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A |
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Actor |
Show-off |
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Agitate the Gravel |
To leave (hot-rodders) |
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Ankle-biter |
A child |
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Ape |
Used with go - to explode or be really mad |
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Are you writing a book? |
You're asking too many questions |
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B |
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Baby |
Cute girl, term of address for either sex |
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Back seat bingo |
Necking in a car |
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Bad news |
Depressing person |
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Bash |
Great party |
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Bent eight |
a V-8 engine (hot-rodders) |
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Big Daddy |
An older person |
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Big tickle |
Really funny |
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Bit |
An act |
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Blast |
A good time |
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Blow off |
To defeat in a race (hot-rodders) |
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Bobbed |
Shortened |
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Boss |
Great |
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Bread |
Money |
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Bug |
"You bug me" - to bother |
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Burn rubber |
To accelerate hard and fast (hot-rodders) |
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C |
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Cast an eyeball |
To look |
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Cat |
A hip person (Beats) |
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Chariot |
Car (Beats) |
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Cherry |
Originally, an unaltered car. Later, anything attractive (hot-rodders, originally) |
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Chrome-plated |
Dressed up (hot-rodders, originally) |
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Circled |
Married |
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Classy chassis |
Great body |
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Cloud 9 |
Really happy |
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Clutched |
Rejected |
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Clyde |
Term of address, usually for a normal person (Beats) |
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Cook, cookin' |
Doing it well |
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Cool |
Indefinable quality that makes something or someone extraordinary |
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Cool it |
Relax, settle down |
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Cooties |
Imaginary infestations of the truly un-cool |
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Cranked |
Excited (Beats) |
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Crazy |
"Like crazy, man" Implies an especially good thing |
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Cream |
Originally, to dent a car. Later, to badly damage (hot-rodders, originally) |
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Cruisin' for a bruisin' |
Looking for trouble |
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Cube |
A normal person |
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Cut the gas |
Be quiet! |
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Cut out |
Leave |
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D |
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Daddy-O |
Term of address (Beats) |
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D.D.T. (Drop Dead Twice) |
Response: What, and look like you? |
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Deuce |
A 1932 Ford (hot-rodders) |
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Dibs |
A claim - as in "got dibs" on that seat |
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Dig |
To understand; to approve |
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Dolly |
Cute girl |
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Don't have a cow |
Don't get so excited |
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Drag |
(hot-rodders) A short car race; (Beats) A bore |
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Duck Tail, Duck Butt or D.A. |
Hairstyle of greasers where hair in back is combed to the middle, then with end of comb, make a middle part. |
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E |
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Earthbound |
Reliable |
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Epistle |
Letter |
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Eyeball |
Look around |
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F |
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Fake Out |
A bad date |
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Fast |
Someone who was sexually active |
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Fat City |
A great thing or place; Happy |
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Fire Up |
Start your engine (hot-rodders) |
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Flat out |
Fast as you can |
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Flat-top |
Men's hairstyle. A crewcut which is flat across the top |
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Flick |
A movie |
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Flip |
To get very excited |
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Flip-top |
A convertible car |
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Floor it |
Push the accelerator to the floor (hot-rodders) |
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Fracture |
To amuse |
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Fream |
Someone who doesn't fit in |
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Frosted |
Angry |
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G |
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Get Bent! |
Disparaging remark as in "drop dead" |
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Get with it |
Understand |
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Gig |
Work, job (Beats) |
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Go ape |
Get very excited |
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Go for pinks |
A drag race where the stakes are the car's pink slip (hot-rodders) |
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Goof |
Someone who makes mistakes |
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Goopy |
Messy |
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Goose it |
Accelerate the car fully (hot-rodders) |
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Greaser |
A guy with tons of grease in his hair, which later came to describe an entire group of people. Yes, John Travolta in Grease. |
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Grody |
Sloppy, messy or dirty |
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H |
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Hang |
As in "hang out" which means to do very little |
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Haul ass |
Drive very fast (hot-rodders) |
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Heat |
Police (Beats) |
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Hep |
With it, cool. Someone who knows the situation. |
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Hip |
Someone who is cool, in the know. Very good. |
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Hipster |
Same as above |
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Hopped up |
A car modified for speed (hot-rodders) |
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Horn |
Telephone |
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Hottie |
A very fast car (hot-rodders) |
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I |
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Illuminations |
Good ideas, thoughts |
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Ivy Leaguer |
Pants style. Also any person who attended an Ivy League college |
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In orbit |
In the know |
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J |
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Jacked Up |
Car with raised front end. (hot-rodders) |
