"C" Slang

charva

General

A rowdy young lad, tracksuit-and-attitude type, the Newcastle flavour of what the rest of England calls a chav. Can be neutral ('the charvas down the bus stop') or properly dismissive.

chase the bag

Internet

To hustle relentlessly in pursuit of money, financial success, or a goal.

chase-down block

General

A defensive play where a trailing defender catches up to a shooter on a fast break and blocks the shot from behind.

chasing the pump

Internet

Used as a mild criticism of ego or vanity-driven training.

chat

Internet

Used to rhetorically poll a group for reassurance or reaction.

chat bout

General

Dismissive phrase implying someone is talking rubbish — 'chat bout him tired' = 'talking about being tired, please'.

chat breeze

General

To talk nonsense, lie, or say things with no substance. Literally 'chat air' — your words are empty as the breeze. Standard MLE comeback when someone's bullshitting.

chat is this real

Internet

A mock-disbelief line where you address 'chat' — a livestream's text feed — even when you're alone or just talking to friends. It frames whatever you're reacting to as so absurd you need witnesses.

chavalo

General

Chicano/Mexican slang for a young boy or kid.

chavo

General

A young guy or kid; 'chava' for a young woman. Can mean boyfriend/girlfriend.

chavos

General

The everyday Puerto Rican word for money, replacing 'dinero' in casual speech. (Note: in Mexico 'chavo' means a young guy.)

chawl

General

Pork cheek — usually cured, pressed and sold cold on the deli counter. Black Country butcher's-shop staple from the days when nothing on a pig went to waste. Sister cut to brawn and jowl, sliced thin into a sandwich or eaten with pickle.

chazzed

Street

Said of a quartz banger that has developed a cloudy, burnt-on film from repeated overheating or poor cleaning, degrading flavor.

che

General

By extension, 'un che' can mean an Argentine person, since the word so marks their speech, and it gave Ernesto 'Che' Guevara his nickname.

cheat day

General

A scheduled day of eating more freely and consuming higher-calorie foods outside the normal diet.

cheat meal

General

A scheduled break from a strict diet where you eat foods not normally allowed, for enjoyment or a psychological reset.

cheat reps

General

Repetitions completed with incorrect technique or body momentum, usually as the muscle fatigues, to keep the set going.

cheater

General

A length of pipe shoved over the handle of a wrench (or breaker bar) to multiply your leverage on a seized bolt or fitting. Called a cheater because you're cheating the tool's designed length — and because most manufacturers explicitly tell you not to do it. Plumbers, mechanics, and pipefitters use them constantly anyway.

cheater five

General

A noseriding move where the surfer stretches one foot forward to hang five toes over the nose while keeping most of their weight on the back foot, 'cheating' the trim.

check in

General

To voluntarily request protective custody or seg because staying on the mainline will get you killed — usually over a debt, a snitch jacket, or a rival's hit list. Mechanically you're 'checking in' to the hole; socially you're signalling that you couldn't handle your business on the yard, and the label sticks for the rest of your bid.

check six

General

An exhortation to watch one's back. From aviation, where the clock positions describe directions and 'six o'clock' is directly behind the aircraft.

checkdown

General

When a quarterback throws a short pass, often to a running back, as a last resort in his read progression after downfield receivers are covered.

checks

Internet

Slang for money received, especially pay.

cheddar

Music

A vivid fastball, derived from the older term 'cheese'; 'high cheddar' is heat up in the zone.

cheeky

General

Describing a small, slightly naughty indulgence.

cheeld

General

A Cornish word for a child, distinct from 'boy'; 'a boy or a cheeld'.

cheers

General

Used to say thank you, to toast a drink, or to sign off.

cheers big ears

General

A jokey thanks. Said with a grin, usually to a mate. The traditional comeback is 'same goes, big nose.'

cheese

Street

An impressive fastball; 'high cheese' or 'high cheddar' refers to a hard fastball up in the zone.

cheese and kisses

General

Cockney rhyming slang for 'missus', meaning wife or long-term partner. Often shortened to 'cheese'. A staple of old-school East End and pub-talk slang.

cheese and onion

General

An example of jokey rhyming ward banter; retained only where attested, otherwise skip. (Low-confidence; included cautiously.)

cheese-on-bread

General

A polite minced oath used like 'oh my gosh' or 'good grief'. Iconic to Barbados. Also cheese-and-bread.

cheesehead

General

A person from Wisconsin, especially a Green Bay Packers fan; also the wedge-shaped foam cheese hat worn to games.

chef de partie

General

Mid-tier brigade rank. Owns a single station — sauté, grill, fish, garde manger — and is responsible for everything that leaves it. Reports to the sous, supervises commis cooks under them. The step where a cook stops being a hand and starts being a craftsman.

cheff

General

To stab. The image is a chef wielding a knife. Heavily used in UK drill lyrics — one of several MLE words for stabbing that proliferated in the 2010s drill scene.

cheffed

Street

Stabbed. The kitchen metaphor doing heavy lifting — a chef chops, so to chef someone is to put a blade in them. Standard issue in NYC drill bars and the wider UK/US drill crossover, where opps don't get shot, they get cooked.

chelou

General

From the standard French 'louche' (shady, shifty). Verlan inverts lou-che to che-lou. It means suspicious, sketchy, or dodgy.

chelp

General

To answer back or chatter cheekily, especially of children. Yorkshire/Northern dialect.

chem 7

General

American slang for the basic metabolic panel of seven blood chemistry values (electrolytes, urea, creatinine, glucose).

chem light batteries

General

A classic snipe-hunt errand: new troops are sent to find batteries for chemical light sticks, which contain no batteries at all.

chequear

General

Spanglish verb meaning to check or verify something.

cher

Street

Pronounced 'sha,' it's the Cajun version of 'darling' or 'sweetheart' — used the way other regions use 'honey' or 'baby.' Said to anybody you've got affection for: your wife, your kid, the waitress, the dog. Heard all over south Louisiana, especially in Acadiana parishes.

chercha

General

Lively, aimless chatting or hanging out for fun; joking around and good vibes.

chercha (verb sense)

General

To joke, tease, or kid around with someone in good fun. Related to the noun 'chercha'.

cherry picker

General

An aerial work platform — a hydraulic boom with a bucket on the end, usually mounted to a truck. Linemen, sign techs, and tree crews ride them up to do work overhead. Name comes from orchard rigs originally built to pick cherries without ladders.

cherry-picking

General

When a player stays back near the offensive basket instead of playing defense, hoping for easy transition buckets.

cherubs

General

A brevity code stating the height of a friendly aircraft in hundreds of feet above ground level; used for low-altitude callouts where 'Angels' (thousands) is too coarse.

chest candy

General

Ribbons or medals displayed on a uniform, referenced either admiringly or dismissively depending on context.