If you have travelled in a Fat Albert or relaxed in a gonkbag then you have probably been in the Army.

Fat Albert is the slang term soldiers use for a Hercules troop transport plane and a gonkbag is their name for a sleeping bag.

Many groups of like-minded people use their own lingo that baffles outsiders.

Slang guide for different groups

Hip-hop to it ... learn the slang of different groups

Hip-hop

Aight – All right.

Audi 5000 – Out of here, leaving (I'm Audi 5000 comes from the name of the car – it got recalled).

Boo – Girlfriend, boyfriend.

Cheese – Money.

Dipped – Dressed in the latest fashions.

Floss – Show off.

Hooptie – Old dilapidated car.

Jone – Provoke, make fun of.

Lunch – Act awkwardly.

Mack – Ladies' man.

Props – Respects.

Road dog – Good friend.

Shorty – Attractive person.

Smell – Understand, e.g. Ya smell me?

Wordsmith – Rapper.

Prison

Bagel – £10 wrap of heroin.

Body bags – Senior female officer.

Caser – Officer who is always reporting prisoners.

Depth charge – Prison puddings.

Dry bath – Searched when naked.

Full moon – Twelve month prison sentence.

Ghosted out – Prisoner moved without warning.

Haircut – Short sentence.

Mufti – Riot squad.

Noddy suit – Coloured prison tracksuit.

Put the bubble in – Inform on another prisoner.

Scooby doo – Prison officer.

Two'd up – Two prisoners sharing a cell.

Military

Ack ack – Anti-aircraft fire.

Admiral's Mate – Know all.

Bang box – Gun turret.

Beaded – Worried.

Bravo Zulu – Well done.

Cabbage commando – Chef.

Custard – Rifle.

Full screw – Corporal.

Grollies – Underwear.

Hang on the slack – Wait for something to happen.

Jankers – Time in military prison.

Mae West – Inflatable life jacket.

Milk run – Routine mission.

Play pussy – Hide in the clouds.

Snottie – Midshipman.

Stag – Guard duty.

Up the line – On leave.

Police

100-yard hero – Person happy to abuse the police from a distance.

Back door – Nearest pub to the police station.

Big House – Prison.

Canteen cowboy – Officer who knows it all.

Drum – Place to be raided.

End – Share of crime proceeds.

Face – Known villain.

Factory – Police station.

Ghosties – Police team that breaks through doors.

Gravel rash – Accidental damage to face of a prisoner when taken to ground.

Olympic flame – Officer who never goes out.

Onion – Sergeant (rhyming slang, onion bhaji – sargie)

Word on the street ... what the kids are saying these days

Playground

Bait – Blatantly obvious.

Bare – Hard, as in "that test was bare hard".

Brainfart – When you have forgotten what you're saying.

Chat breeze – Talk rubbish.

Cotch – Relax, chill out.

Durbrain – Stupid person.

Hench – Big and strong.

Kev – Another word for chav.

Merk – Beat up.

My bad – Personal mistake.

Randomer – Stranger.

Rinse – Play a song repeatedly.

ROFL – Roll On the Floor Laughing. Used in chatrooms (often sarcastically) when something funny is said.

Roll deep – Hang out with a large group of people.

Tank ass – Big bum.

Try this fun quiz to check your understanding of English slang

Slang Quiz: Mixed.

1. action (1)

If you're interested in American politics, the action is

in London in Washington in Tokyo

2. axe (1)

The company had to axe Georgio because he

worked too hard always came early made too many mistakes

3. beat it

If somebody tells you to "Beat it!", they're telling you to

hit something defeat something go away

4. blast (2)

The manager blasted his secretary for

forgetting to give him a message writing an excellent letter doing such a good job

5. crap (2)

Shane said that the website we showed him was crap. He thinks it's

a pretty good website a really bad website a very interesting website

6. drag

It was such a drag when my new computer

wouldn't start up worked beautifully booted up perfectly

7. fart

If someone farts, it's possible to know by using the senses of

seeing and tasting hearing and smelling touching and feeling

8. guts

It took a lot of guts for my son to

bully a smaller kid bully a bigger kid help a kid who was being bullied

9. horny

Ben got really horny while he was

mowing the lawn doing his tax return watching a wet T-shirt contest

10. rip-off (1)

If something's a rip-off, you probably

don't need it won't buy it can't fix it

Slang Quiz: Teen

1. ace (1)

Louis is an ace driver on the Formula One circuit, so he's

very good at driving golf balls highly skilled at racing fast cars an average Formula One driver

2. awesome

Francine said the most awesome thing she did on her holiday was

read an interesting book buy some clothes go skydiving for the first time

3. dork

A young person who is called a dork is probably

good at sports not good at relating to people clever at maths and science

4. dweeb

The kids call Mark a dweeb because he's

clever but he doesn't say much stupid and aggressive good-looking and smart

5. gnarly

When my kids say something is gnarly, it means they think it's

extremely good extremely bad either of the above

6. goof off | goof around

On the weekend, my son goofs off with his friends. They

study hard work part-time play computer games

7. gross

Which would most people find gross?

wearing unwashed underwear washing unworn underwear wearing underwear under water

8. hang | hang out

In their free time, most teenagers like to hang with

their parents their friends their computers

9. hickey

If someone has a hickey on their neck, they have probably

been bitten by an insect got a skin disease made love recently

10. hooky | hookey

Students who often play hooky will probably get

excellent grades poor grades very fit and strong