"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

Biscuits

The other day I read a book in which a female porter on a march was given the nickname ‘Biscuits’ because she unashamedly lifted her skirts to go to the toilet at the side of the track.

I was at a loss as to why this should lead to her being called biscuits but upon checking found it was American slang for faeces (presumably a form of rhyming slang – biscuits / shits).

Biscuits are quite popular in rhyming slang, giving us
Knees (Biscuits and Cheese);
Rookie (Biscuit and Cookie);
Bookie (Biscuit and Cookie) ; and
Tits (Biscuits)

It seems that a biscuit is also slang for the drug ecstasy.

A friend (from the Scottish islands) also uses the word in the expressions ‘scary biscuits’ to describe a bad situation and ‘mad as a box of biscuits’ to describe a person.

What a useful word!

3 comments:

  1. Join the Club. I bet few of us had any idea. Scary biscuits.

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  2. Hmmmm...

    Anytime the word "biscuits" was used in my home growing up, it was something we were eating...now I don't want to call those yummy bready creations "biscuits".

    I've also heard mommy's call their little baby butt-cheeks..."biscuits".

    Never would I have thought it had the meanings that you've found...yucky.

    {smiles to you}

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