Troubles

Term used to describe the violent campaigns carried out by Irish nationalist groups such as the Irish Republican Army to achieve independence from the United Kingdom.

The term applies both to the violence leading to formation of the Republic of Ireland (i.e. War of Independence and the Irish Civil War) in the early 20th century, and also to the more recent violence in and about Northern Ireland, which dated from the late 1960s.

"I lost my dad in the Troubles."

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deckwad

Some poor sap whose working life, most of his waking hours, has descended into a treadmill of PowerPoint decks: creating them, reading them, trying to stay awake while people drone on to them. Even work was better than this..

Since my promotion, I just feel like I've become a complete deckwad.

elephant

A big grey animal which features in the phrase elephant in the room. Here it can mean anything you like that reminds you of an elephant in a confined space, such as:

1) A thing that's big, really big, and everybody is embarassed by the sight of it, so they pretend it isn't there: maybe it will go away.
2) Something so big you can think of nothing else but it.
3) A thing too big to fit, but after a while you get used to it, maybe even get to like it; it defines a scary new lifestyle.

All of these describe teenage obsessions, hence the title of Gus van Sant's teenage obsession movie Elephant.

"Elephant, what elephant?"
"I'd like two eggs and an elephant, please. Oops, sorry, I meant two eggs and a sausage"
"Please be gentle, this is my first time with an elephant"

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