
jabbing salute: a player giving the fans "the finger," but in a mock
fascist salute
Source: GTH
Jacanory(also spelled Jackanory): rhyming slang for a glib excuse. The
unstated rhyming component is "story." From a children's TV show where books
were serialised.
Source: Partridge
Jack, to: to quit ( in the building trade). One dissatisfied construction
worker might say to the other, "let's jack it in."
Source: LS3
Jack: a detective. Sly jack: a shop or store detective.
Source: LS2
Jack Sharps: small lake fish, a translation of the Gaelic "kickshawn."
The word then was cut down to "Jackie."
Source: Shaw III
Jacks and Ollies: children's game (also known as Fivestones). The stones
are the jacks, to be tossed in the air (five of them, one at a time), as
the marbles are picked up. In Lancashire the game was played with a marble
and the knuckle bones of sheep.
Source: LS1, SHAW III
jacksie(sometimes jaxie): one's rear end
Source: SL
Jam butty car: police patrol car
Jam butty is a jam sandwich, and the allusion is to the red stripe
painted on some police cars.
Source: LS3
Jam butty. Bread smeared with jam
Source: LS1, LS2
Jam(rhyming): parole
The rhyme is with jam roll
Source: LS4
jammy: lucky, someone who lands on his feet
Source: ODS, SL
jam rolly polly: treat served at the school canteen
Source: SL
Jangler: a piano
Source: LS2
Jangler-wangler: a pianist or a teacher of the piano.
Source: LS2
jangling: gossiping
Source: LS2
Jankers, to be on: to be put in a stockade or a military jail
Source: Partridge
Janner(also Jenner): a Cornishman, or generally a person from the West
Country, usually identifiable by a Devon accent and burr.
Source: DS
Jannock: the real truth
I'm tellin' yer an' that's jannock
Source: LS2
jar: half a pint of beer
Source: LS2
jarks(obsolete): seals
Source: A
Jars out: announcement that beer can be bought on a carry out basis
Shaw says that "jars out" also describes a "do" at which there will
be tremendous quantities of beer.
Sources: ML, LS1
Jaspers: cockroaches
Source: LS3
jaws harp: a jew's harp
Source: SL
jaxie(or jacksie): arse, bottom
Source: SL
Jeff': urination
Source: SL
jelly man: a safe breaker
Source: ZCAR
jerkbumpt, to be(obsolete): to be given a sore behind, a hot bottom
Source: A
jerkers, the: piece of playground equipment which the youngsters used
to go back and forth on and make slam against a top railing
Source: SL
Jerkyl and Hyde: an obnoxious person of unpredictable temperament
Source: IHBY
Jerry(or jirry): chamber pot
Source: LS
Jerry chandeliers: illumination shells dropped by German bombers during
the Liverpool Blitz
Source: LI30
Jesus Fluid: holy water
Source: LS2
Jesus-boots. Purra Jesus-boots. Pair of sandals.
Source: LS1,LS2
jib, to: to buck, to be uncooperative?
Source: Schur, A
Jibo: short for jiggaboo, a racial insult
Source: SL
Jigger: back alley, passageway. Jowlers were usually situated
at the top and bottom ends of a section of housing. They usually led from
one street into the next and allowed access to horse drawn bin wagons and
coal wagons. The jowlers were linked by the jiggers which ran between the
back to back houses.
Source: LS1
jigger-jerker :one who has or claims to have had frequent amorous adventures
in back alleys.
Source: LS2
Jigger-rabbit. De jigger-rabbit. A stray cat. Some scousers also use
this to refer to an alley rat.
Source: LS1, SL
Jiggered: tired, disaffected; this sometimes to refers to post-coital
"letdown."
Source: Keyes ANS
Jimmy Riddle, to have a(rhyming): to urinate
Source: LS2
Source: LS3
Jink: a Jonah, a bringer of bad luck. (back-formation from jinx, assumed
to be plural)
Source: LS2
jinking: rapid change of direction which is to throw the opposing players
off the play
Source: GTH
Jinny Greenteeth: the ghost of a child-eating female said to haunt St.
James Cemetery. In Lancashire tradition, Jinny Greenteeth was literally
the green scum on ponds, but supposed to imply the presence of a water-sprite,
or "boggart," a terror to children as they would pass a pond in which
that appearance was seen. Old Lancashire saying to children: "Jenny Greenteeth'll
fot thee if theaw'rt no' good." Jenny resembled Grindelow, a water
demon said to lurk at the bottom of a deep pit, and to stretch out its
long arms to seize children who loiter near the banks, and drag them down
below the surface, keeping them there until they are drowned. A variant
on that is Jenny lung arms, a water spirit supposed to clutch at little
children and pull them into the stream or pit which it haunted.
