Slang of the Week
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A.C. Kemp
December 11, 2008

to lead apes in hell (verb phrase)
to grow old and die without having ever married (archaic)

Example:
Concerned that he might end up leading apes in hell, Tom’s mother took out an ad for him on Match.com.

Celebrity quote
“Poor Gratia in her twentieth year
Foreseeing future woe
Chose to attend a monkey here
Before an ape below”
-Eighteenth century poet William Shenstone

Have you ever wondered what a moggy might be? Or a princod? I am fairly passionate about finding words that are new to me, and when I first became interested in slang, most of those were recently coined words, especially from teenagers and contemporary music. But over the years, I’ve found that I’m equally interested in slang (like to lead apes in hell) that few have heard of because it is so old.

I recently got lost in some quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore (to borrow a phrase from Edgar Allen Poe) looking for especially peculiar lingo. For example, a bad actor in the nineteenth century got the big bird (was hissed at) whereas a good one might be... read more

New Song Translation
Womanizer / Britney Spears

New Translated Movie Quotes
No Country for Old Men
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Sex and the City
Gone Baby Gone
Knocked Up

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sex

• If you've ever wondered what to call those "dangerous" places on The Human Body, give our interactive page a try. It's illustrated! Watch out, Net Nanny! It's the Adult Slang Picture Dictionary. Find everything you always wanted to know about sex related slang and more than you wanted to know about yellow rubber ducks in this X-Rated guide. WARNING: FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. MUST BE 18 TO ENTER! Spy Girls Who is sexier: "Pussy Galore" or "Alotta Fagina"? Check out our page on the names of James Bond girls vs. Austin Powers girls.
• Sex in movies and sex in popular music.

ask ac

• CURRENTCOLUMN Can't understand American comedies on TV? Got problems with English speaking coworkers? Not sure if someone wants to beat you or is asking you for a date? Ask resident slang expert A.C. Kemp for the answers to all your language and personal problems!
• ARCHIVE Glocks, gats, tossed salad, balling the jack, drag queens and much more.

pop culture music / movies

• MUSIC Translations of American slang and explanations of cultural references in dozens of new and classic popular songs, including Missy Elliot, Barenaked Ladies, Eminem and more.
• Don't miss our MOVIE PAGE! Check it out for translations of your favorite movie quotes.

strange stuff

• Everybody poops! Learn those embarrassing bathroom related words in the illustrated guide to bodily functions! QUIZZES What are gazelles? Which is nicer: a hoopty or a whip? What’s slang for $10,000? Think you know? Check out the P.I.M.P. Quiz on slang about rappers’ status symbols. How much do you know about the origins of band names? Take the Name Game Quiz. And from the sixteenth century to the 1970s, test your knowledge of old-time sex vocabulary with our Vintage Sex Slang Quiz.Why shouldn't you name your baby Pansy, Dick or Earl? Check out BAD BABY NAMES.

all the words

• ALL THE WORDS Now you can see past editions of the weekly newsletter in our archive, with new and old American slang words, examples, celebrity quotes, information on word history and other neat stuff. Look up words alphabetically or browse through essays by week.

insults

• The Random Insult Generator. Increase your bad vocabulary with dozens of insults!
• Cruel Childhood Nicknames! Relive the horrors of your elementary school experience without expensive therapy! Includes pronunciation in realistic bully voice.

real english

• Graffiti.For a good time, click! Shots of graffiti from Cambridge and Somerville, MA GLBT. Slang from Boston's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. In Print. Photos and headlines of wacky drag queens and zit creams translated to standard English. Funny American T-SHIRT SLOGANS. If English is not your native language, check this out to make sure you aren't advertising the wrong thing about yourself!Greetings from North Carolina. Is the South different from the North? Click here to learn about opossums and bluegrass. Signs of the Times. From store names to concert posters, slang is everywhere on the streets of greater Boston!
• Get Personal. Learn some slang and maybe find your soulmate in these real newspaper personal ads.

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