"B" Slang

bayou city

Street

Houston's oldest civic nickname. The Allen brothers founded the city on Buffalo Bayou in 1836 and built outward along the slow brown waterways that still snake through every neighbourhood. When it floods — and it floods — the name explains itself.

bazodee

General

In a confused, giddy or bewildered state, sometimes from being smitten. Also spelt bazoodie.

bbakchinda

Internet

Expresses sharp irritation or frustration, roughly 'this is so annoying / I'm losing it'.

bbl

Internet

Stands for "be back later," telling others you'll return after some time away. Longer absence than BRB.

bbs

Internet

Stands for "be back soon," indicating a short absence from the conversation. Common in chat and gaming.

bc

Internet

An abbreviation of "because," used to shorten explanations. Also spelled B/C or cuz.

bcaas

General

'Branched-chain amino acids' (leucine, isoleucine, valine) sold as a supplement claimed to support muscle building and recovery.

bcgs

General

'Birth Control Glasses,' the thick-framed, unflattering standard-issue eyeglasses once given to recruits, so ugly they supposedly guaranteed the wearer no romance.

bde

Internet

The aura of someone so secure in themselves they don't perform it. Not arrogance, not swagger — the opposite. Calm, low-volume, nothing to prove. Anyone of any gender can have it; in fact the joke is often that the people with the most BDE are the ones you'd never expect.

bdk

Street

An acronym thrown at the Black Disciples by their enemies — most famously by GD-affiliated drill artists. Saying BDK in a Chicago track isn't decoration; it's a target. The mirror image of GDK ('Gangster Disciple Killer') used by BDs.

be so for real

Internet

An exasperated reaction telling someone to be serious because what they said sounds absurd.

be wide

General

Be careful, be alert, keep your wits about you. The kind of thing your da says before you head out on the lash, or a fella in the pub mutters about a dodgy bit of business. Tied directly to 'wide' meaning streetwise — to 'be wide' is to switch that mode on.

beach break

General

A surf spot where waves break over a sandy seabed or sandbar rather than reef or rock. Generally more forgiving for beginners.

beach muscles

General

The visible upper-body muscles people most like to show off at the beach — chest, arms and abs — sometimes implying vanity training.

beached as

General

Stranded or unable to move, as a beached whale; also just very full or lethargic. Popularised by a viral cartoon.

beak

Street

In British thieves' cant a 'beak' is a magistrate or judge before whom a criminal is brought.

beam

Gaming

A weapon that fires so tight and low-recoil it feels like a laser. Point it and the bullets just go where you're aiming.

beaming

Gaming

Perfect, unbroken accuracy. Every round connects, so the enemy's health bar just evaporates — like you've got a laser on them. The flex word for cracked aim.

bean slot

Street

The hinged opening in a solid cell door through which meal trays and items are passed to a locked-in inmate. Also called the food port.

beanball

General

A pitch deliberately aimed at the batter's head or body; 'bean' is old slang for the head.

beans, bullets, and band-aids

General

A shorthand for the core classes of supply a fighting force needs: food, ammunition, and medical care.

beantown

General

A nickname for Boston, referencing Boston baked beans — though locals rarely use it themselves.

bear

General

Catch-all CB term for law enforcement. Spawns a whole bestiary: 'plain bear' (unmarked car), 'bear in the air' (police helicopter or spotter plane), 'bear bite' (speeding ticket), 'bear cave' (police station), 'mama bear' (female officer), 'baby bear' (rookie).

bear bait

General

A car (almost always a "four-wheeler") flying past you well over the limit. Truckers treat them as a gift: any cop in the area locks onto the faster, easier target and lets the rig roll on by.

bear bite

General

CB-radio shorthand for a speeding ticket. The cops are 'bears,' so the citation they hand you is the bite. Stings the wallet, stings the record.

bear cave

General

A police station or highway-patrol post. If bears are cops, the bear cave is where they live between hunts. Truckers warn each other when one's coming up on the route.

bear in the air

General

Police aircraft — usually a small plane or helicopter — clocking speeders from above. Painted timing strips on the shoulder give it away. Radar detector won't save you from this one.

bear market

Internet

A market phase marked by declining prices, negative sentiment and selling pressure. Someone 'bearish' expects prices to fall.

bear trap

General

A radar speed-trap — a cop parked up with a gun on a stretch where everyone naturally drifts over the limit. Classic CB warning passed driver to driver.

bear with ears

General

An officer monitoring the CB band — meaning anything you say on the air, he hears. Used as a warning to fellow truckers to keep it clean and stop tipping each other off.

bearcat

General

Anything fierce, fast, or powerful, including a flashy car.

beard

General

A person, usually of the opposite sex, paraded as a partner to disguise someone's actual orientation. The classic closet accessory: she's on his arm at the gala so nobody asks questions. Can be a knowing arrangement between friends or a cover the beard doesn't even know they're providing.

bearish

Internet

Holding a negative outlook that prices will fall. 'Bearish on X' signals pessimism about an asset or idea.

beast

General

UK prison term for a sex offender — used with venom, especially for nonces and child abusers. Being labelled a beast on the wing is a death sentence to your safety; it's why so many sex offenders end up on the VP (vulnerable prisoner) wing.

beast idol

Internet

A male idol with a rugged, macho, muscular image, contrasting the soft flower-boy type.

beast mode

General

A mental and physical state of all-out effort and intensity during a workout.

beastin

General

Behaving excessively or aggressively, whether that's showing off, overreacting, or grinding hard.

beasting

General

Performing an exercise with intense effort and strong focus; going full beast mode.

beasting it

General

Training with especially intense effort and concentration, dominating a set or session.

beat

Pop

To beat your face is to do your makeup flawlessly — full coverage, blended to perfection, every angle carved. The word comes from the dab-dab-dab of the sponge against the skin. 'Beat for the gods' is the top grade. A 'beat face' isn't a tired one, it's a finished masterpiece.

beat for the gods

General

When something is 'for the gods,' it's done so well it transcends ordinary human standard — you look like a deity, not a person. 'Beat for the gods' is the makeup version: a face painted so flawlessly it's beyond reproach. ('Beat' = makeup applied.) The phrase comes from the older ballroom expression 'fit for the gods.' You can stretch it to anything — hair, lashes, a whole look — done to perfection.

beat up the chops

General

To converse or discuss, with a sense of lively back-and-forth.

beat your face

General

A drill-instructor command meaning 'do push-ups,' since the face nears the ground at the bottom of each rep. Common in recruit training.

beaucoup

Street

French for 'a lot', absorbed wholesale into New Orleans English and spelled phonetically as 'bookoo' or 'boocoo' when it gets really local. Used as both an adjective and an intensifier — beaucoup crawfish, beaucoup problems, beaucoup money. One of those NOLA loanwords that outs you instantly as either from there or not.

beaut

General

An idiot or fool. In Scouse the word is flipped — calling someone a beaut means they're absolutely not one. Pure sarcasm baked into a single syllable. Can be matey banter or a genuine dig depending on delivery.

beauty

General

An exclamation of approval; often drawled as 'you beauty!' or 'bewdy'.

bebecita

General

An affectionate 'baby' or 'babe' for a girlfriend or attractive woman; masculine 'bebecito'.

becario

General

Literally 'scholarship holder', but jokingly used to offer to cover the bill — 'this one's on me'.