Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

Cockney rhyming slang for 'look', almost always shortened to 'butcher's'.

A rider who is hard on their equipment and is always snapping, bending, or destroying bike parts. It refers to how roughly they treat the bike rather than their skill.

A ballroom category and the title of Marlon Bailey's landmark book on the scene. Butch queens (gay men) walk in pumps, masculine identity meeting feminine footwear and presentation, deliberately blending genders in a single performance. It captures one of the things ballroom does best: refusing to keep gender in tidy boxes and turning the mix itself into the artistry.

A butch queen up in pumps — also called butch queen up in drags — is a gay man in the ball scene serving a full female illusion: heels, face, the whole feminine presentation, but only for the category. He doesn't live as a woman or medically transition; the drag is the performance, then it comes off. The phrase is the title of Marlon Bailey's landmark ballroom study and a core entry in the scene's gender vocabulary.

In ballroom's gender system, a butch queen is a gay man. 'Up in drags' means he's serving full female illusion for the ball, hair, face, gown, the works, while still living as a gay man, not transitioning and not identifying as a woman. It's a distinct lane in the system, separate from femme queens (trans women) and from butch queens walking as men. The drag is the performance for the floor, not the life.

One of the gender categories in ballroom's own system. A butch queen (a gay or bisexual cis man) who walks the ball serving a full female illusion — face, body, hips, the whole fantasy — but who lives as a man and hasn't medically transitioned. It's a performance lane, not an identity claim. Historically it doubled as a proving ground for femme queens in training: people questioning their gender could test the waters in drag without committing. Ballroom built its own six-part gender model (butch queen, femme queen, butch, woman, man/trade, and butch queen up in drag) decades before the mainstream argued about any of it.

In ballroom's gender system, a butch queen is a gay or bisexual cisgender man. It's not an insult and it's not about being macho — it's a precise category label. Butch queens make up the biggest slice of the scene, and within their categories they can present anywhere from hard masculine (Realness, Sex Siren) all the way to full feminine illusion (Butch Queen Up in Pumps). The term comes straight out of Marlon Bailey's documentation of the culture and the scene's own vocabulary.

In ballroom terms, 'butch' refers to a trans man, and to the corresponding performance category. Butches walk categories built around their identity — including runway interpretations of European and American fashion-show looks. It's distinct from the wider lesbian/general use of 'butch'; here it's a specific ballroom designation tied to the scene's gender-category system.

A traditional simple cottage of two rooms — the 'but' (outer/kitchen) and the 'ben' (inner room).

A distinctively Scots use of 'but' placed at the end of a clause, meaning 'though' or 'however'.

Frantically busy or unable to keep still.

A brevity code directing aircraft to fly at maximum continuous speed — full military power without afterburner.

The verdict you never want. Busted means sloppy, ugly, or unfinished, especially a look or a face that missed the mark. The direct opposite of beat. On the runway it's the difference between a queen and a 'who let her out the house'.

An intensified form of "bussin," reserving the highest praise for exceptionally tasty food. The doubling stresses how good it is.

A soft shredded paratha flatbread cooked and beaten so it looks like a 'busted-up shirt'. Also written buss-up-shot.

To break into a 'wine' — a hip-gyrating dance; a call to dance in dancehall/soca.

To organise or head off to a casual social outing.

To give or send something — usually money, a message, or a favour. 'Buss me the link', 'buss me a ten' — basic transactional MLE.

Overwhelmed with work, like a one-armed man trying to hang wallpaper.

An armed robber or outlaw who hid in the bush; Ned Kelly is the most famous.

The polyurethane rings inside a truck around the kingpin that compress when the rider leans, determining how easily the board turns.

Describing minor-league-caliber play or classless, unprofessional behavior; the 'bushes' are the low minors.

Dealing a massive amount of damage almost instantly, usually a full combo that deletes a squishy target before they can react. Assassins and burst mages live on it, you're dead before the health bar finishes dropping.

Exhausted and depleted from chronic overwork or stress, often with lost motivation.