area boy
n.— «Sporadic riots continued for several days, especially in the big Idumota market on the central island of Lagos, where local thugs known as “area boys’” sought to extort protection money from traders.» —“Crisis Rocks Oil Giant” by Karl Maier in Lagos, Nigeria Africa News Service June 8, 1992. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Oofless is an antiquated bit of British slang that describes someone temporarily short on cash. It’s from ooftisch, a Yiddish-derived term for “cash placed on the table,” from German auf Tisch. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...