tranny
n.— «The “snake run,” a retro design first popular in the 1970s, features bowls with modern radii for gaining speed, pipe coping for hand holds in tricks, and smooth transitions—“trannies” as the skaters call them—throughout.» —“Rough start, smooth ride” by Shasta Kearns Moore Southwest Community Connection (Portland, Oregon) July 1, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...
This word is too concretely associated with “transexual” to give this usage any validity.
Yes, but currently, as soon as you start talking about the “tranny in your car,” anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave the last 10 years is going to start thinking about rhinestones, glitter eyelashes and Eddie Murphy.
Tina, I don’t think that’s right. There is at least one other current slang meaning of “tranny” that is long-lived: transmission, as in an automobile.
There’s also the older, but now out of common use, meaning of transistor or transistor radio.