Later, apparently, the fembots go to Las Vegas. In the episode, a scientist replaces six secretaries at the Office of Scientific Intelligence with six deadly fembots. The word fembot, a female robot, has been around at least since the 1970s, according to the OED, and may have made its debut in a 1976 episode of The Bionic Woman. “Bring on the fembots!” Frau Farbissinia screams. If wedding tackle weren’t slangy enough, Cockney rhyming slang for the phrase is witch’s cackle. Tackle, which refers to any piece of equipment, also means penis.

Like bits and pieces, meat and two veg, and twig and berries, wedding tackle is a euphemism for male genitalia. Crimbo is British slang for Christmas while din-din is more obviously dinner. “Don’t you remember the Crimbo din-din?” Austin's dad asks. Pork-pies are lies, and although we couldn’t find a reference for bag of trout, we're guessing the phrase means lies or malarkey too. “Are you telling a bunch pork-pies and a bag of trout?” Austin asks. Arthur Rank was a British industrialist, a serious-sounding occupation for a guy whose name is rhyming slang for wank, or masturbate.Īnother term used in the Goldmember exchange is my old China, or my old mate, where China equals china plate, and plate rhymes with mate. This example of Cockney rhyming slang is just one in a hilarious exchange in the third Austin Powers installment, Goldmember. ARTHUR RANK, MY OLD CHINA, PORK PIES, AND CRIMBO How’s your father was originally Cockney rhyming slang for lather, a state of agitation: “After the row, he was in a bit of a how’s your father.” But the phrase gained a bawdier connotation when, in the early 20th century, British comedian Harry Tate would break off in the middle of a potentially suggestive speech to address an audience member: “How’s your father?” Soon the phrase became a euphemism for sex. “I like to give my undercarriage a bit of a how's-your-father,” says Austin. While some dictionaries cite 2002 as the year of origin for thrombo, it’s obviously at least as old as this 1997 movie.Īnother British slang term for a fit of anger is eppie, which is short for 'epileptic fit.' 5. Thrombo, slang for a fit of rage, is short for thrombus, or a blood clot. “Don’t have a thrombo!” Austin tells Vanessa. What groove you might be asking? The groove on a vinyl record perhaps, with the idea of a record playing smoothly and not skipping or scratching. The word groovy comes from the phrase, in the groove, which has the same meaning. Like swinging, groovy began as jazz slang-although about 20 years earlier, in the 1930s-and has a similar meaning: playing in a brilliant and effortless way. You can’t have swing without groove, baby. Swinging in regards to sexual promiscuity originated in the mid-1960s, as such things do. This sense of swinging, which originated in the late 1950s, probably comes from a slightly earlier jazz term, referring to a musician who plays with swing, as in the style of big band. The film opens in 1960s swinging London, when everyone and everything is uninhibited, lively, and hip. The copulation sense of shag might come from an earlier meaning, “to toss about.” 2. The OED’s earliest citation is from 1770 and is from Thomas Jefferson of all people: “He had shagged his mother and begotten himself on her body.” (This quote might be in regards to a legal case involving slander. While psychedelic is from the 1950s, shag is much older. Shagadelic combines shag, to copulate, and psychedelic, hallucinatory or trippy. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines shagadelic as sexy in a psychedelic way, as well as a “general term of approval.” The word was probably coined in the Austin Powers movie. In the movie, that cunning linguist Mike Myers does more than send up James Bond-he sends up British and ‘60s slang, real and otherwise. Eighteen years ago today, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was released. Oh behave! Austin Powers is finally legal.

Cunning linguist meaning