A Glossary for the Nineties: Chapter 10 - Sport and leisure
[Taken from A Glossary for the Nineties, by David Rowan (Prion Books, 1998), based on the column of that name in The Guardian's Weekend magazine through most of the 1990s. © David Rowan]
CHAPTER 10: SPORT AND LEISURE
The spare-time stuff, from skateboarding to new music
BONGO n. A head injury, in UK skateboarders' slang. That's not all: a swellbow is a swollen elbow, a woodrash an injury from riding a wooden ramp, and a light graze a raspberry (because it looks like one). And if it's big, the graze is a pizza or a Big Mac - as it resembles hamburger relish. The slang may even be more entertaining than the skating.
FUSILATELIST n. A collector of that fashionable new icon, the other type of valuable plastic card you keep in your wallet. Phonecard? That'll do nicely, especially if you're among the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 British collectors who have paid up to £3,000 for the things. See also telegerist, below.
GACK v. Another colourful term used by British skateboarders. This one means to smoke. They also call a nerd a dwid, a weak skater moulded, and a young hanger-on a grommit.
HARDBAG adj. That section of a record shop where the musical style "handbag" house (house for more mainstream people, ie the sort that dance around handbags) meets "hardcore". Not a Eurovision favourite.
HERBAL HIGH n. A leisure drug, sold as a legal alternative to ecstasy and cannabis, that has belatedly come to the attention of government ministers. So they're banning them.
KEY adj. Our final homage to skateboarding. This is what London skateboarders call a cool move - what used to be known as rad or rip. Likewise, an uncool move - or excessive boasting about your cool move - is definitely unkey, or, one stage worse, monkey.
LEISURE BOX n. The latest "entertainment experience" investors believe will attract our disposable income in future years: the units (that's you and me) go there to watch a film, buy fast-food, maybe even dance. On the edge of a town near you. It is also known as a leisure canape - because you pick and choose little nuggests of entertainment, rather than a single main-course dish for the evening.
MEGAPLEX n. A multiplex with a superiority complex: this is a cinema complex with at least 18 screens, and they're coming to Stockholm, Barcelona and Madrid by the millennium.
REVIRGINIZATION n. The process by which professional ice skaters were declared "amateurs" so that they could compete in the 1994 Olympic Games. But why stop there? We still lack a term for the growth in celibacy among the Aids-terrified generation . . .
ROLLER-RAGER n. A participant in the latest urban sport: bombing through city parks on speeding in-line skates. First spotted in an anguished Times letter, and no doubt related to road rage, another mobile nineties obsession.
SHREDHEAD n. A keen follower of the booming macho sport of ski-boarding, currently spreading across the world's ski resorts. The trouble is, skiers keep getting in the way - hence a new concern to establish a shrediquette that sets out the rights-of-way rules.
SKITCH v., n. The increasingly popular urban sport of holding on to a moving vehicle while wearing in-line skates. Advantages: bus fare not required, plus radically reduced journey time. Disadvantages: er, radically reduced lifespan . . .
TECHSTIVAL n. An unofficial free party where your ears are liable to be troubled by techno music. Overheard at a recent techno-music festival put on by Tribal Gathering.
TELEGERIST n. A competitor to fusilatelist. If our culture has deemed to make telephone-card collecting such a valued pastime, then presumably we should allow our language to evolve a few words for such a collector. Though what was wrong with 10p pieces . . . ?
TOMBSTONE v. To play the latest tough sport for those who think that bungee-jumping is for softies. You jump off cliffs into the sea from ever-higher points. It's big in places like Brixham. Take some spare legs.
WILDER v. int. The new weekend hobby for urban cocooners who dream of going rural. Wildering involves taking four-wheel drives to Sainsbury's and wearing country plaids for your trip on the Tube train.
CHAPTER 10: SPORT AND LEISURE
The spare-time stuff, from skateboarding to new music
BONGO n. A head injury, in UK skateboarders' slang. That's not all: a swellbow is a swollen elbow, a woodrash an injury from riding a wooden ramp, and a light graze a raspberry (because it looks like one). And if it's big, the graze is a pizza or a Big Mac - as it resembles hamburger relish. The slang may even be more entertaining than the skating.
FUSILATELIST n. A collector of that fashionable new icon, the other type of valuable plastic card you keep in your wallet. Phonecard? That'll do nicely, especially if you're among the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 British collectors who have paid up to £3,000 for the things. See also telegerist, below.
GACK v. Another colourful term used by British skateboarders. This one means to smoke. They also call a nerd a dwid, a weak skater moulded, and a young hanger-on a grommit.
HARDBAG adj. That section of a record shop where the musical style "handbag" house (house for more mainstream people, ie the sort that dance around handbags) meets "hardcore". Not a Eurovision favourite.
HERBAL HIGH n. A leisure drug, sold as a legal alternative to ecstasy and cannabis, that has belatedly come to the attention of government ministers. So they're banning them.
KEY adj. Our final homage to skateboarding. This is what London skateboarders call a cool move - what used to be known as rad or rip. Likewise, an uncool move - or excessive boasting about your cool move - is definitely unkey, or, one stage worse, monkey.
LEISURE BOX n. The latest "entertainment experience" investors believe will attract our disposable income in future years: the units (that's you and me) go there to watch a film, buy fast-food, maybe even dance. On the edge of a town near you. It is also known as a leisure canape - because you pick and choose little nuggests of entertainment, rather than a single main-course dish for the evening.
MEGAPLEX n. A multiplex with a superiority complex: this is a cinema complex with at least 18 screens, and they're coming to Stockholm, Barcelona and Madrid by the millennium.
REVIRGINIZATION n. The process by which professional ice skaters were declared "amateurs" so that they could compete in the 1994 Olympic Games. But why stop there? We still lack a term for the growth in celibacy among the Aids-terrified generation . . .
ROLLER-RAGER n. A participant in the latest urban sport: bombing through city parks on speeding in-line skates. First spotted in an anguished Times letter, and no doubt related to road rage, another mobile nineties obsession.
SHREDHEAD n. A keen follower of the booming macho sport of ski-boarding, currently spreading across the world's ski resorts. The trouble is, skiers keep getting in the way - hence a new concern to establish a shrediquette that sets out the rights-of-way rules.
SKITCH v., n. The increasingly popular urban sport of holding on to a moving vehicle while wearing in-line skates. Advantages: bus fare not required, plus radically reduced journey time. Disadvantages: er, radically reduced lifespan . . .
TECHSTIVAL n. An unofficial free party where your ears are liable to be troubled by techno music. Overheard at a recent techno-music festival put on by Tribal Gathering.
TELEGERIST n. A competitor to fusilatelist. If our culture has deemed to make telephone-card collecting such a valued pastime, then presumably we should allow our language to evolve a few words for such a collector. Though what was wrong with 10p pieces . . . ?
TOMBSTONE v. To play the latest tough sport for those who think that bungee-jumping is for softies. You jump off cliffs into the sea from ever-higher points. It's big in places like Brixham. Take some spare legs.
WILDER v. int. The new weekend hobby for urban cocooners who dream of going rural. Wildering involves taking four-wheel drives to Sainsbury's and wearing country plaids for your trip on the Tube train.
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