"V" Slang

v-live

Internet

A live-streaming platform (now merged into Weverse) where idols broadcast directly to fans.

v-taper

General

The prized bodybuilding silhouette of broad shoulders and lats narrowing down to a small waist, forming a V shape.

v-town

Street

Vallejo, California. Bay Area city north of Oakland, mythologised in hyphy through Mac Dre, the Thizz movement, and the Crestside.

vada

General

Polari for to look, to see, to clock. One of the most famous words in the old gay British slang, kept alive by the phrase 'bona to vada your eek', good to see your face. If you've heard Julian and Sandy on the radio or anyone camping it up in vintage Polari, you've heard vada.

vada the dolly eek

General

Classic Polari, the secret slang of mid-20th-century British gay men. Breaks down as vada (look at), dolly (pretty/nice), eek (face) — so 'look at the pretty face'. Often heard in the fuller greeting 'bona to vada your dolly old eek' ('lovely to see your pretty old face'), basically a campy 'hello, gorgeous'. Polari let gay men flirt and clock each other openly back when being gay was illegal in Britain.

vaguepost

Internet

To post something deliberately cryptic — 'wow. some people.' or 'guess I know now.' — so followers slide in asking what happened. Plausible deniability and attention in one move.

vagueposting

Internet

Posting something ominous or emotional with zero context — 'wow some people really show their true colours' — specifically to harvest concerned DMs and replies. The whole point is the unsaid bit.

vaina

General

The ultimate Dominican all-purpose word: it can mean any object, situation, or abstract thing, and shifts meaning with tone — from neutral 'thing' to an expression of anger or surprise.

valedor

General

A trusted friend or buddy, someone who has your back; often shortened to 'vale'.

valley boy

General

A young man from the South Wales Valleys — the old coal-mining belt running from Carmarthenshire across to Monmouthshire. Carries connotations of tight-knit community, rugby, choirs and a very specific lilting accent. Worn with pride by those who are one, sometimes used patronisingly by those who aren't.

valluco

Street

A person from the Rio Grande Valley. Worn like a badge — equal parts where-you're-from and how-you-carry-yourself. Carries echoes of pachuco swagger.

value proposition

General

A clear statement of the unique value a product or service delivers to customers.

value trap

Internet

A value trap is a stock that looks like a bargain on metrics like a low P/E or high dividend yield but is actually a declining business whose price keeps sinking. The apparent value is illusory.

value-add

General

Something that increases worth or provides additional benefit to a customer or process.

vampire

General

A brevity code warning of a hostile air- or surface-launched anti-ship missile inbound — a critical alert for naval air-defense.

vanilla

General

In kink, 'vanilla' means conventional, non-BDSM sex — and, by extension, a person who isn't into kink at all. It's not an insult by default; it's just the baseline flavour, the default setting. You'll hear it as an adjective ('vanilla sex,' 'a vanilla relationship') and as a noun for the person ('he's vanilla'). Plenty of people are happily vanilla, and plenty of kinksters enjoy vanilla play too. The word only gets a sting when it's used to mean 'boring.'

vape

Street

To consume cannabis by heating it into vapor rather than burning it, using a vaporizer or vape pen.

vape pen

Street

A slim, battery-powered vaporizer that heats cannabis oil, distillate or flower into inhalable vapor without combustion.

vaporware

Internet

A coin or project hyped on promises that never materialise, fading in value 'like vapor'. Often lacks a working product behind the marketing.

vaps

General

An abrupt mood or urge to do something on the spur of the moment. 'On a vaps' = acting on impulse.

varial flip

General

A flip trick that combines a kickflip with a (usually backside 180) shove-it, so the board both flips and rotates at the same time. Also called a varial kickflip.

varial heelflip

General

A flip trick combining a heelflip with a frontside shove-it, the heelflip counterpart to a varial kickflip.

variety show

Internet

A television entertainment program featuring games, talk, and challenges where idols show personality and gain fans. Key promotion outside of music.

varmint

General

A nuisance creature—raccoon, possum, coyote, or the like; sometimes applied to a disagreeable person.

varnyear

General

Nearly, almost. Drops into a sentence where most people would say 'pretty much' or 'just about'. Old-school Manc — you're more likely to hear it from your nan than your mate.

varo

General

A peso or unit of money; often pluralized as 'varos' to count cash.

varrio

Street

Same word as 'barrio', different spelling — and that spelling does work. 'Varrio' is the claimed, defended version: your neighbourhood as turf, the version you spray on a wall. Standard in SoCal Chicano gang naming.

vascular

General

Having prominent, visible veins as a result of low body fat and muscular development, often enhanced by a workout pump.

vascularity

General

The degree to which veins are visible across the muscles; increased vascularity is highly prized and signals low body fat and good blood flow.

vato

Street

A dude, a guy, a man. Neutral by default — the qualifier does the work. A 'vato firme' is a solid dude; a 'vato loco' is a crazy one you don't cross.

vato loco

General

A 'crazy dude', often referring to a wild barrio street character or gang-style youth.

vbied

General

An explosive device built into a vehicle, pronounced 'vee-bid.'

vc

Internet

Voice chat — the live audio room inside a Discord server (or the act of being in one). The default unit of hanging out on Discord; 'in VC' means 'on call right now'.

veck

General

Functions like English 'bloke' or 'guy', a neutral everyday term for a male stranger.

veg out

Pop

To relax lazily, doing little or nothing.

vega

General

How much an option's price moves when implied vol moves one percentage point. Long options are long vega — you want IV to rip. Short options are short vega — you're praying for calm. The joke: vega isn't actually a Greek letter, someone just liked the name.

vegemite

General

A thick, dark, salty spread made from yeast extract, an Australian icon eaten on toast.

velcro

General

Slang for relatives who stick to the patient (and staff) constantly, like Velcro, following every move.

venere

General

From the standard French 'enerve' (annoyed, irritated, angry). Verlan reshuffles e-ner-ve to ve-ne-re. It means angry or pissed off.

vennel

General

A narrow alley or passage, characteristic of Durham.

vent jockey

General

Slang for the respiratory therapist who manages mechanical ventilators.

vera lynn

General

Gin. Vera Lynn rhymes with gin, and in proper Cockney form it's almost always just 'a Vera'. 'Vera and Phil' (Vera and Philharmonic) gets you a gin and tonic. Dame Vera herself sued a gin brand over the association and won, which only made the rhyme more famous.

veras

Street

Cigarette rolling papers. From rhyming slang 'Vera Lynn' = skin (rolling paper).

vernors

General

A sharp, barrel-aged ginger ale created in Detroit in 1866 — one of the oldest surviving soda brands in the US. Stronger and more peppery than Canada Dry. In Michigan it's the default cure for an upset stomach and the word people reach for even when they mean any ginger ale.

versing

General

Competing against another team or person; a back-formation from 'versus' popular with kids and now widely used.

vert

General

Short for 'vertical'; a tall ramp or halfpipe whose transition curves all the way to vertical at the top, used for big airs and lip tricks.

vert ramp

General

A large half-pipe, typically over nine feet high, whose transitions go fully vertical at the top. Vert riding involves launching straight up above the coping.

vertical

General

A particular industry segment that a product or strategy targets.