"B" Slang

blow your mind

General

To astonish or amaze someone so completely it shifts their perspective.

blow your wig

General

To lose your temper or self-control; to flip out.

blowing up a customer

General

Wall Street trader-speak for offloading a toxic position onto a client at a price that promptly collapses, forcing them to take huge losses or liquidate. Often the client never trades with you again — but the desk already booked the P&L, so on the 1980s Salomon floor it counted as a win.

blown account

Internet

A trading account that has been reduced to nothing through catastrophic losses. To 'blow up' an account is a rite of passage on WSB.

blown out

General

Describes surf that has been rendered rough and choppy by onshore wind, ruining the wave faces.

bls

General

The core level of prehospital care including CPR, bleeding control, and basic airway support, provided by EMTs.

blud

Street

Sometimes used loosely or mockingly toward someone.

bludger

General

Someone who avoids work and relies on the effort of others; 'dole bludger' relies on welfare.

blue bloater

General

A COPD patient of the chronic-bronchitis type who is cyanotic ('blue') and fluid-overloaded ('bloated'), contrasted with the pink puffer.

blue buff

Gaming

The Crest of Insight, dropped by last-hitting the Blue Sentinel in the jungle. Gives mana or energy regen plus ability haste, so mana-hungry mages and junglers love it. Most just call it 'blue'.

blue call

General

A UK ambulance transport run under blue lights and sirens with a phoned-ahead pre-alert to the receiving hospital. Means the patient is time-critical and the resus team needs to be ready at the door. You don't blue-call for a stubbed toe.

blue canoe

General

A portable field latrine, named for its typical blue color.

blue check

Internet

The blue verification badge next to a username on Twitter/X. Pre-2022 it meant a platform-vetted account of public interest; post-2022 it means someone paid $8 a month.

blue cheese

Internet

Wordplay combining 'cheese' (money) with the blue tint of the redesigned $100 bill.

blue chip

Internet

A top-tier NFT collection (like CryptoPunks or Bored Apes) with a strong community and durable value, considered a relatively safer, prestige holding.

blue face

Internet

Slang for a $100 bill, named for the bluish security features on the modern US $100 note.

blue flu

General

An informal strike where large numbers of cops call in sick simultaneously to apply pressure during a contract or political dispute. Plausibly deniable, deeply effective.

blue ocean

General

A market space with little or no competition, as opposed to a crowded 'red ocean'.

blue on blue

General

An engagement in which friendly forces mistakenly fire on their own side; from map symbology where friendly ('blue') forces are marked in blue.

blue pipes

General

Slang for a patient's veins, from their bluish appearance under the skin.

blue room

General

The porta-potty. Called the blue room because the dominant rental brands paint them that exact shade of plastic blue. Slightly more polite than the alternatives, which is why you'll hear foremen use it on the radio.

blue side

Gaming

In League of Legends, the team that spawns bottom-left. Their big draft perk is first pick, so they can grab the single strongest champion before the enemy can touch it.

blue sky thinking

General

Open-ended, imaginative thinking that ignores practical limits or feasibility.

blue-collar

General

Describing work or workers involved in manual labor, trades, or physical tasks, historically associated with durable work clothing, as opposed to office-based white-collar work.

bluebird

General

A day with clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and ideal visibility, often following a fresh snowfall. Bluebird powder days are the dream for snowboarders.

bluejacket

General

An enlisted sailor in the US Navy ranking E-6 or below — petty officer first class and down. Chiefs (E-7+) and officers are out of the club. The term carries the weight of the working-deck Navy: the people who chip paint, stand watches, and actually run the ship.

bluenose

General

A Birmingham City FC supporter, used pejoratively by Aston Villa fans and other rivals. Blues fans have largely reclaimed it — you'll see it worn with pride on terraces and in chants.

blues

Street

The standard-issue inmate uniform, blue in many state systems. Also 'greens' or 'states' depending on the institution's color.

blues and twos

General

Running with full emergency lights and siren. Used by police, fire and ambulance crews to describe a Code-3-style response.

blunt

Street

Cannabis rolled inside an emptied cigar or cigarillo tobacco wrap.

blunt wrap

Street

A commercially sold sheet of tobacco leaf, hemp or flavored wrap used to roll a blunt without gutting a cigar.

bluntslide

General

A slide performed with the board propped nearly vertical on the tail, back wheels resting on top of the ledge, sliding along before popping back out.

bly

General

A chance, opportunity or lucky break; 'gi mi a bly' = give me a chance/let it slide.

bm

Gaming

Spamming dance emotes or chat messages specifically to provoke the loser.

bmp

General

A blood test measuring electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, CO2) along with glucose, creatinine, and BUN.

bmr

General

Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories the body burns at complete rest just to keep functioning; the floor beneath TDEE.

boak

General

To retch or vomit; 'the boak' is the feeling of nausea. 'Dry boak' is retching without being sick.

board

General

A rebound — grabbing the ball off a missed shot. Named for the backboard.

boardies

General

Board shorts, the durable quick-drying shorts worn for surfing; also called baggies.

boards

General

The plural term for rebounds; controlling 'the boards' means dominating the rebounding battle.

boardslide

General

A slide trick in which the rider slides the underside of the deck (between the trucks) across a rail or ledge, with the board roughly perpendicular to the obstacle.

boasy

General

Proud, boastful or fond of showing off; flaunting one's success or looks. Also spelled boasie.

boat

Street

The common shortened form of 'boat race', Cockney rhyming slang for face.

boat race

General

Used of a facial look that gives the game away.

bob's your uncle

General

An expression meaning a result is easily achieved.

bobbins

General

Rubbish, worthless, naff. Applies to films, food, weather, performances — anything that disappoints. The polite Manc version of 'shite'.

bobby

General

A UK police officer, named after Sir Robert Peel, who founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Bobby = Bob = Robert. Now mostly nostalgic — think tall helmet, beat copper, 'evening all.'

bobby dazzler

General

An attractive, showy or impressive person or thing.