bender.) It wasn’t a bad accident, just
a rear-ender. My neck was hurt in a
back-ender.red gravyn.blood. Your nose bleeding?
You got red gravy on your face. If you’re
gonna pick your scabs, keep your red gravy
and stuff off me!
red hot 1. mod. important; in great de-
mand. This is a red hot item. Everybody
wants one. The stock market is a red hot
issue right now. 2. n. a hot dog; a frank-
furter. “Get your red hots right here!”
shouted the vendor. In Chicago they
never eat red hots with catsup!
red-hot maman. an exciting woman; a
sexually exciting or excited woman.
Clare is really a red-hot mama! I’m no
red-hot mama, just a country girl.
red inkn. debt; indebtedness as shown in
red ink on a financial statement. There
is too much red ink in my financial state-
ment. Too much red ink and the com-
pany will collapse.
red-letter dayn. an important day that
might well be marked in red on the cal-
endar. Today was a red-letter day in our
history. It was a red-letter day for our
club.
redneck 1. n. a stereotypic southern bigot.
(Derogatory. Also a term of address.)
Those rednecks can hardly read. Look,
you stupid redneck, try to understand. 2.
mod. in the manner of a southern bigot.
I don’t follow that kind of redneck think-
ing. The candidate didn’t want the red-
neck vote.
red tapen. bureaucratic annoyances; bu-
reaucratic forms and procedures. (Typi-
cally with cut as in the example.) If you
deal with the government, you will have to
put up with lots of red tape. I have a
friend who knows how to cut through red
tape.
red tiden. a menstrual period. (Punning
on the name of a tidal phenomenon
where the water appears reddish owing to
the presence of certain kinds of micro-
scopic creatures.) Sorry, she’s down
with the red tide and really prefers to stay
home.
reefGo to reefer.
reefer[“rif#] 1. n. a refrigerator. Please
put the milk in the reefer. A new reefer
costs nearly $1000! 2. and reefn. can-
nabis; a marijuana cigarette. (Drugs.)
He had a reefer in his hand when he was
busted. Don’t stall the reefer. Pass it on.
ref[rEf] 1. n. a referee. (Also a term of ad-
dress.) Hey, ref! Get some glasses!
The ref did a fine job. 2. tv. to referee
something, such as a game. Are you go-
ing to ref this one, or am I? I don’t like
to ref night games.
regsn. regulations. Follow the regs or pay
the penalty. There is a list of regs posted
on the back of your door.
reinvent the wheeltv. to make unneces-
sary or redundant preparations. Yo u
don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Read up
on what others have done. I don’t have
time to reinvent the wheel.
rent(al)sn. one’s parents. (Teens. See also
(parental) units. Also a term of address.)
I’ll have to ask my rents. Hey, rentals,
let’s go out for dinner.
rentsGo to rent(al)s.
rep[rEp] 1. n. a representative, usually a
sales representative. Please ask your rep
to stop by my office. Our rep will be in
your area tomorrow. 2. n. someone’s rep-
utation. I hope this doesn’t ruin my rep.
I’ve got my own rep to think about. 3.
n. repertory theater. He spent a year in
rep on the East Coast. Rep is the best
place to get experience, but not to make
connections.
repo[“ripo] 1. n. a repossessed car. It’s
a repo, and I got it cheap. I’d rather have
a plain used car than a repo. 2. tv. to re-
possess a car. Some guy came around
and tried to repo my car. She’s good at
repoing family cars.
repo man[“ripo “mAn] n. a man who re-
possesses cars for a living. What kind
of guy is lower than a repo man? I’d
rather beg than get a job as a repo man.
ret[rEt] n. a tobacco cigarette. (Collegiate.)
You got a ret I can bum? Give my
buddy a ret, will you?red gravy