HE IS WATCHING YOU an Absolutely Gripping Crime Thriller With a Massive Twist

by Charlie Gallagher

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  VOCABULARY

  A & E: accident and emergency department in a hospital

  A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18

  Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression

  Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets

  Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)

  Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings

  Auld Reekie: Edinburgh

  Barm: bread roll

  Barney: argument

  Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids

  Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle

  Belt and braces: using two means to the same end, i.e. thorough

  Benefits: social security

  Bent: corrupt

  Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)

  Biscuit: cookie

  Bloke: guy

  Blow: cocaine

  Blower: telephone

  Board: as part of the promotion process in the police you will face a ‘board’ or an interview panel.

  Bob: money

  Bobby: policeman

  Breach of Licence: in a lot of cases, UK prisoners can be released early — sometimes having served only half their sentence. In this case the person released is on licence for the time he/she still has to serve and this will have good behaviour conditions. If these conditions are not met then the licence is breached and the person will be returned to prison to serve the rest of their sentence

  Brickie: a bricklayer

  Brown: street name for heroin. Usually the complete reference would be a ‘bag of brown.’

  Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead

  Bun: small cake

  Bung: bribe

  Bunk: ‘do a bunk’ means escape

  Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant

  Buy-to-let: buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit

  Call sign: characters used to identify who’s broadcasting on police radio

  Cannon: slang for a firearm of any sort

  Car park: parking lot

  Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for

  Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket

  Charity Shop: thrift store

  Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments

  Chemist: pharmacy

  Childminder: someone who looks after children for money

  Chinwag: conversation

  Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food

  Chips: French fries but thicker

  Choring: theft, usually when referring to stealing from shops/shoplifting

  CID: Criminal Investigation Department

  Civvies: civilians who work for the police

  Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)

  Cling film: plastic wrap for food

  Clock: punch

  Clutch: a pedal that needs to be pushed in order to change gear in a manual car

  Cock and bull: made up, nonsense

  Cock up: mess up, make a mistake

  Common: an area of park land/ or lower class

  Comprehensive School (Comp.): high school

  Co-op: UK supermarket chain

  Cop hold of: grab

  Copper: police officer

  Cough it: a police term for someone admitting an offence in interview.

  Council: local government

  Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit

  CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward

  Dabs: fingerprints

  Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic

  Deck: hit (verb)

  Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block

  Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character

  DI: detective inspector

  Digestive biscuit: plain cookie

  Disability benefit: in the UK, persons deemed illegible to seek or take on employment due to ill health are given an additional monthly payment called a ‘disability benefit.’

  Disqual driver: in the UK you can be disqualified from driving if you accrue twelve points or more (four offences where you receive three points for a simple speeding offence for example). There are also other ways to be disqual, such as being convicted for a drunk-drive offence.

  Do a runner: disappear

  Do one: go away

  Dooby: slang for a rolled-up cigarette containing marijuana

  Doc Martens: heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole

  Dog van: food truck usually found in industrial estates, large hardware store carparks or laybys to busy roads, these are mobile vans or trailers that serve fast food to passing customers.

  Donkey’s years: long time

  DS: detective sergeant

  Eagle: boys’ comic

  Early dart: to leave work early

  Early turn: early shift

  ED: accident and emergency department of hospital

  Effing: euphemism for fucking.

  Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg

  Enforcer: police battering ram

  Estate agent: realtor (US)

  Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)

  Fag: cigarette

  Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982

  Filth: police (insulting)

  FMO: force medical officer

  Forces: army, navy, and air force

  Fried slice: fried bread

  Fuzz: police

  Garda: Irish police

  Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold

  Gavver: a popular slang word in some parts of the UK for a police officer. Especially among the gypsy community

  GBH: one of the most serious types of assault — stands for Grievous Bodily Harm.

  Geordie: from Newcastle

  Gob: mouth; can also mean phlegm or spit

  GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community

  Graft: hard work

  Gran: grandmother

  H: slang for the class A drug ‘Heroin’

  Habdabs: extreme anxiety

  Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s

  Hard nut: tough person

  Hate crime: a hate crime is a crime committed against someone because of their race, nationality, religious beliefs or sexuality — this list is not exhaustive

  HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck

  HMP: Her Majesty's Prisons

  HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents

  Home: care home for elderly or sick people

  Inne: isn’t he

  Interpol: international police organisation

  Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services

  IPCC: the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The commission that investigates potential wrong-doing by individual officers or police forces in the UK

  Mare: short for nightmare. e.g. ‘that bloke was a right mare in interview.’

  Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman

  ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital

  JCB: a mechanical excavator

  Jerry-built: badly made

  Job (in police sense): if you respond to a 999 call as a UK police officer you may well refer to it as ‘going to a job’

  Lad: young man

  Lass: young woman

  Lift: elevator

  Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.

