"F" Slang

fed

Internet

Short for federal agent. In chats, an accusation that someone is an undercover cop or fed trying to entrap the group. Often deployed the second anyone suggests anything spicy — sometimes serious, mostly a joke.

feds

Street

Used as a warning or to describe police presence.

feeb

General

Beef. From 'beef' reversed to 'feeb', a core word of East End butchers' back-slang, the trade that gave the whole craft its name 'rechtub kelp' (butcher talk).

feeble grind

General

A grind where the back truck slides on the obstacle while the front truck and nose hang down over the opposite (front) side, the mirror of a smith grind.

feed

Gaming

A meal, especially a satisfying one; 'a feed' means something to eat.

feeding frenzy

General

The Friday tradition on the 1980s Salomon Brothers mortgage desk where traders ordered absurd quantities of food — hundreds of dollars of Mexican, pizza, deli — and ate themselves comatose at their turrets. Documented in Liar's Poker as a status display dressed up as lunch: the bigger the order, the bigger the swinging dick.

feeding the bears

General

Paying a speeding ticket, or driving in a way that's about to get you one. Said with a wince — nobody feeds the bears on purpose.

feet dry

General

A brevity code reporting that an aircraft is flying over land, the counterpart to 'feet wet', used when crossing the coast inbound.

feet pics

General

Photos of feet sold as paid content — the entry-tier niche people pitch when they want OnlyFans money without showing their face or anything else. Real market, real buyers, but oversaturated to hell because every TikTok side-hustle guide pretends it's free money.

feet wet

General

A brevity code reporting that an aircraft is flying over water, used chiefly by naval aviators crossing the coastline outbound.

feijoa

General

An egg-shaped green fruit with sweet, aromatic flesh, hugely popular in New Zealand where backyard trees drop them by the bucketload in autumn.

fell off

Internet

Said of a person, brand, or thing that has gotten noticeably worse or less relevant. A common dismissive judgment.

fell out of the ugly tree

General

A jab meaning someone is very ugly—"and hit every branch on the way down."

fella

General

A generic word for a man, or 'me fella' for a boyfriend/husband.

female figure

General

A ballroom category that judges feminine presentation over gender identity — so trans women, cis women and butch queens in drag can all walk it together. It emerged in the early 2000s when butch-queen-up-in-drag voguing got hot and the scene needed a lane judged on the illusion delivered, not the body underneath. The whole genius of ballroom's gender model in one term: performance first.

femme

General

The feminine side of the butch/femme tradition that's been part of lesbian culture since the 1940s. A femme leans into traditionally feminine presentation and energy — but make no mistake, it's a queer identity in its own right, not just 'a girly woman'. French for 'woman'. Often paired with butch but stands fully on its own.

femme queen

General

In the ballroom gender system, a femme queen is a trans woman — someone living as and identifying as a woman, including those medically transitioning. It's one of the scene's foundational gender categories, sitting alongside butch queens and butches. Femme queens have their own categories — Femme Queen Realness, Femme Queen Performance, Face — where they're judged within their own population rather than against cis women.

femslash

Internet

A subgenre of slash centred on romantic relationships between female characters.

fence

Street

A fence is a dealer who buys stolen property from thieves and resells it, providing criminals a way to convert loot into cash. As a verb, to 'fence' goods is to sell them this way.

fenke-fenke

General

Weak and flimsy, or (of a person) fussy, choosy and full of airs. Spelled 'fenky-fenky'.

fergie time

General

The perception that stoppage time is stretched to favour Manchester United (or any dominant side) chasing a late winner.

feria

Street

Money. Any amount, any form. From a couple of bucks to a whole stack — if it spends, it's feria.

festival fit

Music

The outfit you wear to a festival, typically eye-catching, comfortable for hours of dancing and heavy on glitter, mesh, fringe or rave staples.

fete

General

A large organised party with music, food and dancing; the backbone of the Carnival season. Also spelt fête.

