"M" Slang

man of the match

General

The award given to the standout performer of an individual match.

man on

General

A quick warning yelled to a teammate on the ball that an opponent is right behind them.

manchester

General

Household linen such as bed sheets, pillowcases and towels; also a shop department.

mande

General

A characteristically Mexican polite response when addressed, meaning 'pardon?' or 'yes?'.

mandem

British Mle

A group of male friends, or one's crew — used both to refer to a friend group and to address them.

mando

Street

Required, not optional. A 'mando' count or lockdown must be complied with.

mane

Street

Memphis-flavored pronunciation of 'man'. Works as direct address ('what up, mane'), as a filler/exclamation ('mane, I'm tellin' you'), or just as the rhythmic glue holding a sentence together. Spread out the South via Memphis rap and is now standard issue across the region.

manfight

Gaming

No running, no kiting, no outplay — you both stand there and trade hits until someone drops. Heroes built to manfight have raw stats and lifesteal rather than slippery mobility.

manga

Internet

Japanese comic books and graphic novels, typically read right-to-left, and one of the founding fandoms behind anime conventions and much cosplay.

manga ahí

General

A gloating 'that's what you get' or 'take that', similar to 'coge ahí'.

mangaka

Internet

A person who creates manga — typically both writing and drawing the series. Prolific mangaka are treated as stars in their own right.

mangala

Street

A grim but real piece of transport-worker slang: a corpse being carried from where a person died back to their hometown for burial, compared to how dried fish is packaged and transported.

manganzón

General

A grown but lazy, coddled man who won't take responsibility — an overgrown mama's boy.

mango

General

Someone hot or sexy. An intensified form is 'tremendo mangón'.

mangú

General

Boiled, mashed green plantains, a beloved Dominican breakfast, classically served 'los tres golpes' with egg, salami and cheese.

manhua

Internet

Chinese comic books and graphic novels; another regional comic tradition feeding convention cosplay and fandom.

manhwa

Internet

Korean comic books and graphic novels, typically read left-to-right; a growing source of cosplay characters at conventions.

manicou

General

The common opossum, a nocturnal marsupial sometimes hunted for its meat ('wild meat').

mannish water

General

A hearty goat-head (and offal) soup, reputed to be an aphrodisiac and served at celebrations.

mano

General

An affectionate clip of 'hermano/hermana' used to address a friend, and as the exclamation '¡Mano!' ('hey, bro!').

manor

Street

The local area or territory someone is from.

mansplain

Internet

To over-explain something obvious, usually to a woman, in a condescending tone.

mantén tu latón con tapa

General

An instruction to keep a secret or keep quiet — literally 'keep your trash can lidded'.

manual

General

A balance trick in which the rider rolls along on only the back two wheels, keeping the nose lifted without letting the tail scrape.

map of antarctica

General

Slang describing the sprawling white appearance of extensive intracranial haemorrhage on a CT scan.

máquina

General

Cuban slang for a car, especially the classic American cars famous on the island.

marae

General

The communal and sacred meeting grounds of a Māori community, including the carved meeting house and forecourt.

marathon strats

Gaming

The cautious version of a route — a bit slower, but far less likely to blow up in your face. Named after marathon events like GDQ, where finishing the game live in one attempt matters more than a personal best.

mard-arse

General

A whingey, sulky person. The one moaning when the round's not their shout, crying when they lose at pool. Mardy with the arse welded on for emphasis.

mardy

General

Easily upset, whiny, or prone to strops.

mare

General

A shortened 'nightmare'; a difficult or disastrous experience.

marge called

Internet

A jokey personification of the margin call: 'Marge' phones to forcibly liquidate a trader's positions when their leveraged account falls below requirements.

margin call

Internet

A margin call is a broker's demand that a trader deposit additional cash or securities when the value of a margined account falls below the required maintenance level. Failing to meet it can force liquidation of positions.

marine layer

General

A thick layer of cool, damp cloud and fog that drifts inland from the Pacific along the California coast.

mark

Street

A mark is the target of a swindle, con game, or pickpocket team, the person picked out to be cheated or robbed.

market cap

Internet

Short for market capitalisation, the total value of a cryptocurrency calculated as its price multiplied by circulating supply, used to rank and compare coins.

marquee

Gaming

The illuminated artwork panel sitting on top of an arcade cabinet, showing off the game's logo and art. It's the cab's billboard, glowing across a dark arcade.

marqueta

General

Spanglish loanword for a market or grocery store, common in US Latino communities.

marra

General

Mate, friend, pal. The North-East's working-class term of endearment between blokes — pit-village roots, still alive in pubs from Newcastle to Workington. Warmer than 'mate', less performative than 'bro'.

marry

General

Pour the dregs of one container into another so you end up with one full bottle instead of two sad half-empties. Classic move during prep or close-down: ketchup bottles, oil jugs, half-empty squeeze bottles all get married. Health inspectors hate it when done wrong (cross-contamination, FIFO violations), which is why a lot of kitchens technically ban it and everyone does it anyway.

marta

Street

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority — the city's subway and bus network. Limited reach (most OTP counties opted out decades ago) but a cultural fixture; ATL artists name-drop MARTA stations as neighborhood markers.

mary jane

Street

A personifying nickname for cannabis, playing on the word 'marijuana'.

mas

General

Short for 'masquerade' — the costumed street performance of Carnival; 'to play mas' is to participate in a Carnival band.

masc

General

Short for masculine or masculine-presenting. In WLW use it's the umbrella for the whole masculine side of the spectrum, from soft masc all the way to butch. Unlike 'butch', which is lesbian-specific, 'masc' travels across the queer world — gay men and trans folks use it too, often in the dating-profile sense of 'masc4masc'.

mash

General

To destroy, wreck or batter something. Cars get mashed in crashes, opponents get mashed in a fight, a phone screen gets mashed when you drop it.

mash up

Street

To destroy or wreck something; in performance slang, to 'mash up di place' is to thrill the crowd.

masquerade

Internet

The main on-stage costume contest at a convention, where cosplayers present their work and sometimes perform short skits, judged on presentation and/or craftsmanship.

masquerade den mom

Internet

A convention volunteer who shepherds cosplayers backstage during a masquerade, keeping the running order, easing nerves, and handling last-minute fixes. Also called a 'den parent.'