"F" Slang

flot

General

'Forward Line of Own Troops' — a line indicating the most forward positions of friendly forces at a given time, used to coordinate fires and movement.

flow

General

The ease and smoothness with which a rider links obstacles, transitions, and tricks into a continuous line without breaks. Good flow makes a run look effortless. 'Flow' can also mean free gear given to sponsored-track riders.

flower boy

Internet

A male idol with delicate, pretty visuals and polished style — the soft, elegant end of the male-image spectrum.

flower power

General

The slogan and philosophy of peaceful, nonviolent resistance, especially against the Vietnam War.

flower sign

General

A mock clinical sign: the presence of flowers (or cards) by the bed indicates the patient has family and social support, hinting they are less likely to be a difficult social admission.

flowery

Street

A prison cell. Archaic rhyming slang now rarely heard.

flowery dell

Street

Cockney rhyming slang for a prison 'cell', shortened to 'flowery'.

fluff

Internet

Fan fiction focused on warmth and affection between characters, meant to be light and comforting.

fluff my pillow syndrome

General

Mock 'syndrome' (FMPS) for a patient who constantly requests minor comforts and acts sicker than they are.

fluffernutter

General

White bread, peanut butter on one slice, Marshmallow Fluff on the other, smash together. A New England school-lunch staple, invented essentially the moment Fluff existed (Lynn, MA, early 1900s). The name was coined in a 1960 ad campaign and Massachusetts made it the state sandwich in 2024.

fluffy

General

Sneaky hospital euphemism for severely obese — soft enough to slip into earshot or notes without flagging anything, mean enough to count as derogatory slang in the ethics literature. Sits in the same family as 'Milwaukee goiter' and gets the same critique: it shapes how staff treat the patient before they've said a word.

fluid overload

General

A state of excess circulating fluid, common in heart or renal failure, causing oedema and breathlessness. Everyday clinical shorthand for hypervolaemia.

flush

General

To throw down a dunk cleanly and forcefully.

fly cop

Street

A 'fly cop' (or 'elbow') is a plainclothes police detective, 'fly' meaning sharp or cunning.

fly cup

General

A sneaky, between-meals cup of tea — usually with a biscuit, scone, or cake. The 'fly' bit isn't about flies; it's the older Scots sense of 'sly' or 'on the quiet'. A wee guilty pleasure brew.

fly girl

Music

A fashionable, attractive, and self-assured woman, especially one tied to hip-hop style.

fly off the handle

General

To erupt in anger without warning, like an axe head flying loose.

flyin' horses

Street

What New Orleans kids call a carousel. The name belongs first to the 1906 wooden carousel in City Park's Carousel Gardens — one of only a hundred-odd antique wooden carousels left in the country — but locals use it for any merry-go-round.

flying the coop

General

Driving straight past an open weigh station instead of pulling in like you're supposed to. Big fines if you get caught, and DOT will often radio ahead to a chase car. Sometimes done when you're overweight, out of hours, or just running hot.

fo shizzle

Music

Means 'for sure' or 'absolutely,' rendered in the playful -izzle slang.

fob

General

'Forward Operating Base' — a secured forward military position used to support tactical operations, typically with defenses, logistics, and command facilities.

fobbit

General

A soldier who stays inside the wire of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and does not go outside on missions, implying they have not seen real combat.

focus

Gaming

Coordinating everyone to attack the same enemy at once, usually the carry or a key target, so it dies before it can do anything. Spreading damage loses fights; focus wins them.

focus fire

Gaming

Everyone shoots the same target at once. Doesn't matter if you spread your aim across three enemies and tickle them all. Pick one, melt it, move to the next. Five guns on one body wins the trade.

foenem

Street

Your tight circle — homies, gang, the people riding with you. 'Folks' is Chicago shorthand tied to Folk Nation affiliations, and 'nem' just means 'and them'. Together it covers the squad you'd take a charge for.

foh

General

The guest-facing half of the operation: servers, runners, bussers, hosts, sommeliers, bartenders, managers on the floor. Tipped, on stage, and judged on charm as much as competence.

foin

General

Figuratively, to palm or slip something in or out by trickery; the root of the later 'foist upon'.

fok

General

An order that demands immediate, complete execution. If the full size can't trade in one shot the moment it hits the book, the whole thing dies. AON's impatient cousin — AON will sit and wait, FOK won't.

foley

General

The standard indwelling bladder catheter — flexible tube with an inflatable balloon at the tip to hold it in place. Universal hospital shorthand: nurses, surgeons and ER staff all just say 'Foley' instead of the full mouthful. Named after Frederic Foley, the American urologist who designed it in the 1930s.

fomo

Internet

The anxiety that drives people to buy an asset as it rallies, afraid of missing further gains. A powerful and often costly emotional trading trigger.

fomo candle

Internet

A large green candlestick produced when a wave of buyers piles in out of fear of missing the move.

foo-fool

General

Extremely foolish, silly, or easily fooled; the doubling intensifies the meaning.

food

Street

'Food' is drugs — usually whatever the line is pushing that week. The logic is simple: it's what puts dinner on the table. To 'serve food' is to sell, to 'whip food' is to cook crack.

foosh

General

Common orthopaedic mechanism-of-injury shorthand for someone who fell and put a hand out, classically causing a wrist fracture.

fooster

General

To fuss, fidget or potter about in a flustered, unproductive way.

foosty

General

Musty, mouldy or gone off; smelling stale.

footage

General

Recorded video of skating, especially clips filmed at a session to be used in a part or edit.

football bat

General

Describes a person or a way of doing things that is strangely wrong, as nonsensical as a football-shaped bat.

footer

General

To potter, fumble or waste time fiddling with something.

footie

General

Football, which in most of New Zealand means rugby union or league.

footjam

General

A flatland and street move where the rider jams a foot between the fork and front tire to stop the wheel and pivot the bike around it, as in a footjam tailwhip. It is a building block of many flatland tricks.

footsies

Gaming

The ground game in a fighting game: edging in and out of range, throwing pokes, and punishing your opponent for whiffing theirs. Pure spacing chess before anyone commits.

footstool

Gaming

Land on top of an opponent and bounce off their head. It pops you up for free height and forces them into a brief helpless state, which makes it a sneaky combo starter or a recovery mixup.

footy

General

Australian football, most often Aussie Rules (AFL) or rugby league, depending on region.

force buy

Gaming

Normally if you're broke you save and wait for a full buy. A force buy throws that out. The whole team spends everything they've got on cheap guns, armor, maybe a nade or two, and prays it lands. High risk, swingy, but it catches teams off guard who expected an eco.

forced proximity

Internet

A trope that traps two characters in the same small space — a road trip, a stakeout, a snowed-in cabin, a single bed — so they can't avoid each other or their feelings. The walls are doing the matchmaking.

forced reps

General

Additional repetitions performed past failure with a spotter taking some of the load so the set can continue.

ford

General

EMS shorthand for a body discovered dead in the street or roadway.