama sutra s#!* that’s been puttin’ ideas in her head, like she wants me to 69 her a$$, but instead I leave the room and star 69’ed her phone and damned if the mother f@*#er don’t answer saying, “Hi baby girl!” and I gave him a piece of my mind and told him he better be on the down low and be lookin’ out because me and my boys was comin’ after him, so after I 187 the bastard we’ll stick him in the car and torch it by that cliff up by the canyon so it’ll roll off the edge… etc.
I could go on.
— kidfarthest Jan 7, 5:29pm # - I sure wish that italic tags were supported. I’m much better at closing those properly.
— kidfarthest Jan 7, 5:32pm # - Fershlugginer. As in “Will we ever finish this fershlugginer quest?” No specific meaning.
— Eric Jan 8, 6:44pm # - “Mylo,” which in Russian means “soap,” is now used in the CIS to mean “e-mail.” The origins are obviously phonetic. It’s funny to hear people say “Did you get my soap yesterday?”
— Alex Baylin Jan 8, 9:26pm # - “Whacked-up and gobbled.” Meaning a lively night on the town.
— Gordon Hope Jan 10, 6:18am # - Oh, I almost forgot “Moose-fucker.” Coined by Jerry Sadowitz I think, means ‘a Canadian’.
— Gordon Hope Jan 10, 6:22am #
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