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Jacketed |
Going steady |
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Jelly Roll |
Men's hair combed up and forward on both sides, brought together in the middle of the forehead. |
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Jets |
Smarts, brains |
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K |
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Kick |
A fun or good thing; Also, a fad |
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Kill |
To really impress |
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Knuckle sandwich |
A fist in the face |
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Kookie |
Nuts, in the nicest possible way |
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L |
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Later, also later, gator |
Goodbye. See ya later, alligator. Response: after while crocodile. |
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Lay a patch |
To accelerate so rapidly that you leave a patch of rubber on the road. |
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Lay on |
To give (Beats) |
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Lighter |
A crew cut |
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Like crazy; like wow |
Really good, better than cool |
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M |
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Machine |
A car (hot-rodders) |
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Made in the shade |
Success guaranteed |
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Make out |
A kissing session |
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Make the scene |
To attend an event or activity |
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch |
From TV Westerns. Usually used to get a storyteller back on track. |
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Mirror warmer |
A piece of pastel fabric (often cashmere) tied around the rear view mirror. A 50s version of the Medieval wearing your lady's colors. |
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Most |
A in "the most" - high praise usually of the opposite sex |
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N |
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Nerd |
Same as now. Bill Gates without the money. |
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Nest |
A hair-do |
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Nod |
Drift off to sleep |
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Nosebleed |
As in hey, nosebleed - hey, stupid. Not a compliment! |
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No sweat |
No problem |
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Nowhere |
Opposite of cool. Nowheresville was a boring, bad place to be. (Beats) |
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Nuggets |
Loose change |
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O |
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Odd ball |
Someone a bit off the norm |
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Off the line |
Start of a drag race (hot-rodders) |
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On the stick |
Pulled together. Bright, prepared... |
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P |
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Pad |
Home |
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Paper shaker |
Cheerleader or Pom Pom girl |
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Party pooper |
No fun at all |
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Passion Pit |
Drive-in movie theatre |
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Peepers |
Glasses |
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Pile up Z's |
Get some sleep |
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Pooper |
No fun at all |
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Pop the Clutch |
Release the clutch pedal quickly so as to get a fast start |
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Pound |
Beat up |
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Punch it |
Step on the gas (hot-rodders) |
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R |
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Radioactive |
Very popular |
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Rag Top |
A convertible car |
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Rap |
To tattle on someone (Beats) |
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Rattle your cage |
Get upset |
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Raunchy |
Messy or gross in some other way |
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Razz my berries |
Excite or impress me |
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Real gone |
Very much in love. Also unstable. Hmm, there's a difference? |
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Reds |
The Communists |
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Righto |
Okay |
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Rock |
A diamond |
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Rocket |
A car (hot-rodders) |
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Rod |
A car (hot-rodders) |
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Royal shaft |
Badly or unfairly treated |
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S |
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Scream |
Go fast |
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Screamer |
A hot rod |
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Shoot low, they're riding Shetlands |
Be careful |
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Shot down |
Failed |
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Shuck, shuckster |
A deceiver, liar or cheat |
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Sides |
Vinyl records |
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Sing |
To tattle or inform on someone (Beats) |
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Sounds |
Music |
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Souped up |
A car modified to go fast |
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Spaz |
Someone who is uncoordinated. A clutz. |
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Split |
Leave |
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Square |
A regular, normal person. A conformist. |
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Stacked |
A woman with large er, ah...you know, well endowed. |
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Stack up |
To wreck a car (hotrodder) |
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Submarine races |
While waiting for the submarines to race, which might take quite awhile :>) couples found creative ways of killing the time. |
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Subterranean |
A hipster. Used by both Ginsberg and Kerouac. (Beats) |
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T |
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Tank |
A large sedan (usually driven by parents) |
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Tear ass |
Drive (or go) very fast |
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That's close |
Something wrong or not true |
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Think Fast |
Usually said right before someone threw something at you |
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Threads |
Clothes |
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Tight |
Good friends |
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Total |
To completely destroy, most often in reference to a car |
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U |
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Unreal |
Exceptional |
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W |
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Wail |
Go fast |
|
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Wazoo |
Your rear end |
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Weed |
A cigarette |
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Wet rag |
Someone who's just no fun |
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Word from the bird |
The truth (Beats) |
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What's buzzin, cuzzin |
What's new? |
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What's you tale, nightingale |
What's the story? |
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Wheelie |
Left the car's front wheels off the ground by rapid acceleration |
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Credit |
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This list of slang was taken from http://www.fiftiesweb.com/. |
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