Source: LS2, SL, GLD
jinxes: beer bottle tops
Source: SL
Job spike: vertical metal spike on which messages about jobs to be done
were placed. In some businesses, it was known as a conker. Cf. "spike dancing"
on this list.
Source: SL
jockey: a wedge of cheese used as a makeweight by the grocer to bring
the cheese up to the requested weight, and sometimes a bit over that. Often
the jockey would be given to children who were accompanying the buyer.
It could also be a piece of bread added to get a loaf up to the legal weight,
to the joy of the children who were sent to bring it home.
Source: Shaw, SL
Jockey: extra pay(dockers)
Source: LS1
Jockey: driver of a stolen car
Source: LS4
Jockey-bar. I'm livin jockey-bar. I am living in sin.
Source: LS1
Jockeys: french fried potatoes
Source: LS3
Jocks: testicles
Source: LS2
Source: LS3
Joe Bloggs: another generic form of reference or address, as for instance
Joe Blow, etc.
Source: SI
Joe Gerk's: prison, usually the Walton gaol, (also known as "ther Gurk").
Cf. "gerk butty" on this list.
Source: LS2, LS3
Joe Baksi (rhyming): taxi
Source: LS3
Joe Palookad(rhyming): snookered, lured into a losing situation.
Source: LS3
Joe Soap: a generic name for John Q. Citizen, i.e., Joe Blow, etc
Joey: threepenny piece, or it could refer to the old silver sixpenny
piece.
Source: LS1, LS3, Moloney
Joffer: rebellious child?
Source: SL
John Peel: one who boasts of his amatory successes
Source: LS2
Johnnies: foreign seamen; among some people, it seems to have become
just another name for Pakestanis.
Source: Terry Cooke's Scotland Road; the Old Neighborhood
Source: SL
johnny, a: a contraceptive (male condom)
Source: SL
Join the mounties: to have sexual intercourse
Source: LS2
Jollop: medicine, expecially a liquid laxative. Jollop powder
was a popular purgative, too. According to some memories, it was
used to restart menstrual cycles, even sold as a magic powder to be sprinkled
on the underwear of a desired mate. Some credited it with the power
to remove an evil spell from the house.
Source: LS2, SL
jones, to get a : to feel the need for, to have an addiction to
Source: SL, ODS
joss sticks: incense sticks burned to conceal the smell of cannabis
Source: SI
Jowler: back alley, passageway, a lane between back to back houses.
Partridge cites Frank Shaw's opinion that it was a space where people passed
cheek by jowl, but notes that one dialectal meaning of "jowl" is to bump
into, which may explain the usage. Other sources take "jowler" to
mean a rather wider alley than a "jigger," which is also a "back entery."
Cf. "jigger" on this list.
Source: LS1, DS, PL
Jowler-yowler: an alley cat
Source: LS2
Joy-boy: a male prostitute
Source: LS2
Jud. George.
Source: LS1
Judas Burning: the custom in Liverpool's South End involving local children
burning an effigy of Judas on Good Friday. Some Scousers think the custom
was peculiar to Dingle. Many of the procedures there echo those of Guy
Fawkes Day, but Judas Burning itself has Mediterranean roots, particularly
in Portugal and Spain. No other English city is thought to show any trace
of Judas Burning.
Source: CJB, MM
Judas Hole, the: the observation slit in a cell door
Source: SI
Judy. Me judy. My lady-friend.
Source: LS1
Judy-scuffer: woman police officer.
Source: LS1
jug: a pint
Source: LS2
Jug, ther: the Walton Jail
Source: LS2
Juge: to crowd in, or to nestle together
Source: LTB
Jump Sunday: the Sunday prior to the Grand National when the public
tours and inspects the jumps; a reluctant lover or inadequate husband is
said to save it for Jump Sunday
Source: LS2
jumped up: This is said (often implying conceit or arrogance)
of someone who has recently or suddenly risen in status or importance.
See "jump up."
Source: OED
jumpers(obsolete): bedbugs
Source: MEM
jumping figures: children's game
Source: DBAPOI
jump-up: a person envied for having made progress; one thought of as
having gained undeserved promotion.
Source: LS2
Jungle juice: rum. It can also refer to bitters
Sources:LS1, LS3