  Lorry: a truck

  Luftwaffe: German air force

  Milk float: these are becoming rarer in the UK. They are effectively electric flat-bed vans used
to deliver milk to homes in the early hours of the morning

  Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie

  Mobile phone: cell phone

  MOD: ministry of defence

  MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area

  Naff: lame, not good

  Nan: grandmother

  National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s

  Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain

  NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK

  Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)

  Nowt: nothing

  Number ones: all UK police officers are issued a dress uniform which is then used for formal occasions throughout their career. Internally these are known as number ones

  Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale

  Nutter: insane person

  Old bag: old woman (insulting)

  Old Bill: police

  Online: houses and persons in the UK who sell drugs often notify their potential customers by sending out text messages. They will announce themselves as ‘online.’ This means they are open for business and there are drugs on the premises

  On the blink: broken

  Owt: anything

  P&O: ferry/shipping company

  Pants: underwear (noun); bad/rubbish/terrible (adjective)

  Para: paratrooper

  Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance

  PC: police constable

  PCSO: Police Community Support Officer. Uniform officers who are not police officers but do some of the tasks that would otherwise be completed by officers

  Petrol: gasoline

  Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence

  Pillock: fool

  Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.

  Pissing down: raining

  Piss-take: a mocking act

  Pistol: an armed officer

  Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property

  Playing field: sports field

  Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)

  Plimsolls: a type of rubber-soled trainer (or sneaker)

  PNC: police national computer

  Po: slang term for the police. More often used by inner-city gangs of youths

  Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.

  Post: mail

  Prat: silly idiot

  Premier League: top English soccer division

  PSD: Professional Standards Department

  PSNI: police service of Northern Ireland

  Public Analyst: scientists who perform chemical analysis for public protection purposes

  Pushchair: stroller

  RAF: Royal Air Force

  Rag: newspaper

  Raghead: offensive term for people thought to be of Middle Eastern origin

  Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window

  Randy: horny

  Recce: reconnaissance

  Red Adair: famous oil well firefighter

  Resus: resuscitation room

  Right state: messy

  Ring: telephone (verb)

  Roadworks: repairs done to roads

  Royal Engineers: British army corps dealing with military engineering etc.

  RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

  RTC: road traffic collision

  Rugger: rugby (posh American football)

  RV: rendezvous point

  Sarge: sergeant

  SCO19: Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command

  Script: short for prescription. Heroin addicts are often prescribed a substance called methadone as a heroin alternative as part of weaning them off their addiction. Users will often refer to this as their ‘script’

  Scrote: low life

  Semi: semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only

  Shedload: a large amount

  Six bang: a stun grenade

  Shoeing: beating

  Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way

  SIO: senior investigating officer

  Sixth-form college: school for high school students in final two years

  Skag: often used in full as skaghead, slang for a heroin addict

  Skip: a large open container used for building waste

  Slapper: slag (offensive)

  Smackhead: heroin addict

  Snout: police informer

  SOCO: scene-of-crime officer

  Sod: an annoying person

  Solicitor: lawyer

  Sort: to do or make

  Sparky: electrician

  Spook: spy

  Squaddie: a soldier of low rank

  Stunner: beautiful woman

  Super: superintendent (police rank)

  Surveyor: someone who examines land and buildings professionally

  Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart

  Tabloid: newspaper

  Tac Team: shorthand for tactical team. UK police forces have a number of tactical teams, these are often six constables and a sergeant and they are specialists in door entry, search, arrest strikes and some may be armed

  Tea towel: drying cloth

  Tea: dinner (Northern English)

  Tesco: huge supermarket chain in the UK.

  The sick: on state benefits for mental or physical disability

  Thief taker: term of praise for a police officer

  Three nines: an emergency call (as in 999)

  Till: cash register

  Tip: a mess

  Tipsy: a bit drunk

  Top himself: commit suicide

  Torch: flashlight

  Totty: attractive woman

  Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)

  Trumpton: derogatory name for the fire service, often used by police

  Tutor: university teacher

  Upmarket: affluent or fancy

  Wacky baccy: cannabis

  Wally: silly person

  War Cry: Salvation Army magazine

  Wash: the washing machine

  Water board: company supplying water to an area

  White: street name in the UK for crack cocaine. Most street dealers offer both ‘brown and white,’ as it is common that they are used together

  White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck

  Widow’s weeds: black clothes worn by a widow in mourning

  Wilco: will comply, i.e. yes

  Wine gums: fruity chewy candy

  Wool-gathering: daydreaming

  WPC: Woman Police Constable (old-fashioned0

  Yob: a rude or aggressive youth or person

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