"A" Slang

allowance

General

The headline number in any arrangement. A flat monthly payment, usually a few thousand dollars, sometimes ten or twenty, that the daddy drops into the baby's account. Separate from gifts, trips and rent. Babies talk about their allowance the way salaried people talk about salary, and if it stops landing, the arrangement is over.

allowlist

Internet

A list of pre-approved addresses granted special early access or privileges to mint an NFT project; the increasingly preferred term for 'whitelist'.

alltud

General

A foreigner, outsider or exile. In medieval Welsh law it was a specific legal status — an alltud had their own honour-price and compensation rates but couldn't testify against a native Cymro. Today it carries the older flavour of 'someone not of this land'.

allus

General

Always. Traditional Yorkshire pronunciation.

allyuh

General

Second-person plural address, equivalent to 'you all' or 'y'all'. Distinctly Trinidadian.

almendrón

General

One of Havana's classic 1950s American cars, often serving as a shared taxi.

almond rocks

General

Cockney rhyming slang for socks. Often clipped to 'almonds'. Straightforward end-rhyme, no double bounce.

alobam

Street

Someone who has your back no matter what — a loyal friend who supports you and brings out the best in you, even at cost to themselves. Popularised nationally by Enugu-born rapper Phyno's 2014 street-anthem single of the same name.

aloha

General

A Hawaiian word for love, affection, compassion and peace, used to say both hello and goodbye and central to surf culture's spirit.

alpha

Internet

Insider or early information on a crypto project — a mint date, a partnership, a wallet's accumulation, a token about to list. The currency of Crypto Twitter and private Discords. 'Dropping alpha' means sharing it; 'alpha leak' means it got out before it was supposed to. Borrowed from finance, where alpha means returns above the market benchmark.

alpha charlie

General

Phonetic-alphabet code for 'ass chewing,' being verbally dressed down.

alreet

General

Alright; used both as a greeting and to mean okay.

alri

General

A clipped 'alright' used purely as a hello in Wales, requiring no real answer.

als

General

The higher tier of prehospital care that includes advanced airway management, IV medications, and cardiac interventions, provided by paramedics.

alt

Gaming

A player's secondary account, separate from their main. People run alts to mess about off-rank, play with lower-skilled friends, or — less charmingly — to smurf on beginners.

alt tiktok

Internet

The side of TikTok where the FYP is frogs, eyeliner, sea shanties, Adam Driver edits, cursed cooking, and oddly specific bits. Self-styled as smarter, weirder, more chaotic than the mainstream side. If your FYP has more frogs than dances, congrats — you're on alt TikTok.

altcoin

Internet

A blanket term for 'alternative coins' — every cryptocurrency that isn't Bitcoin, from Ethereum to the smallest memecoin.

ama

Internet

The name of Reddit's famous interview-style format (r/IAmA) where celebrities and regular people answer the public.

amadán

General

Straight Irish for an eejit, only with more weight. Calling someone an amadán has a bit more sting than 'fool' in English — it carries that disappointed, head-shaking 'ya great gobshite' energy. Used freely in Hiberno-English without needing translation.

ambidextrous

General

Describes a skater who is roughly as capable in their switch stance as in their natural one, able to perform tricks both ways.

ambo

General

An ambulance, or the paramedic who staffs it.

amebo

Street

Describes someone known for gossiping and spreading news about others' business, or the gossip itself.

ameche

General

Used as a verb-ish call to phone someone.

amm

Street

Short for Amnesia (Haze), the sativa-heavy strain that became one of London's default street weeds. In drill bars 'amm' often just means a fat zoot of strong green, strain notwithstanding.

amn't

General

A contraction of 'am not', standard in Hiberno-English where other dialects say 'aren't I'.

amped

General

Full of energy and excitement, especially keyed up for a surf or looking forward to good waves. Close cousin to stoked but with more adrenaline.

amrap

General

'As Many Reps As Possible' (or rounds): pushing a set or timed block to the absolute limit of repetitions.

amtgard

Internet

A well-known live-action medieval combat and role-play organization in which participants battle with padded foam weapons; overlaps with cosplay and convention culture.

amv

Internet

A fan-made video splicing clips from one or more anime together in time to a chosen song, a longstanding staple of fan creativity and convention contests.

anabolic

General

Describes the body being in a building-up state where it synthesizes tissue such as muscle; the opposite of catabolic.

anabolic window

General

The much-debated idea of a short window after training during which eating protein and carbs supposedly maximizes muscle growth; a classic broscience talking point.

anchor

Gaming

While teammates rove or rotate, the anchor parks on a site and doesn't leave. Their job is to hold against the push long enough for help to arrive, even if it's a 1v3. Patient, defensive, and willing to die buying time.

anchor clanker

General

A slightly mocking term used by other services for a Navy sailor.

anchored

General

A brevity code indicating a sustained turning engagement is occurring at a specific location — the fight is 'anchored' there rather than moving across the sky.

anchoring

Gaming

One player locks down a spot and stays put while the others move, peek or reset. The anchor is the stable point the whole fight rotates around. Hold the door, hold the angle, don't wander.

and a wake-up

General

A phrase appended to a number of days remaining to include the last morning one has to wake up before leaving, as in 'three days and a wake-up.'

and i oop

Internet

The verbal equivalent of your jaw dropping. Pull it out when something stops you mid-sentence — a hot take, a fine person walking past, a sudden mess. Almost always trailed by an em-dash and a beat of silence.

and i took that personally

Internet

Comedic tag added to a tweet to frame a tiny perceived slight as the origin story for an absurd vendetta. Always tongue-in-cheek, always doing a Jordan impression in your head.

and one

Gaming

When a player is fouled while making a shot, the basket counts and they get one additional free throw. Often shouted in celebration.

and that

General

The all-purpose Mancunian full stop. Tacked onto the end of a sentence to mean 'etc.', 'and the rest', 'you know what I mean'. Saves you having to actually finish the list.

and the foul

General

A common broadcast/player callout when a shot goes in and a foul is drawn on the play.

and then everyone on the bus clapped

Internet

The internet's standard sign-off when someone posts a too-good-to-be-true anecdote where they own a stranger, deliver a perfect speech, and somehow get a standing ovation. Dropping this in the replies is a polite way to call BS without typing 'fake.'

and-one brand

General

Colloquial reference to the And1 basketball brand tied to the 'and one' scoring play.

and-one culture

General

The flashy, crowd-pleasing, trash-talking ethos that defined And1 mixtape streetball.

and-one finish

General

Completing a shot at the rim despite contact, drawing the foul for a bonus free throw.

and-one line

General

Informal reference to the free-throw line as the spot where 'and-one' free throws are taken.

and1

General

A basketball apparel brand whose late-1990s mixtapes and tour turned streetball moves and personalities into a national phenomenon.

ándale

General

Urges someone to hurry or move along, and also expresses agreement or encouragement ('go on', 'that's it').