Bill Peters's definitions

eighty-six

Restaurant lingo meaning "take an item off the menu." By extension it can also mean to get rid of almost anything (including doing away with somebody). The Urbandictionary entry attributing the term to the 1980s is erroneous. I worked as a short order cook in the late 1960s and it was in use in a half dozen NewYork city joints where I worked. Oldtimers say the term was around in the 1940s and that the derivation is Article 86 of the New York Liquor Code which describes the circumstances under which liquor should be withheld from a customer.

Restaurant manager: "we ran out of chipped beef . . . eighty-six the shit on a shingle."

by Bill Peters August 21, 2006

absolute code

Among gay people there is an implicit Code of Honor: no matter how badly someone offends you, it is absolutely forbidden to expose or “out” fellow gays to their family, straight friends, or work colleagues.

No self respecting gay person would break the absolute code.

by Bill Peters November 6, 2006

five percent

A doctrine which emerged in 1960s as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam. The belief is that mankind began about one million years ago in the Mideast (Black people are today refered to as "Asiatic Black Man.") The doctrine holds that 85% of the people are presumed to be chumps, spending their life deluded and ripped off. 10% do the ripping off, are in the scams of entertainment, sports, politics, religion, business, etc., and live as fat cats but in sin. Only 5% have the knowledge and moral standing to be the world’s teachers. Non-black people are not excluded from the ranks of the potential righteous and the doctrine holds that one's works and life are more important than skin color.

The doctrine has lately undergone a vigorous ressurgence thanks in large part to hip-hop artists, particularly Busta Rhymes, Wu-Tang, Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. The movement now refers to itself as the “Nation of Gods and Earths.”

Despite trappings, the movement has only the most tenuous links to Islam. Most importantly, adherrants believe in several gods, that the words of prophets have been distorted beyond recognition and that the Five Percent are in themselves, Gods or at least the Gods' agents.

"I wanna big up Five Percent Nation Of Islam, Yeah!"

-- Busta Rhymes, from "New York Shit"

by Bill Peters October 8, 2006

silks

Some fine (expensive) clothes. Term was popularized by members of Duke Ellington's Band -- the Duke being a stickler for well dressed musicians.

Those silks look good, man. What they set you back?

by Bill Peters August 10, 2006

blue vein society

See also brown bag test
A group of African Americans which limits its membership to "blue veins" or light skinned black people. During the turn of the century there were self-proclaimed Blue Vein Societies in dozens of US cities representing the miniscule Black upper and upper-middle classes. The societies aped partician white "Blue Blood Socieities" (satirzed by Edith Wharton) and their cheif purpose seems to have been to sponsor balls as meeting places for elgible "blue veined" youth.

The African American write Charles W. Chestnutt describes the origin of the term in the quote below when talking about the Cleveland Blue Vein Society.

"Some envious outsider made the suggestion that no one was eligible for membership who was not white enough to show blue veins. The suggestion was readily adopted by those who were not of the favored few, and since that time the society, though possessing a longer and more pretentious name, had been known far and wide as the "Blue Vein Society," and its members as the "Blue Veins." "
-- Charles W. Chesnutt, "The Wife of His Youth", 1898

by Bill Peters August 19, 2006

short

Military and prison adjective for describing someone nearing the end of their tour of duty, enlistment or incarceration. A short-timer is someone who has less then 90 days to serve. A Korean War veteran told me these terms were in wide use in the late 1940s; they have been in continuous wide use in the military since then.

Sargeant: "Get you head out of your ass -- make something of yourself soldier."
Private (to self): "I'm short . . . I don't give a fuck."

by Bill Peters August 22, 2006

gerbilling

(vb) An imagined act, (obviously homophobic in origin) in which people (presumably gay men) engage in sexual thrills by inserting a live de-clawed gerbil into the anus of the other person (by the means of a tube). Urban legend asserts the frantic movement of the poor furry creature trying to escape causes sexual stimulation. Although the rumors of this practice have been around since the early 1980s, with thousands of Google references to this, not one documented case of the practice exists. Reference to "gerbilling" is nearly always done with knowledge that the tale is false; it is simply a malicious and hostile disparagement of gay people.

Out of all the internet references swearing to the veracity of gerbilling, it is telling that in almost instances, purveyors of the rumors are

>>>anonymous<<<

Anonoynmous peddling of trashy rumors meant to disparage is really chickenshit. It is about the lowest thing a person can do. (This entry is NOT ANONYNOMOUS -- if you have a problem with it, please feel free to contact me.)

by Bill Peters November 17, 2006