"T" Slang

talk to the hand

Pop

A way to end an argument by shutting the other person out completely.

talkin' crazy

Street

Saying something disrespectful or out of line, usually aimed at someone in particular.

talking

Internet

To be in the early, undefined phase of romantic communication and hanging out with someone, short of formally dating. 'We're talking' signals interest without commitment.

talking stage

Internet

Used to describe romantic limbo where feelings exist but commitment doesn't.

tall poppy syndrome

General

The cultural tendency to criticise or cut down people who are successful or stand out.

tallawah

General

Physically or mentally strong, sturdy and brave — famously in the proverb 'wi likkle but wi tallawah' (small but mighty).

tally

General

A brevity code reporting a sighting of a target, non-friendly aircraft, or enemy position; the opposite of 'No Joy'. It does not refer to friendly aircraft (that is 'Visual').

talmbout

Street

Used to introduce a wild or surprising claim someone just made.

tam

General

A large, deep knitted or crocheted cap (often red-gold-green) used by Rastas to hold their dreadlocks.

tampin mad

General

An intensified form of 'tamping', leaving no doubt about the depth of the anger.

tamping

General

Raging. Not mildly annoyed — properly seething, stamping-mad. Heard all over the South Wales Valleys, especially Cardiff and the surrounding towns. Usually 'tamping mad' or just 'tamping' on its own.

tandem surfing

General

Two people riding a single board together, usually with the smaller partner lifted and balanced in acrobatic poses.

tango down

General

Phonetic-flavored slang meaning a target (enemy) has been neutralized or killed — 'Tango' for T (target) plus 'down'.

tango mike

General

Phonetic-alphabet slang for 'thanks much' (T and M), a quick radio expression of gratitude.

tank and spank

Gaming

A fight with no gimmicks. Tank grabs the boss and faces it away, DPS stand behind and burn it down, healer keeps the tank up. Easy.

tankbuster

Gaming

A big boss attack aimed at the current tank. Designed to chunk or one-shot anyone who isn't built to eat it, so tanks pop mit and healers throw a shield.

tankentai

Internet

A Japanese word for an expedition or exploration team, occasionally borrowed by fans of adventure series.

tankobon

Internet

A standalone book that compiles several chapters of a manga previously serialised in a magazine, often with redrawn art, bonus pages and author notes. This is the standard format fans buy and collect.

tankobon-only

Internet

Describes fans who wait for bound volumes instead of following serialised chapters, trading immediacy for a cleaner binge.

tankoubon

Internet

A bound volume collecting serialized manga chapters, sometimes with extras and revised art. This spelling reflects the long ō vowel of the Japanese.

tanner

Internet

British slang for the pre-decimal sixpence coin.

tantalize

General

To tease, taunt, or provoke someone, often persistently and irritatingly.

tantie

General

An affectionate and respectful term for an aunt or older woman, a variant of 'tanty'.

tanty

General

An affectionate term for an aunt, or by extension any older woman one respects.

tap

General

Short for a diagnostic or therapeutic puncture that draws off fluid, most often a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) but also chest or abdominal taps.

tap strafe

Gaming

An Apex Legends movement trick where you tap forward (usually bound to the scroll wheel) mid-air to redirect your momentum almost 90 degrees while keeping speed. Makes you a nightmare to track.

tap up

General

To approach someone to borrow money or ask a favour. Common Northern usage.

tap-in

General

An easy finish from a yard or two out, requiring only a simple touch to roll the ball over the line.

tape bomb

General

A surprise news headline that hits the wires and immediately jerks prices around. Named after the old ticker tape, the term survived into the Bloomberg era to describe any unscheduled, market-moving story, a leaked memo, a sudden resignation, a geopolitical flash.

taper

General

The trade that turns hung sheetrock into a smooth wall. Tapers apply paper or mesh tape over the joints, embed it in joint compound (mud), then float multiple coats and sand it flat. Specialist gig — good tapers earn well because bad mudwork shows under every coat of paint.

tapón

General

The standard Puerto Rican word for a traffic jam; literally a 'plug' or 'cork' stopping the flow.

tapping up

General

Making an unauthorised approach to a player who is under contract at another club, without permission.

taps aff

General

Literally 'tops off'; used to mark the (rare) hot, sunny weather when Scots strip to the waist.

tapsalteerie

General

Head over heels, upside-down or in complete disarray.

tara

General

Goodbye. The everyday way half of South Wales and most of Merseyside sign off a phone call or wave you out the door. Warmer than 'bye', less formal than 'cheerio'.

tara a bit

General

A farewell meaning 'goodbye for now'. 'Tara' alone also means bye across the Midlands and North West.

tararabit

General

Goodbye for now — literally 'ta-ra a bit', i.e. bye for a bit. 'Ta-ra' is the standard Midlands/Northern bye, and tacking 'a bit' on the end softens it to 'see you in a while'. Said quick, it lands as one word: tararabit.

target man

General

A large, physically dominant centre-forward who wins headers, holds the ball up and brings others into play.

tarnation

General

A euphemistic curse used for emphasis, as in "what in tarnation."

tas

Gaming

A run assembled with emulator tools, slowdown, frame advance, save states, so every input is optimal. Not a human performance; it is the theoretical ceiling of a game.

tasbot

Gaming

A device that replays a tool-assisted run's exact button presses on genuine console hardware, frame by frame. It's how a TAS made on an emulator gets proven on the real thing.

tate

Gaming

Vertical shmups were built for arcade screens turned on their side, so you got the full tall playfield. Tate mode rotates the display 90 degrees to recreate that at home, no squished borders, full resolution. Purists insist on it.

tater

General

A folksy nickname for a home run, sometimes rendered 'long tater' for an especially deep shot.

taters

Street

Cold; the shortened form of 'potatoes in the mould'.

tatt

General

GP/hospital shorthand for a patient presenting with non-specific chronic tiredness and no clear cause.

tatt (talks all the time)

General

A secondary, tongue-in-cheek expansion of TATT for a patient who talks incessantly.

tatu aka

Street

Literally 'bite off a hand.' Used of someone who splashes money around with no restraint — a big, careless spender. Documented as Otu-Onitsha trade slang describing extravagant spending.

taxing

Street

The extortion of another prisoner's property, canteen or drugs by force or threat.