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In each issue we hope to publish a list of items offolk.speech used by children in the course of their informal speech. Words should be defined

according to their definition in use. Also, wherepossible, part of speech, age of users, location in which the wordswere heardQlldcollected. and other
background information available should be noted. Contributors should use the glossaryform in the journal. American Speech. Hopefully, if this
section of the newsletter proves to be a success, after several years we can consider afull compilation of all terms collected in a published glossary.
Contributors should attempt not to contribute words orphrases used by both children and adults with similiar meanings, although this distinction is
never a clear one.

Pre-Adolescent Male Slang V
Gary Alan Fine

Univenlty of Minnesota

The following examples of folk speech are derived from
participant observation research in five American commun-
ities during the period 1975-1977: (I) Beanville, an upper-
middle class professional suburb of Boston, Massachusetts:
(2) Hopewell, an exurban township outside the Providence,
Rhode Island, metropolitan area, consisting of a string of
small towns, beach-front land, farms and a campus of the
state university; (3) Bolton Park, an upper-middle class
professional suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, similar to
Beanville except for geographical areas; (4) Sanford Heights,
a middle-to-lower-middle class suburb of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, consisting of a large number of modern mass-
produced homes, and (5) Maple Bluff, studied by Harold
Pontif, an urban, upper-middle class, professional area of

vt Hit (as in "nailing" a car by throwing an
egg at it) HW,SH
adj Obscene, "dirty", "rude" (BP)
adj Excellent, good (BP,SH)
n.pl Breasts (usually preadolescent girl's
breasts) (SH)

5. Nifty adj Excellent, good (BP)
6. Nigger lipstick Oil stain on clothing (SH; white usage)
7. Nigger knocking Prank, involving ringing doorbell and run-

ning before- owner opens the door (also
known as "Ring and Run" and "Ding Dong
Ditch") (SH; white usage)
Absolutely not (MB)

n Stupid or foolish boy (HW)
Athletic supporter (SH)
Scrotum, "balls" (BV, HW, BP,SH)

General obscene interjection, apparently has
no specific denotation (SH)
adj Weak, incompetent (SH)
n Effeminate boy (SH)

adj Old, ancient (MB)
n Small boy (BP)
n Penis (BP,SH)
vi Urinate (HW,SH)
n Small boy (HW)
Placing a pencil up a boy's anus or girl's va-
gina (obscene usage) (SH)
n Boy who is considered a "sissy", excessive-
ly obedient (as in teacher's pet) (SH)
Easy (BP)
n I. Ugly or disliked girl (BV) 2. Policeman
(SH)
vi Urinate (HW,BP)

adj Excellent, good (BV)

I. Nail

2. Nasty
3. Neat
4. Nickels

8. No way
9. Numbskull

10. Nut cup
II. Nuts
12. PPSH

13. Palsy
14. Pansy
15. Past-tense

16. Peanut
17. Pecker
18. Pee
19. Peewee

20. Pencil prange

21. Pet

22. Piece of cake

23. Pig

24. Piss
25. Pisser

St. Paul, Minnesota. Boys were between the ages of ten and
twelve.

Terms included in the glossary were all part of the active
vocabulary of male pre-adolescents during the years studied.
However, it is probably true that several of these terms are
also used by females and those of other ages. The most
obvious examples of adult folk speech have been eliminated
from this list.

Terms included herein are defined through their usage in
context. Abbreviations employed in this report include: BV
- Beanville (research conducted 1975-1976); HW - Hopewell
(research conducted 1976); BP - Bolton Park (research
conducted 1977); MB - Maple Bluff (research conducted
1977).

n Awkward, uncoordinated boy (probably
related to "spaz", "spastic") (SH)
n Tampon (SH)
Angered, annoyed, pissed off (BV)
Device made by taping several tennis ball
cans together, drilling a hole in the side of
the bottom can, placing a tennis ball in the
cans, placing lighter fluid on the hole, at-
taching a string wick to it, and lighting the
wick. The explosion causes the tennis ball to
shoot out from the cans like a cannonball.
(SH)

30. Polish Rope TrickPrank involving two boys pretending to hold
a rope or string across a street at dusk, hoping
that cars will stop (SH)
Excrement (SH)
I. vi run slowly (SH) 2. n police (SH)
Toilet (SH)
vt Engage in sexual intercourse, obscene (as
in "prange me") (SH)

35. Prang Boy Boy considered effeminate (SH)
36. Prima-Donna n Boy who is considered to be a show-off

(MB)
Effeminate boy (HW)
Trick, deceive (MB)

n Disliked or ugly girl (from "prostitute")
(SH)
n Effeminate boy; homosexual (HW)
n Boy who is considered excessively wild;
boy whodrinks or smokes (negative implica-
tion) (BP)
n Disliked boy (possible effeminate implica-
tion "pussy") (BV,BP,SH)

n Disliked boy (possible effeminate implica-
tion; derivation from slang for cunnilingus)
(BP,SH)

26. Plasmo

27. Plug
28. P.O.ed
29. .Polish Cannon

31. Poop
32. Pork

33. Potty can
34. Prang

37. Prissy Girl
38. Psych Out
39. Prostie

40. Puff

41. Pugie

42. Puss

43. Puss lick

3
(continuedonp.4)



(Children's Glo_y, continued)