fetti

Street

Money — short for confetti, because you throw it like it. Bay Area staple, fits next to bread, skrilla, and bands without breaking stride.

fettle

General

The state or condition something's in. Almost never used solo — it's 'fine fettle', 'good fettle', 'bad fettle'. Say your nan's in fine fettle and you mean she's bright as a button.

few

Internet

One-word reply that smugly implies 'only a handful of true believers grasp this thesis — the rest of you will be left behind.' Posted under bullish charts, niche-coin shills, or any vaguely visionary take. Short for 'few understand.' Half real conviction, half self-aware meme.

ff

Gaming

To surrender the match, or the vote to do so. Type /ff or hit the surrender button and the team votes on whether to throw in the towel.

fi

General

A versatile particle meaning 'for', 'to' (infinitive marker) or marking possession ('fi mi' = mine).

fiaca

General

Laziness, sluggishness, the feeling of not wanting to do anything. The source is Italian/Genoese 'fiacca' (weakness, listlessness).

fiat

Internet

Slang and financial term for currency that has value by government decree rather than backing by a commodity.

fib

General

Wisconsin and Upper Michigan's go-to acronym for a Chicago/Illinois tourist behaving badly — short for 'F***ing Illinois B*****d.' Trotted out every summer when Illinois plates clog the lakefront, drive 20 over on the interstate, or argue about whether bratwurst should be boiled in beer (it should). Mostly affectionate-hostile; you'll see it on bumper stickers in Door County.

fibermaxxing

Internet

Deliberately loading up on dietary fiber — beans, oats, chia, psyllium husk — to optimize gut and metabolic health.

field day

General

An all-hands deep-cleaning evolution — every sailor or Marine in the space, all working at once, scrubbing bulkhead to overhead. Usually weekly, usually right before liberty so you can't escape it. The most loathed two words in barracks life.

field strip

General

To break a weapon down into its major parts for cleaning, lubrication, or repair in the field.

fiend

Street

A prisoner with a serious drug addiction, always chasing the next high.

fierce

General

High praise in ballroom and drag for someone serving intensity, confidence and fearless style. To be fierce is to command the room with zero apology. The word leaked into mainstream pop culture (Tyra, Beyoncé) but its roots are Black and Latino queer ballroom.

fifo

General

The golden rule of the walk-in: when fresh product comes in, it goes behind the older stock, not in front of it. Break FIFO and you're throwing money in the bin and inviting a health inspector to ruin your week.

fifth wheel

Street

In Houston car culture, the spare wheel bolted upright on the trunk lid of a slab — usually an old-school Cadillac or Lincoln — color-matched to the candy paint and dripping in chrome. Part trophy, part trademark. No fifth wheel, no slab.

fifty-fifty

General

A challenge for a loose ball where neither player has the advantage and both go in equally hard.

fig

General

In much of the Caribbean, a 'fig' refers to a banana (especially the small variety), not the Mediterranean fig fruit.

fighting

Internet

A supportive exclamation of encouragement, shouted to cheer someone on. Ubiquitous among idols and fans alike.

fighting darwin

General

Ironic phrase for medicine repeatedly rescuing a patient whose reckless behaviour or refusal of care keeps endangering them, thwarting 'natural selection.'

fila

Street

Backronym for 'Forever I Love Atlanta,' riffing off the sportswear brand. A loyalty stamp — tattoos, ad-libs, hashtags. Got a major signal boost from Gucci Mane's 1017 era and stays in rotation as an ATL shibboleth.

file 13

General

A humorous bureaucratic-sounding name for the wastebasket, where unwanted paperwork is 'filed.'

filler

Internet

Episodes or arcs invented for the anime that are not in the source manga, often used to avoid catching up to an ongoing manga. Many fans skip filler.

filmer

General

A skater or videographer who records footage of others skating, essential to the culture of video parts and clips.

filthy

General

Extremely annoyed or angry; 'filthy on' someone.