Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

(Amelia) #1
transfer information to or from a record-
ing medium. Something here won’t
track. Must be the stylus. This thing
won’t track. What’s wrong? 2. in. [for a
person] to make sense. (Usually in the
negative.) She wasn’t tracking. There
was no sense in trying to talk to her be-
fore she came out of it. I gave up on the
lecturer. He wasn’t tracking. 3. in. to co-
incide; to agree; to jibe. These two
things don’t track. I don’t know what’s
wrong. Your figures don’t track with
mine. What’s wrong?

trad[trAd] mod. traditional. The ap-
proach is sort of trad, but so what? A
more trad style might make the grownups
more comfortable.


traf[trAf] n. a release of intestinal gas.
(This is fart spelled backwards. Usually
objectionable.) Who let the traf? 
This place smells like a traf.


tragic-magicn. heroin. This tragic-
magic, which has swept over the land, has
taken too many of our youth. This
tragic-magic stuff has hurt lots of my
friends.


trailer trashn. the poorest of people who
live in run-down house trailers. (Used
with singular or plural force. Rude and
derogatory.) She’s just trailer trash.
Probably doesn’t even own shoes.


trammeled[“trAmld] mod. alcohol intoxi-
cated. (Collegiate.) Jim came home
trammeled and was sick on the carpet. 
Wow, is she trammeled!


tranny[“trAni] n. an automobile transmis-
sion. It looks like you get a new tranny,
and I get 900 bucks. What kind of
tranny does that baby have?


trans[trAnts] n. an automobile. (From
transportation.)  I don’t have any
trans—I can’t get myself anywhere. 
What are you using for trans these days?


trap 1. n. the mouth. (Crude.) Shut your
trap! Put this in your trap and chew it
up. 2. n. a low place; a dive. I want out
of this trap! This trap is a mess. Clean
it up!


trash 1. tv. to throw something away. 
Trash this stuff. Nobody will ever use it.
I’ll take it. Don’t trash it. 2. n. a low,
worthless person; worthless people. 
The guy is trash! Stay away from him. 
Running around with that trash—no won-
der he’s in trouble. 3. tv. to vandalize
something.  Somebody trashed the
statue with spray paint. Who trashed
my room? 4. n. an act of vandalism. 
Who quarterbacked the bus trash? The
trash the other night was a real travesty. 5.
tv. to beat, as in a ball game. Yo u
trashed us this game, but watch out next
season! The Jets trashed the Wall-
bangers, 48-13. 6. tv. to libel someone. 
He seemed content to trash the mayor. 
Who is the chick who was trashing Bart in
the newspapers?
trashedmod. alcohol or drug intoxicated.
(Collegiate.) They were trashed beyond
help. Let’s all get trashed and raid the
girls’ dorm.

Trash it!exclam. Throw it away! We d on’t
have space for this old chair. Trash it!
trash mouthn. someone who uses obscene
language. Shut up, trash mouth. 
Some trash mouth is making everybody
mad over in the park.

trashymod. cheap; obscene; low; (sexually)
promiscuous. What a trashy movie! 
Cut out the trashy talk, you guys.
tree-suitn.a wooden coffin. Yo u’d b e t -
ter shut up if you don’t want to end up
wearing a tree-suit. We put him in a
tree-suit and slid him into the ground.

trekkie[“trEki] n. a fan ofStar Trek,the
television series and the movies. There
is a convention of trekkies in Milwaukee
this weekend. The trekkies seem to have
their own language.
trendyn.someone who has to be right in
style or first with the latest trend. Bob
is one of those trendies. He had a ring on
his hand before anyone else. All the
trandies are wearing pink and charcoal
clothing this month.

trial balloonn. a test of someone’s reac-
tion. It was just a trial balloon, and it

trial balloon
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