Dictionary of Playground Slang (Online)

Term used for what the most rank kid in the class had. A game would ensue when one child was touched by this insult to personal hygeine and they'd pass on the "mange" by tagging another child. Then, as some sort of prevention from obtaining the "mange" the rhyme "FIVE TEN, FIVE TEN, NEVER GET THE MANGE AGAIN" would be chanted by the individual whilst crossing their arms across their chest.

Describes somthing revolting or gross. From the French 'manque'.

'Manners' was a term used to point out that another kid was inferior to you, in the way they dressed, at sports, physically, or just in general. If you were 'under manners' this could also mean that you were in trouble, or being watched by a teacher in class, so had to be quiet. Obviously, it was used to tease and show that you could still continue to behave badly, whilst they were - indeed - 'under manners', I heard this all through secondary school. Incidentally, my school - Quintin Kynaston - was the school that Graham McPherson, 'Suggs' from Madness went to, and wrote the song 'Baggy Trousers' about!

(ed: another bit of history recorded for posterity!)

Pronounced with a very short vowel, unlike man as in male which had a slightly lengthened vowel; two different words.

If you say "Divvent dee that man!" it meant "Don't do that!". The final "man" shows that the speaker is adding emphasis to what is being said in order to try and persuade the other person either to do something, or not do something, or come round to a different point of view.

Womens pubic hair. Due to a strange quirk of fate, Tasmania looks exactly the same shape as the area of a womans untrimmed pubic hair. Rather suitable really - bearing in mind the state government refuses to legalise homosexuality!!

Moody, sulky, stroppy or in a tantrum. Used as in "Having a mard", "He's mardy", "He's a mard", "Mardy bastard.". (Mardy is mostly interchangeable with mard).

If you piss someone off and they are upset you say "Mmm.... mmmmm... mmmmmm..... MMMMaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrdddd" in a high pitch voice causing them to go red in the face and boil with rage hence they are Mardy.

Another contribution described it as follows: "Mostly by my cousin & her extended family around Coventry. Means moody, miserable, particularly when tired, and almost exclusively to describe females. eg "Ooooh, you're a bit mardy today" or when adults "Mardy Bitch" to describe miserable females in nightclubs.".

Apparantly a person from Somalia.

Corruption of Nightmare. Said to someone that is not doing something correctly or is having bad luck. i.e. "you are having a mare mate".

Shortening of nightmare. Playing football and screwing everything up - "he's having a mare".

Offensive term for homosexual male. Marmite is a thick brown yeast extract spread on toast and the like in the UK. Very similar to the unspeakable Vegemite of Australia.

Knowing this, the meaning of the term kind of speaks for itself.

Friend. A term of endearment in the Lancashire town of Wigan. On meeting a friend a Wigan man would very often greet him with "Alreet marrer", meaning "how are you friend".

A resident or visitor to school... or just a dopey classmate!

Derived from the Marsden centre next door to the contributors primary school, Marist Brothers at Parramatta.

Drunk as a skunk. Smashed out of the head. Pissed.

To brew tea. From brewing where the barley is left in hot water to "mash".

Term denoting a particularly egregious form of wanker, At school during the summer they would leave the fire exit door at the end of the dining hall open for ventilation. Through it you could see the fire escape for one of the boarding houses. This house (North 'A') was traditionally known for its sexual deviancy (eg amongst its members it was prized to be invited to join the Ginger Pubes Club).

One summer evening during the second sitting of dinner a commotion was caused as large numbers of diners were congregating by the door in awful fascination at the sight on the North 'A' fire escape. PD (who's name I finally removed - also used interchangeably with the more generic "Mattress Man"), having eaten in the first sitting had retired to the fire escape for a quick one off the wrist. In the throes of passion he chanced upon a discarded mattress leaning against the wall in the fire escape and vented his passions upon it fairly vigorously.

Apart from half the school witnessing this so did most of the teachers who had to come over to see what was causing the commotion in the dining hall. Subsequently even they called him Mattress Man. Needless to say he left the school soon after. This was at The Leys in Cambridge.

Pronounced, 'yer-maw' as in 'claw'. This is a classic riposte when one's string of stand-by retorts has been exhausted. The always effective 'thing to say when there is nothing else to say' and in that way it is very much the supercalifragilisticexpealidocious of the scruffy playground. When stuck for a witty rejoinder merely resort to "Oh aye...yer maw". An eternal argument winner.

Is often countered with subsequent elaborations "Aye...you're maw";"Yer fuckin' maw";and the endlessly creative and enigmatic "Aye...yer maw's baws!"

(ed: for the unenlightened, maw = mother, baw = balls)

An extreme version of a gimp.

Cow shit, cow pats.

Male dangly bits - i.e. genitalia.

Labia. A.k.a 'pussy flaps'. e.g "I spread her meat cutains and sucked her clit".