"R" Slang

rarity

Internet

A measure of how uncommon an NFT's trait combination is relative to the rest of its collection; higher rarity generally commands a higher price.

rark up

General

To berate or provoke someone; to stir them up or give them a talking-to.

rash guard

General

A close-fitting shirt worn surfing to protect the skin from wax rash, board abrasion and sunburn.

raspberry

Street

A derisive noise made with the tongue and lips; from 'raspberry tart' = fart.

raspberry tart

General

A fart. 'Raspberry tart' rhymes with 'fart', and the term is clipped to 'raspberry', which is why blowing a rude noise with the tongue is called 'blowing a raspberry'.

rat

Gaming

Someone who tucks away in an unexpected corner, stays quiet, and waits to ambush or scrape a win from a lost-looking round. Can be praise or an insult depending on whether it worked.

ratbag

General

A disreputable, eccentric or cheeky person; often used affectionately.

ratchet

General

Sometimes reclaimed positively as fun, unfiltered, and unbothered.

ratero

General

Common Latin American term for a petty thief or pickpocket.

ratio

Internet

On social media, when a reply to a post gets far more likes than the post itself — a sign the crowd sided against the original poster. To "ratio" someone is to bury their take this way.

ratio + l

Internet

A combo reply ("ratio + L + you fell off") used to dogpile a bad post, declaring the poster ratioed, defeated, and irrelevant. It's a meme-y put-down chain.

ratio bait

Internet

A tweet posted to provoke a tidal wave of angry quote-tweets and replies, usually a deliberately stupid or inflammatory take. The poster either wants the engagement, the clout, or both — getting ratioed is the goal, not the failure.

ratioed

Internet

To get walloped with replies vastly outnumbering likes and retweets. On Twitter/X the ratio is the scoreboard: if the replies tab is fatter than the like count, the post bombed and everyone can see it. Being ratioed is a public L, no comment from the judges needed.

ratting

Gaming

Skip the fights, stay hidden, let everyone else kill each other, then crawl out for an easy placement. It wins zero friends and it's dull as dishwater, but it gets results, so it's a real strategy.

rattle your dags

General

An instruction to hurry up, evoking the rattling dags on a running sheep.

rave

Music

Historically, an illegal or underground gathering, especially in '80s and '90s acid house culture.

raw

General

In powerlifting, lifting without supportive equipment like squat suits or bench shirts — typically only a belt and wrist wraps allowed.

raws

Internet

Original-language manga scans or anime video without translation, downloaded by fans who read ahead or scanlate.

raws-scanlator

Internet

A fan role in the scanlation pipeline who obtains and shares the raw, untranslated manga scans that translators and typesetters then work from.

rax

Gaming

Each lane has a pair of rax behind the tier-3 tower — one melee, one ranged. Crack the enemy's and the creeps you send down that lane get a beefy upgrade. Clear all three lanes of rax and you unlock mega creeps.

razz my berries

General

Used to express enthusiastic approval of something.

re-entry

General

Hitting the lip of the wave vertically and then dropping back into the wave face to continue the ride.

re-gripping

General

The act of peeling off old, worn grip tape and applying a new sheet to restore traction on the deck.

re-up

Street

To buy more cannabis after running low or out.

reaction roles

Internet

A bot-powered setup where staff post a message listing roles, and you click a reaction emoji to assign yourself one. Used for pronouns, game pings, colour roles, NSFW channel access — anything that doesn't need a human gatekeeper. The backbone of any half-decent community server.

read

Pop

Near-synonym of getting clocked: to be perceived as trans, usually by a cis person, usually when you'd rather just be seen as you. 'She read me' or 'I got read as trans' is the phrasing. Distinct from the ballroom sense of 'reading' someone (dragging their flaws to filth), though they share the same root of being sharply seen.

read back

General

A procedure word meaning "repeat this entire transmission back to me exactly as received," used to confirm critical information such as coordinates or frequencies was copied correctly.

read to filth

General

The maximum-strength version of a read. 'To filth' is the intensifier — it means total demolition, no part of the person left standing. Where a read might sting, being read to filth is a public obliteration that the audience will quote for weeks. Straight out of 1980s Black queer ballroom, where the reading tradition was a competitive art form.

readies

Street

Cash money, especially notes ready to spend.

reading

General

The original art form of insult in Black and Latine queer ballroom culture. To read someone is to find the real, specific flaw and say it out loud with surgical wit, making the crowd howl. It's confrontation as performance: sharp, deliberate, undeniable. As Dorian Corey lays it out in Paris Is Burning: 'Reading is the real art form of insult. Shade comes from reading. Reading came first.'

reading / the read

General

Reading is insult as performance art. You point out someone's flaws so precisely and so wittily that the whole room cracks up. It's not random cruelty, it's craft, you exaggerate the truth and land it clean. As Dorian Corey put it in Paris Is Burning, when you're all of the same kind, then reading becomes the real art form of insult.

reading the mail

General

When you've got the CB on, you're tuned in, you're hearing every conversation — but you're not pressing the mic. Just lurking on the channel. Truckers call that 'reading the mail.' Same energy as scrolling a group chat without posting. Useful for catching smokey reports or traffic intel without announcing yourself.

real

Internet

An intensifier meaning 'very' or 'plenty'. Also spelt rel, rehl.

real ones know

Internet

An appeal to loyalty, implying that true friends or fans already understand without it being explained.

real talk

General

A preface signaling that what follows is sincere and heartfelt, cutting past joking or posturing.

real-time all-kill

Internet

Abbreviated RAK, achieved when a song holds the top spot on every iChart real-time chart at the same moment.

reality show

Internet

A program that documents a group's everyday life, tour, or pre-debut competition, deepening fans' connection. Survival-style reality shows create groups from scratch.

realness

Pop

In ballroom, a competition category scored on how authentically and undetectably you pass as a given type — businessman, schoolgirl, military, etc.

rear admiral

General

Hospital nickname for the proctologist — the doctor whose job involves the rear end all day. Pure pun, plays the naval rank against the working area. Used in the corridor, never to the patient, and the proctologists themselves usually own it.

reasoning

General

A thoughtful discussion or exchange of ideas among Rastas, often accompanied by the sharing of herb.

reasty

General

Specifically the rancid, off taste of fat that's turned — bacon left out too long, dripping past its best, butter that's gone sour. Has since stretched to cover any food that smells or tastes properly off.

rebeu

General

Used as a self-identifier within the community, expressing a French-born North African identity.

rebú

General

A loud, boisterous group or commotion; a ruckus.

rec

Street

Scheduled recreation, or the yard/gym where it takes place.

recall

Gaming

Channeling the recall spell to teleport back to base, where you restore health and mana and spend your gold. Bound to B in League, so players just call it 'B-ing back'. Get interrupted by taking damage and the channel cancels.

receipts

Aave

Evidence — usually screenshots or messages — that proves a claim, especially in an online dispute.

reception center

Street

An intake institution where newly sentenced prisoners are assessed, classified, and then sent to a permanent prison.

reckon

General

To think or hold an opinion; often standalone as agreement ('yeah, I reckon').