"C" Slang

cold chillin

Music

Relaxing in a completely cool, carefree manner, with 'cold' as an intensifier.

cold drink

Street

In New Orleans, 'cold drink' (often slurred to 'col' drink') means any soda — Coke, Barq's, Big Shot, doesn't matter — whether it's iced down or sitting on a shelf at room temp. Ask for a soda and a local will know you're not from there. Ask for a cold drink and they'll point you to the cooler.

cold foam

General

Non-fat milk frothed cold through a special blender attachment until it forms a thick, airy foam that floats on iced drinks without melting. Starbucks rolled it out nationally in 2018 and it spawned a whole menu — vanilla sweet cream cold foam, salted caramel cold foam, etc.

cold start

Street

A dabbing method where concentrate is placed in the banger while cold, capped, then gently heated from below until it vaporizes, giving a flavorful low-temperature hit. Also called a reverse dab.

cold storage

Internet

Storing private keys completely offline — on a hardware wallet or paper — to protect holdings from online theft. The safest way to custody long-term holdings.

cold wallet

Internet

A wallet whose keys are kept offline (often a hardware device), making it far more resistant to hacks than an internet-connected hot wallet.

collar

General

An arrest. Cops 'get a collar' the way salesmen get a sale — it's the unit of work that counts. Comes from literally grabbing someone by the scruff.

collar / collaring

General

The collar is the headline symbol of a D/s relationship — worn by the submissive to mark that they belong to a particular dominant, kink's nearest thing to a wedding ring. 'Collaring' is the act, often a formal ceremony, where the dominant accepts the sub's service and the sub pledges it. Old Guard tradition runs a three-stage system: a collar of consideration (early, off-limits to others), a training collar, then the formal or 'slave' collar for full commitment.

collat

Gaming

Short for collateral. When enemies stack behind one another, one well-placed shot — usually a sniper round that penetrates — drops two or more at once. Peak value.

collect rent

Street

To 'collect rent' is underworld slang for shaking down a person or business for regular extortion payments, framed as if it were a legitimate charge.

collectible

Internet

An NFT valued for collecting and enjoyment (art, PFPs, memorabilia) with the hope of appreciation, rather than purely for a quick flip.

colmado

General

The classic Dominican corner store — part shop, part social hub of the barrio.

colmadón

General

Dominican slang for a large corner store that also serves as a lively spot to drink and socialize at night.

colorway

Pop

A named edition used to distinguish releases, often referencing the colors ('Bred,' 'Panda,' 'Chicago').

combi completa

General

Said of a person who has it all — looks, brains, personality; the complete package.

combo

General

A combination of multiple tricks performed in immediate succession, such as linking a grind into a flip out. Similar to a line.

combo guard

General

A player able to handle both point guard and shooting guard duties effectively.

come 'ed

General

A call to action. 'Let's go,' 'hurry up,' 'have a word with yourself' — all bundled into two syllables. Tone does the work: warm if you're rallying the lads, sharp if you're losing patience.

come here once

General

A request to come over, with 'once' tacked on as a softening tag characteristic of eastern Wisconsin speech.

come the raw prawn

General

To attempt to put one over on someone or act as if they're a fool.

come-along

General

A hand-operated ratcheting cable winch. Hook one end to something solid, the other end to whatever you need to move or tension, and crank the lever. Linemen use them to tighten conductors, framers to pull walls plumb, off-roaders to winch out of mud.

comeback

Pop

The whole promotional cycle around that release, including the concept, styling, and choreography fans obsess over.

comeback stage

Internet

The debut live performance of a comeback's title track on a TV music program. A closely anticipated moment each comeback cycle.

comeback trailer

Internet

A polished, often cinematic video released ahead of a comeback to introduce its concept and mood, more elaborate than a short teaser. Fans mine it for hidden clues.

comedian

General

Trucker CB slang for the grass median dividing opposing lanes of a highway. Called a comedian because it 'keeps you in stitches' if you end up in it — a grim driver's pun about losing control and crossing over.

comfort character

Internet

A fictional character a fan turns to for reassurance and positive feelings, distinct from a morally grey 'meow meow'.

comiket

Internet

One of the world's largest fan conventions, held twice a year, where creators sell self-published doujinshi and merchandise to hundreds of thousands of attendees.

coming down the pike

General

An event, product, or change that is on its way in the near future.

comm ave

General

Commonwealth Avenue, a major Boston thoroughfare running through the city and out toward the suburbs.

command grab

Gaming

A throw performed with a motion input, like a special move, that beats blocking entirely. Hold back to defend all you want, the command grab snatches you anyway. The grappler's whole game plan.

commas

Street

A reference to large sums of money, counted by the commas in the number ($1,000,000 has two).

commis

General

The apprentice rung of the brigade. A commis works under a chef de partie on a station, prepping, plating, and absorbing the rhythm of service. Bottom of the food chain but the pipeline to everything above it.

commissary

Street

The canteen where prisoners purchase food, hygiene items, and other approved goods from their accounts.

commission

Internet

A piece of cosplay commissioned from a maker for a fee, rather than built by the wearer; also the act of ordering such work.

commo

General

Communications equipment, or by extension the personnel who operate and maintain it.

commode

General

A standard Southern word for the toilet.

comot

Street

A command or statement meaning to leave/get out of a place, or to take something off/remove it.

comp

Gaming

The combination of champions, heroes or units your team has picked, judged as a whole. A good comp has the right mix of damage, frontline and utility — the pieces work together, not just individually.

compa

General

A friend, buddy, or homie; a warm term of camaraderie.

comphet

General

Short for compulsory heterosexuality. The idea that society funnels everyone into straightness by default, so many lesbians spend years assuming they like men because they were never offered another script. Used constantly in coming-out discourse, often as the 'aha' that explains the boyfriends that never quite worked. The slang shorthand 'comphet' exploded out of Tumblr's Lesbian Masterdoc.

compo

General

Compensation, especially workers' compensation for a workplace injury.

compound

Gaming

A tight group of buildings on the map that becomes its own little battlefield — full of angles, doorways and rooftops to hold or push. Squads fight over compounds for the cover and the loot.

comsec

General

'Communications Security' — measures that protect communications from interception and exploitation, including encryption, secure equipment, and key material handling.

con crud

Internet

A respiratory or general illness contracted after a convention, blamed on close quarters, poor sleep, junk food, and thousands of shared surfaces. Also called con plague or the con-plague.

con crunch

Internet

The stressful, often sleepless final push to complete a cosplay in the days or hours before a convention, typically involving late-night sewing and hot-glue marathons. Also called con crunch or cosplay crunch.

con funk

Internet

A humorous term for the collective smell of sweat and crowds that builds up at a busy convention over a weekend.

con glow-up

Internet

The noticeable jump in costume quality and craftsmanship a cosplayer shows from one convention (or year) to the next.

con mom

Internet

An attendee who naturally takes on a caretaker role in a convention group, making sure friends drink water, eat real meals, and rest. Male or gender-neutral variants are con dad and con parent.