"H" Slang

heid bummer

General

The person in charge — boss, manager, head honcho. Usually said with a slight eye-roll, like the heid bummer's the one swanning about while everyone else does the actual work.

heid-the-baw

General

A fool or silly person; sometimes affectionate, sometimes dismissive.

heist

Street

A heist is a robbery, particularly an ambitious, planned theft such as a bank or armored-car job. As a verb, to heist is to rob.

hella

Pop

Means very or extremely, used to intensify an adjective.

hellsite

Internet

Twitter/X, called what it is by the people who refuse to leave it. The name acknowledges the place is a psychic sewer while admitting you're still scrolling at 2am. Used with love, mostly.

hellsweep

Gaming

A quick low sweep, usually thrown out of a crouchdash, that wrecks anyone standing and blocking high. Pair it with a mid launcher and the opponent has to guess.

hellyoutalmbout

Street

Disbelief, confusion, or call-out — all in one breath. Said when somebody's just said something so off-base you can't even parse it sober.

helo

General

Short for helicopter, favored in Navy and Marine usage over the Army's 'chopper.'

help ma boab

General

An expression of astonishment or dismay, 'boab' being a euphemism for God.

hen

General

A friendly term of address for a woman or girl, similar to 'love' or 'pet'.

hench

General

Muscular, physically powerful, visibly jacked. Said with a hint of respect — being hench is a status. Works for men far more than women in standard use.

henny

Pop

A drag-flavored spelling of 'honey,' used to address a friend warmly, often while gossiping or hyping them up.

henshin

Internet

The act of a character transforming — magical girls into costume, or heroes into their super forms — usually via a stock animated sequence. A defining beat of magical-girl and tokusatsu-inspired shows.

heol

Internet

A surprised or stunned reaction word, similar to 'omg' or 'no way', common in texting and speech.

hep cat

General

More broadly, anyone fashionable, alert, and culturally switched-on, regardless of their musical knowledge.

herb

General

Marijuana, referred to reverently as 'the herb' in Rastafarian speech.

herding cats

General

The near-impossible task of organising many independent or resistant parties.

here for

Internet

Means you're all in. Saying you're 'here for' something is a stamp of approval — the look, the era, the drama, whatever it is, you support it loudly.

hero

General

The New York word for a submarine sandwich — a long roll filled with meats, cheese, and toppings, hot or cold.

hero buy

Gaming

The team's saving, but one player drops cash on a rifle anyway, hoping to win the round solo or at least bank a few frags. Sometimes it's a galaxy-brain play. Usually it just wastes money and tanks the team economy. Mostly used as a roast.

hero sandwich

General

The full form of 'hero,' a long Italian-roll sandwich stacked with meats and cheese.

hesco

General

A collapsible mesh container lined with fabric and filled with earth to form blast and ballistic walls around a base.

hesh

General

Describes a raw, gnarly, unpolished aesthetic or attitude in skating, often associated with metal, grime, and a rough DIY vibe; can also describe a gnarly or sketchy trick.

hesidating

Internet

Often tied to burnout, dating-app fatigue, or fear of making the wrong choice.

het

Internet

Content depicting a male/female romantic pairing, as distinct from slash or femslash.

hewer

General

A coal miner who worked at the coalface hewing coal.

hey mamas

General

The whole archetype: a masc-presenting lesbian who struts up doing the confident-pose, lip-bite, 'hey mamas' move like a wannabe fuckboi. Snapbacks, chains, undercuts, won't text you back. Mostly used to playfully roast the type rather than praise it, the term was born from cringe and never lost the smirk.

hey, kitten

Internet

The archetypal opening line of a creepy DM from a Discord moderator to a younger user. Used in memes and replies as instant shorthand for 'this guy is the predatory-mod stereotype' — you don't need to write the rest, everyone knows where it goes.

heyguys

Gaming

A global Twitch emote used as a greeting when someone enters chat.

hfn

Internet

The softer cousin of HEA. The couple is together and happy at the end, but no white-picket-fence guarantee. Common in series romance, new adult, and anything where the author wants room to keep stirring the pot.

hfsp

Internet

Have Fun Staying Poor — the standard crypto comeback to anyone who criticises Bitcoin, calls it a bubble, or says they'll never buy. A condescending kiss-off that assumes the speaker has already made it and the doubter is condemned to a life of fiat wage slavery. Reads as smug when crypto's up, embarrassing when it's down.

hi-rise

Street

Not a tall building — in New Orleans 'the Hi-rise' means the steep elevated section of Interstate 10 that humps up and over the Industrial Canal east of downtown. Every local knows it as a traffic landmark and a geographic divider — 'past the Hi-rise' means you're heading into New Orleans East. The grade is sharp enough that 18-wheelers crawl up it and back-ups stretch for miles.

hiatus

Internet

A temporary pause in an artist's promotions or public schedule, whether for rest, health, or preparation. Distinct from disbanding.

hickey

General

An electrician's hand tool for putting bends in rigid conduit — a short hooked head on a handle you walk down the pipe, making the bend in small increments. Old-school, slow, and easy to kink if you rush. Mostly displaced by proper shoe benders, but still in every veteran's truck.

hifw

Internet

Stands for "how I feel when," used to caption a relatable reaction, often with a GIF or image.

high

Street

The euphoric, altered state produced by consuming cannabis.

high alch

Gaming

The spell that converts an item into coins on the spot. Classic way to train Magic while making money — alch a junk item every few seconds for hours.

high and tight

General

A variant of the buzz cut in which the hair is clipped very close, shaved up to the parietal ridge — strongly associated with Marines and the source of the 'jarhead' nickname.

high ground

Gaming

Any position above the normal play space. You see them before they see you, you shoot down on them, and they have to climb to even contest. Holding high ground is half the fight in most shooters.

high heat

General

A fastball thrown hard and high in the strike zone, tough to catch up to.

high level

General

Describing a general, big-picture view as opposed to specifics.

high note

Internet

A showcase moment where a vocalist hits and holds an impressively high pitch, often at the song's climax, to display vocal strength.

high on the hog

General

Enjoying prosperity or luxury; "eating high on the hog" means having the best cuts.

high serum porcelain

General

A joke 'blood test' result invented to label a patient as a malingerer, punning on porcelain (toilet) fixtures.

high speed

General

Describes a very motivated, efficient service member; can be used sincerely or mockingly.

high value

Gen Z

Describing someone seen as an especially desirable partner — usually for being confident, successful, or emotionally secure.

high-key

Internet

Openly, obviously, or to a great degree—the emphatic counterpart of 'low-key'.

high-level emulation (hle)

Gaming

Emulating a system by recreating its high-level functions, like intercepting a graphics call and drawing the result your own way, instead of simulating the actual chips cycle for cycle. Way faster, but less accurate, so it breaks on games that do weird things.