"P" Slang

p-popping

Street

The signature dance of New Orleans bounce music — rapid up-and-down popping of the backside, usually folded over or in a sissy-bounce squat. Predates the word 'twerk' going mainstream by a decade-plus; when Atlanta and the internet caught on in the 2010s, NOLA had been p-popping since the early '90s block parties and second lines.

p.c.

General

Protective custody. A separate housing unit for inmates who'd get hurt or killed in general population — snitches, ex-cops, high-profile sex offenders, gang dropouts. Safer in the strict sense, but going PC tanks your reputation everywhere else; on a lot of yards, having been on PC means you can't come back to mainline.

p's

Street

Used to talk about income, profit, or the goal of getting paid.

pa'lante

General

A contraction of 'para adelante' meaning forward or onward, often as encouragement to press on.

pabo

Internet

A light insult meaning 'fool' or 'idiot', often used affectionately about a clumsy or goofy idol.

pacheco

General

Describes someone who is intoxicated, especially high on marijuana.

pack

Street

A quantity of weed, usually a pound or a sellable bag. The everyday hip-hop meaning — moving packs = slinging product.

pack a bowl

Street

To fill the bowl of a pipe or bong with cannabis in preparation for smoking.

pack a sad

General

To sulk, get upset, or throw a tantrum; can also describe a machine failing.

pack-years

General

A quantification of lifetime tobacco exposure — packs smoked per day multiplied by the number of years — used in respiratory and cancer risk assessment.

packed off

General

Killed — usually in the context of street violence or drill lyrics. The 'packing' image is funeral packaging: boxed up and sent away. Heavy word; not thrown around lightly even in road talk.

packer

Internet

A person who throws down in Discord pack battles — i.e. roasts opponents in voice chat with surreal, machine-gun insults. Ranges from server randoms to micro-celebs like Packgod.

packgod

Internet

The packer-turned-personality whose rapid, beat-backed Discord roasts pulled packing culture out of niche servers and into mainstream Gen-Z feeds. His clips are the reason most people have ever heard the word 'packing'.

packie

General

Short for 'package store', the legal term for a liquor store in Massachusetts (booze has to leave in a sealed package). Universal across the state — if a Bostonian says they're hitting the packie, they're on a beer run.

packing server

Internet

A Discord server whose whole purpose is running organised packing matches — queues, judges, spectator VCs, the lot. The void server was the prototype; dozens of copies followed once Packgod went viral.

pad

General

Any private space someone calls their own.

pad-mate

Street

The person a prisoner shares a cell with.

padded up

Street

To be sharing a cell with another prisoner, as opposed to being in a single.

paddle out

General

To lie on the board and paddle from the beach out through the breaking waves to reach the lineup.

paddy wagon

General

The police van that scoops up the cuffed and drives them to the station. Name's grim — 'Paddy' was a slur for Irish people, and the term comes from either Irish-American cops driving them or Irish immigrants filling the back. Still in everyday US use, history attached.

padi

Street

Refers to a close friend, someone you trust and hang out with regularly — like "homie" or "best friend" in English.

padiddle

General

A car with a burnt-out headlight; also the game where you shout 'padiddle' and touch the ceiling when you see one.

padlocked

General

A brevity code indicating aircrew cannot take their eyes off an aircraft, ground target, or surface position without risking loss of the tally or visual.

padre

General

Used to describe something great or cool; '¡qué padre!' means 'how cool!'.

padrísimo

General

The superlative of 'padre', meaning extremely cool or fantastic.

pagan

Street

Someone outside your circle of loyalty; a stranger or outsider.

pagans

Street

Disloyal, snakey people — fake friends or traitors. The plural/variant of 'paigon,' heavy in UK drill and road talk.

pai

General

An affectionate clip of 'papá' for one's father, and a friendly address for a man.

paigon

Street

Carries real weight as an accusation of disloyalty.

pain point

General

A recurring problem or source of friction for a customer or user that a product could solve.

painting the black

General

Locating pitches precisely on the black border edge of home plate, at the very corners of the strike zone.

painting the tape

General

Market manipulation in which traders coordinate buys and sells of a security to create the illusion of genuine activity, pumping the apparent volume or nudging the price to attract real money. Illegal under securities law. The name comes from the old ticker tape, which would display the manufactured prints.

paisa

General

Short for 'paisano'; a fellow Mexican, often a recent immigrant with a more traditional style.

pajón

General

A big head of curly, natural (often unstraightened) hair; embraced in the natural-hair movement.

pakalolo

Street

The Hawaiian term for marijuana, literally 'crazy tobacco.'

pakaru

General

Broken, ruined or out of order. Sometimes anglicised as 'puckerood'.

pākehā

General

A New Zealander of European (usually British) descent, as distinct from Māori.

palatic

General

Paralytic drunk. Beyond merry, beyond sloshed — can't-stand, can't-talk, taxi-home drunk. Geordie clipping of 'paralytic', worn as a Bigg Market badge of honour.

palav

General

A troublesome fuss or heated wrangle. From 'palaver'. Also palaver.

palava

Street

Refers to a disagreement, serious trouble, or a drawn-out discussion/argument about a problem.

palomo

General

A naive, gullible person who gets taken advantage of; a soft touch. Literally 'young pigeon'.

palone

General

Used affectionately or descriptively for any woman in the scene.

palone-omi

General

A lesbian, in the old coded language of British gay men. It's the word order flipped from 'omi-palone' (an effeminate or gay man): here 'palone' (woman) comes first, 'omi' (man) second — a woman with masculine qualities. Polari built whole identities out of two stock words and a switch of order, which tells you everything about how economical and sly the language was.

pamp

Internet

An intentional misspelling of 'pump', used to celebrate or will a price surge, as in 'pamp it'. The counterpart is 'dump'.

pamp it

Internet

A deliberately misspelled, hype version of 'pump it,' shouted in chats to will a coin's price upward. The broken spelling is the joke.

pan-pan

General

An internationally recognized urgency signal indicating a situation that is serious but does not pose immediate, grave danger to life or vessel — one level below Mayday.

pana

General

A very common Caribbean term for a close friend or pal, used across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and beyond.

panad

General

A cup of tea (or coffee — context decides). Shortened from Welsh 'paned,' itself from 'cwpanaid' (a cupful). Slotted seamlessly into English-speaking Wales as the default offer the second anyone walks through the door. Everything stops for a panad.