In the early years of SFist, one of our Gothamist overlords told us we should sign up for this (since discontinued, I thought) email-alert system from Urban Dictionary that would let us know when a local slang term was popularized. In the intervening decade, I can't recall ever seeing anything of note. That is, until today, when my inbox got a message about the San Francisco Hitchhike.

My first thought, of course, was that this was somehow related to John Waters's recent book, Carsick (capsule review: first two sections are for Waters superfans only, third section is completely wonderful!), which details how he hitchhiked from Baltimore to his new apartment in San Francisco. John Waters seems like the kind of guy who could've somehow commandeered Urban Dictionary for his own purposes, right?

However, that was not the case. Here is what a San Francisco Hitchhike is, per the entry posted to Urban Dictionary today:

The act of tucking your penis back and then proceeding to jerk yourself off from the back while your thumb is extended into your butthole.

Or, to use it in a sentence:

Ray was feeling frisky today, so he tucked it back and gave himself a good ol' San Francisco Hitchhike.

As I reread that, it has a certain Watersian quality, I suppose. But, anyway, now you know.

Ever think our modern slang leaves a little something something to be desired? Between LOL-worthy emoticons and obvs totes irritating abbreviations, sometimes it doesn't seem like our generation is really adding much to the English language (sorry about making "Googling" a verb, future generations!). Then again, we don't even have to come up with anything new—not when we can just re-appropriate some now-forgotten 19th century gems!

Inspired by BBC America's Copper, a gripping new cop-drama series set in 1860s New York City from Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana, we decided to look into some of the more interesting turns of phrase used by many New Yorkers of the time. And were they ever creative with their cussing. Plus, stick around for an exclusive Copper trailer!

Check out Rafael Casal's "Bay Area Slang Top 100".

Any slang terms Casal missed?

[via Eye On Blogs]

(By Eyleen Tavy)

Following a link on the always-excellent Eater SF's Board Wrap (they lurk so we don't have to), we came across this sterling remark: "A friend of mine who lives in the Financial District asked me not to call it FiDi."

What? We didn't know this was bad. We feel like the well-meaning folks who try to engage us when we go back home to Delaware, all "So how's it in San Fran?" Readers, what about it? Is "FiDI" the nabe equivalent of "Frisco", and we're too uncool to know, until now? Or is this forum poster's "friend" a bit, shall we say, of a prig?

Image credit: Orin Optiglot