"L" Slang

l take

Internet

A take that's wrong, embarrassing, or so unpopular it costs the poster credibility. Calling something an L take is the verdict, not the debate — you're not arguing, you're scoring it.

l-cancel

Gaming

Press shield in the frames just before you touch the ground out of an aerial and your landing lag gets cut in half. It's the bread-and-butter tech that makes Melee pressure flow, drop a single one and the whole string falls apart.

l&p

General

A famous New Zealand lemon-flavoured soft drink, originally made with mineral water from the town of Paeroa; marketed as 'world famous in New Zealand'.

l+ratio

Internet

A stacked insult fired in comments to declare someone has lost the argument AND that their post is getting buried by negative replies. Often piled on with more tags ('+ you fell off + cope + skill issue') until it's basically a chant. Used unseriously between mates and ruthlessly between strangers.

l8r

Internet

A numeronym for "later," using 8 for its sound. Often used as a quick goodbye.

la

General

A friendly term of address for a male, short for 'lad'. Used in greetings and to punctuate speech.

la chota

General

Slang for the police, common in northern Mexico and Chicano usage.

la cruda

General

The hangover itself; the noun form of being 'crudo.'

la diablesse

General

A beautiful woman with one cloven hoof who leads men astray at night into ravines or death. Also lajabless.

la jura

Street

The police, the cops, the law. The standard Chicano street term — what you call out when the black-and-white rolls up.

la movie

General

Describes a person who creates a fantasy or 'movie' of their life, faking a lifestyle. 'Montarse la movie' = to make up a story.

labber

Gaming

Someone who grinds training mode — labbing — to find new combos, setups and matchup tech rather than just queuing ranked. The labbers are the ones who figure out the broken stuff first, then the rest of the scene copies it.

laburar

General

To work, to hold down a job. The source is the Italian verb 'lavorare' (to work), reshaped by Genoese and southern-Italian immigrants into 'laburar'.

lacking

Street

Caught out in public without your strap, without your guys, without your wits. The worst position to be in if opps spot you — it's the moment you become a scoreboard entry.

lad

General

A boy or young man, and a common way to address a male.

laddie

General

A boy or young man; 'lad' is the shorter form.

lady godiva

General

By extension, used loosely for a small, manageable sum of cash handed over in a hurry.

lag

Gaming

A delay between your input and what happens on screen, usually caused by a slow internet connection. Lag makes the game stutter or respond late.

lagniappe

Street

An unexpected bonus thrown in free — the thirteenth donut, the extra hush puppy, the small gift a shopkeeper hands you because you're a regular. Hospitality with receipts.

lai lai

Street

Used for strong emphasis when refusing or denying something will ever happen.

laid off

General

To have one's employment permanently ended, or temporarily suspended, for business reasons such as cost-cutting or restructuring, as distinct from being fired for cause.

laissez les bons temps rouler

Street

The official cheers of Louisiana hedonism. Yelled before Mardi Gras parades, festivals, second lines and any excuse to crack a Sazerac. Pronounce it 'lay-zay lay bohn tohn roo-lay' and don't overthink the accent.

lake-effect

General

Describing the intense, localized snowfall produced when cold air passes over the relatively warm Great Lakes.

lakin

General

A toy. Related to 'laik' (to play); traditional Yorkshire.

laldy

General

Vigour or enthusiasm; 'gie it laldy' means do it with maximum effort. Can also mean a beating.

lallies

General

Polari for legs. One of the body-part words from Britain's old gay slang, the kind of term you'd drop to talk shop in public without the wrong people following. Heritage slang now, kept alive by drag and queer-history nerds rather than daily use.

lambo

Internet

Shorthand for a Lamborghini, the meme symbol of crypto wealth. Used in phrases like 'wen lambo?' to represent life-changing gains.

lame duck

Street

A vulnerable prisoner who lacks a car or allies and is easy prey for stronger inmates.

lamington

General

A square of sponge cake coated in chocolate icing and desiccated coconut. Also 'lammo'.

lamp

General

To punch or strike someone, generally a single hard hit rather than a sustained fight. Carries a flavour of 'they had it coming'.

lamron

Street

Normal Avenue in Englewood, said backwards because the people on it are anything but. The block at the heart of Chief Keef's 300 / Black Disciples set — the corner that birthed the modern drill sound.

lance corporal underground

General

The informal network of junior Marines through which rumors and gossip spread.

land

General

To complete a trick cleanly and roll away in control; the goal of every attempt. Past tense 'landed.'

land and expand

General

A sales strategy of securing an initial small contract and then expanding usage across the client.

landchad

Internet

A landlord posted as a swaggering Chad — usually in mock-sincere praise of rent-collecting, eviction, and owning property. The whole point is the irony, though some posters absolutely mean it.

landing

Street

Inside a UK prison wing the cells are stacked over multiple floors and each floor is a 'landing' — ones, twos, threes, fours. 'My landing' = the lads you do bird with, the ones whose doors crack open at the same time as yours. In drill bars it's shorthand for jail life and the bonds (or beefs) that form there.

landrace

Street

A cannabis variety that developed naturally and stabilized in a specific geographic region without crossbreeding.

lang may yer lum reek

General

A traditional good wish meaning 'may you live long and well' (a smoking chimney meaning a warm, well-provisioned home).

lang syne

General

Long ago, times gone by; 'auld lang syne' means 'old long since', i.e. days of old.

langered

General

Hopelessly, helplessly drunk. Past tipsy, past locked, well into 'how did I get home' territory. One of dozens of Irish words for the same condition but among the most expressive.

lanyard

Internet

A fabric cord worn around the neck to display a badge; often collected as convention swag in its own right.

lap

General

A single circuit of riding down the mountain and taking the lift back up, counted to track a day's riding. Riders talk about getting in as many laps as possible.

largactil shuffle

General

The unmistakable gait of someone on chlorpromazine (brand name Largactil) or similar major tranquillisers — feet barely lifting, arms slack, the whole body moving at half speed. Common in British prisons and psychiatric units where Largactil was the workhorse sedative for decades. Also called the 'Largactil shuffle' on locked wards.

large

Internet

Slang unit meaning $1,000, used after a number.

large car

General

A big, long-hood conventional tractor — usually a Peterbilt 379/389 or Kenworth W900 — decked out with chrome, lights, and stretched frames. Not just a truck, a statement. If you're driving a large car, you didn't buy it to be practical.

large marge

Street

The Calatrava-designed cable-stayed bridge that opened over the Trinity River in 2012, officially the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Locals immediately shortened her name and gave the giant white arch a Pee-wee's Big Adventure rebrand. Sometimes 'Big Marge' too.

larp

Internet

To accuse someone of performing a fake identity online, claiming to be a Navy SEAL, a hedge fund manager, a recovering addict, a witness to a news event, for clout or roleplay rather than because it's true. The implication is that the whole account is costume.

larrikin

General

A person who is boisterous, cheeky and disregards convention, usually harmlessly.