55. Rip off

56. Rip Roaring
Flying Mountain
Lion Ahem Flatus, "fart" (euphemism) (BV)

57. Roadmap Face Boy with acne (BP)

58. Rocky Mountains Breasts (usually preadolescent girl's breasts)
(SH)

59. Roger Dodger Phrase signifying agreement between two
boys; "OK" (BV)

adj Bad, poor, "stink" ("This rots") (HW)
n Wild, disobedient boy, one who drinks or
smokes (used both positively and negatively)
(BP,SH)

62. Royal Patoon Older boy who protects a younger boy from
trouble (SH)

63. Rude Obscene, "dirty," "nasty" (BP)
64. Rumble n Fight (BV,HW)
65. Ruminant RemainDisliked or ugly individual (general insult

term) (BP)

adj Unsatisfactory, bad, poor (BV,BP,MB,
SH)
adj Unsatisfactory, bad, poor (BP,SH)

I. vt Smoke ("Let's go schmedley") (MB),
2. n Weird or disliked boy (SH)
n Incompetent or disliked boy (MB)
vt Beat, cheat, deceive (SH)
Idle, loaf ("goof off") (BP)
adj Crazy, weird, insane (BP,SH)
n Disliked boy (general insult) (SH)
n Lucky boy (also "scuzzy" as adj) (BP,SH)
adj Lucky, fortunate (SH)
Angry outburst (SH)

Scared, frightened (SH)
Tough, aggressiveboy (complimentary) (HW)
An insulting interjection, meaning "go away"
("shove it up your ass') (MB)
Small boy (HW,SH)
Shut up, be quiet (BP)
interj Disgusting, gross (SH)

n. Disliked boy (BP)
n Effeminate boy, boy who is considered too
obedient (HW,MB)
Shut up, be quiet (MB)

44. Pussy Lip
45. Quake

46. Queer

47. Queero .

48. Quibby

49. Raga
50. Rash
51. Razz
52. Retarded
53. Retread

54. Ring and Run

60. Rot

61. Rowdy

66. Sad
"

"'61. Scabby

68. Schmedley

69. Schmuck
70. Scorch
71. Screw off

72. Screwy
73. Scum
74. Scuzz
75. Scuzzed-out
76. Shit Fit

77. Shitting Bricks
78. Shit Kicker
79. Shove It

80. Shrimp
81. Shut Your Face
82. Sick
83. Siff

84. Sissy

85. Sit On It

Disliked boy (effeminate implications) (SH)

I. adj Excellent, good (BP), 2. vi Engage in
sexual intercourse, obscene (see"prang") (SH)
n Homosexual, effeminate boy (used also as
adj) (BV,HW,BP,SH)

n Homosexual, effeminate boy (BV)
n Quarterback in football (from abbrevia-
tion "QB') (SH)
n Large, awkward, uncoordinated boy (BV)

n Disliked boy (as in "you rash") (BP)
vt Insult, tease (SH)
adj Stupid, foolish (BP)

n Stupid, foolish boy (possibly from retard-
ed') (BP)

Prank, involving ringing doorbell and run-
ning before owner opens the door (also
known as "Nigger Knocking" and "Ding
Dong Ditch") (BP)
Steal (BV,HW,BP,SH)

For reason oj lock oj space the JoUowing items were omitted Jrom the
GIOSSlUYin Volume III, Number 3 issue oj this newsletter.

I. Log

2. Looper
3. Lucked out
4. M.O.

n Feces (BV)

n Stupid or disliked boy (SH)
Got lucky (BP)

Make out; sexual activity (generally kissing
and petting) (BP)

n Disliked boy (seems related to "faggot")
(BV)

Challenge from one boy to another (see
"Head me") (SH)

. n Penis, male genitals (SH)
n Stupid boy (SH)
adj Crazy, insane (sometimes with violent
overtones) (BV,HW,BP,SH)
adj Good, excellent (also "mint city') (BP)
n Homosexual (see "Homo'') (BP,SH)
n Small boy (MB)

n Ugly boy (short for "monkey") (HW)

Bruise which comes from one boy holding
another's arm and rapping it (a prank) (SH)
n. Pulling down trousers, while facing away
from traffic (a prank) (BV,SH)
n Stupid or disliked boy (also "mooper"; see
"looper") (SH)

17. Moron n Stupid boy (MB,BP,SH)

18. Motormouth n Boy who talks constantly (BP,SH)
19. Muff-muff n Stupid or disliked boy (BP)
20. Mumbo-jumbo n Nonsense; meaningless talk (BP)

21. Munchkin n Small or young boy (affectionate) (SH)
22. Mutt n Disliked or ugly girl (BP,SH)

5. Maggot

6. Mar me

7. Meat
8. Meathead
9. Mental

10. Mint
II. Mo
12. Mole
13. Monk

14. Monkey Bump

15. Mooning

16. Moop

I ~(IDlm~~ OOOO~[lli~~~I

. While observing some children "playing house" recently,
I noticed an interesting role reversal. The boy (husband/
daddy) stayed home, while the girl (wife/ mommy) went off
to work. If anyone else has observed a similar situation
among pre-school or early grade-school children, I would
like to hear about it.

C. w. Sullivan III

English Department
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27834

. I am completing a bibliography on adolescent folklore.
Of anyone has some obscure reference or information about
forthcoming/ in press articles and books, please send them
to:

4

Sue Samuelson
614 S. 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143


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