Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

A massive round loaf of sesame-topped Sicilian bread split and layered with mortadella, salami, capicola, mozzarella, provolone and — the non-negotiable part — a briny chopped olive salad that soaks into the bread. Cut in quarters. One sandwich feeds a family.

When a player touches a kicked ball while trying to catch it but fails to secure possession, making it live.

Smooth, persuasive talk or flirtatious flattery. 'No te dejes llevar por su muela' = don't fall for his sweet talk.

Site nickname for whoever's working the wet stuff — joint compound on drywall seams, or plaster on lath. Overlaps with taper but skews older and broader. If there's a bucket of mud and a hawk in his hand, he's the mudman.

If you sound like you're transmitting from the bottom of a pond, you're a mud duck. Weak signal, garbled audio, the kind of voice the other drivers have to strain to hear. Could be a bad antenna, low power, or just a long way out. Said more in pity than in malice — unless you're also a bucket mouth, in which case good luck.

Large or great in size or amount; 'mony a mickle maks a muckle'.

A shovel. Same job as a goon spoon, different flavour of insult — this one is about the mud, slurry and general muck you're going to be relocating with it. Heard a lot on civil, drainage and groundworks crews.

The 'Meal, Ready-to-Eat,' the individual packaged field ration, joked about with backronyms like 'Meals Refusing to Exit' and 'Meal, Rarely Edible.'

Someone who identifies with the men's rights movement — usually framing men as the systemically disadvantaged side in custody, suicide rates, false accusations, conscription, etc. The Southern Poverty Law Center considers parts of the movement misogynist; supporters argue real issues get drowned out by the label.

Mr. Drummer was the heavier, more fetish-forward cousin of IML, named for Drummer — the most successful American leather magazine. Drummer launched in 1975 in Los Angeles, moved to San Francisco in 1977 after police harassment, and ran its International Mr. Drummer contests there yearly from 1981 until the magazine folded in 1999. A note: it's sometimes mis-dated to 1979, but the contest itself started in 1981.

Muscle Protein Synthesis, the process by which the body repairs and builds new muscle protein; protein intake and training drive it up.

A mole; 'mowdiewort' is the fuller form.

Gaining a first down, which requires the chain crew to reset the 10-yard chains to a new spot.

Acting in a way that is out of order, reckless, or disloyal.

A move, scheme, or shady side deal/affair; 'movidas' are shady dealings.

To create a change substantial enough that people or metrics will actually register it, typically on a KPI. If it doesn't move the needle, it isn't worth doing.

To produce a change large enough to be noticed on a key metric, used interchangeably with 'move the needle'.

A hardware gadget or software tool that moves the cursor automatically to keep a computer 'active' and simulate that a remote worker is present and working.

A small foam or felt plug — sometimes a wad of plastic bag — shot through an empty conduit with a vacuum or compressed air, dragging a pull string behind it. Once the string's through, you use it to pull the actual wires. Called a mouse because it scurries through the pipe.

Planting your weapon on a wall, ledge or window so recoil drops and your aim steadies. Turns a spray-happy gun into a laser for holding angles.

Hammered. So drunk you've gone off, like food left out too long. Common across Ireland — nothing to do with fungus, everything to do with twelve pints and a shot of Jameson.

Soldier slang for flies, fleas, lice, and other insects that swarmed troops in camps and foxholes — a dark joke about specks that moved.

Short for motivated. In the Corps it almost always lands sarcastic — the boot who irons creases into his cammies, the lance corporal who quotes the rifleman's creed unprompted, the guy with the Eagle-Globe-Anchor tattoo before he's even left MCRD. Genuine moto exists; it's just rarer than the mocking kind.

Making money or progressing successfully in business, music, or hustles.