"E" Slang

eejit

General

A foolish or silly person, often said affectionately rather than as a harsh insult.

eek

General

Polari for face. It's backslang, 'face' clipped and flipped into ecaf, then worn down to eek. Lives in the classic greeting 'bona to vada your eek', lovely to see your face. Slap some powder on it and you're zhooshing your eek.

eephus

General

A junk pitch lobbed with a very high arc and little velocity, thrown like a slow-pitch softball to disrupt a hitter's timing.

eetswa

General

An eshay term meaning sweet, good or excellent.

efiko

Street

A nickname for someone known for being academically brilliant — often used half-teasingly to describe the class 'nerd' who always has the answers.

ega

General

The Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the official emblem of the US Marine Corps. Older Marines often discourage the abbreviation.

egbon

Street

Literally 'elder sibling'; used respectfully for anyone senior in age, rank, or street hierarchy, regardless of actual family relation.

egg

General

Someone who's trans but hasn't realised it yet, or is in denial, an embryo of the person they'll become once they 'hatch' (i.e. come out, the trans cousin of leaving the closet). The realisation itself is the egg 'cracking'. Used warmly and self-deprecatingly: people will joke about old habits being 'egg behaviour'.

egirl

Internet

Used in dating to describe a type associated with Twitch, TikTok, and being terminally online.

ego chall

Gaming

Short for 'ego challenge'. You take a fight you should probably avoid because you back yourself to win the aim duel. When it lands you look cracked. When it doesn't, your team's reviving you.

ego lifting

General

Loading more weight than you can handle properly, usually with terrible form, to impress onlookers rather than train effectively.

eh

General

A ubiquitous tag added to the end of statements to seek agreement, confirmation, or simply as a filler. Sometimes spelled 'aye'.

eh bro

General

A common Kiwi conversational tag combining 'eh' and 'bro' for agreement or camaraderie.

eh-eh

General

Used to signal astonishment, disbelief or 'oh no'. Rising tone = surprise; flat = disapproval.

ehen

Street

A flexible interjection meaning anything from 'I remember now' to 'continue' to mild disapproval, entirely dependent on tone and context.

eighth

Street

A common purchase quantity equal to one-eighth of an ounce, about 3.5 grams.

eke

Street

Street/market code word for police officers, comparing them to a python — something to be wary of and avoid. The same word is separately used by transport workers for a long haulage truck.

el chuco

Street

What El Paso has called itself in Chicano Caló for nearly a century. It's the city the pachucos came from — the zoot-suited, slang-slinging young Mexican-Americans of the 30s and 40s — and the word 'pachuco' literally means 'someone from El Chuco.' Saying it signals border pride and deep cultural lineage.

el valluco

Street

The four-county chunk of Texas hugging the Rio Grande — Brownsville, McAllen, Harlingen, Edinburg. Said with hometown pride and a little swagger; it's not just a place, it's a culture.

el-rig

General

Used among traders to flag a young customer or a sweetheart without naming her openly.

elastics

General

Small stretchy bands — what much of the country calls rubber bands, New Englanders call elastics.

elbows

Street

Another name for swangas — the deep, pointed wire wheels that stick out from a Houston slab like the car's got elbows out. Same wheels, different word, depending on who's talking and what era. Both terms turn up across Houston rap from Z-Ro to Paul Wall.

electric (ewgf)

Gaming

Tekken's holy-grail move. Hit the input on the exact frame and you get the Electric: a launcher that's actually plus on block (+5 in Tekken 8), so even when they guard it, you keep your turn. Miss the timing and you get the slow, punishable Wind God Fist instead.

eleganza

Pop

A ballroom and drag category demanding extravagant, high-fashion, runway-level glamour.

eleganza extravaganza

General

Elegance turned all the way up. 'Eleganza' is opulent, high-fashion glamour, and 'eleganza extravaganza' is the maximalist version of it. On Drag Race it's a runway theme demanding a couture-level look. Off the runway it's any over-the-top display of luxe.

elephant in the room

General

A major issue that is clearly present but that people deliberately avoid discussing.

elephant's trunk

Street

Cockney rhyming slang for 'drunk', shortened to 'elephants'.

eli5

Internet

Used as a humble flag that you're lost and need the no-jargon version.

eli5-adjacent

Internet

Used when you want a clearer explanation but don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with full ELI5 simplicity.

elizabeth

Street

An 'elizabeth' is a banknote — the full version of 'lizzy.' Drill bars love the regal flex: 'stack of elizabeths' sounds heavier than 'stack of tenners.'

elo

Gaming

Your skill rating. The hidden (or not-so-hidden) number that decides who you get matched against. Climb it by winning, tank it by losing.

elo hell

Gaming

A rating range where players believe their teammates are so bad they can't climb out, no matter how well they personally perform. Mostly mythical, mostly cope, but every ranked player swears they're trapped in it.

emailear

General

Spanglish verb meaning to send an email, formed with the productive '-ear' suffix.

embrace the suck

General

An exhortation to accept a miserable, uncomfortable, or difficult situation as unavoidable and get on with the mission rather than complain.

embullarse

General

To get excited, enthusiastic, or worked up about doing something.

emmet

General

A Cornish word for the summer visitors who swarm the county, literally meaning 'ant'.

emojipasta

Internet

A block of text where every word gets carpet-bombed with emoji, usually to the point of unreadability. The chaos is the joke — a normal sentence about getting a sandwich ends up looking like the UN flag pavilion.

emom

General

'Every Minute On the Minute': starting a prescribed set of reps at the top of each minute, resting for whatever time remains.

emotional labor

Internet

Loosely, the draining effort of being someone's unpaid therapist or organizer.

emotional support

Internet

Loosely, anything that keeps you calm or comforted.

employee ghosting

General

When a candidate or new hire abruptly cuts off all contact with an employer, such as skipping interviews, not showing up on the start date, or leaving without notice.

employee value proposition

General

The complete package of pay, benefits, culture, and development a company offers employees in return for their skills and effort, used to attract and retain talent.

empress

General

A respectful term for a woman or wife within Rastafarian culture, elevating her as royalty.

emptying the bench

General

When a coach pulls starters and inserts rarely-used bench players, usually in a blowout.

en candela

General

To be in trouble, in a jam, or in a rough patch. Literally 'in flame/fire'.

en el bote

General

To be in jail; 'el bote' is slang for prison.

en olla

General

To be completely broke, out of money. Literally 'in the pot'.

en talla

General

When something fits perfectly or is on point — literally or figuratively 'in size'.