dick

v. to watch or to keep under surveillance. Subjects: English, Ireland, United Kingdom, Military

Editorial Note: There are also, of course, a wide variety of sex-related slang homonyms that are well-covered elsewhere. Etymological Note: The Historical Dictionary of American Slang attributes this verb to the English Romani dik “to look, see,” in turn said to be from the Hindi dekkhna, but its latest cite is 1935. The cites below show that the verb is still in current use. Also related are dick ‘detective’ or ‘police officer’ and to keep dick, defined in the English Dialect Dictionary as “to keep watch” and attributed to County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

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Citations: 2001 David Sharrock Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom) (June 21) “Ulster victims’ story `suppressed’” p. 14: The group complains that the practice of “dicking”—terrorist surveillance of the homes and movements of serving or retired members of the security forces, to keep them as potential targets—remains widespread. 2004 Stephen Farrell @ Baghdad, Iraq Times (London, England) (Apr. 22) “Basra blasts show nowhere is safe now”: Last summer, officers said that they were convinced that British troops were being expertly “dicked”—kept under surveillance—by unknown hostile elements intent on working out their patterns of movement and response to incidents. 2004 Peter Beaumont Observer (United Kingdom) (Oct. 24) “Fear drives reporters to rooftops” p. 6: The security personnel who work for many of the larger media organisations call this being “dicked.” It was given a graphic illustration earlier this month with the kidnapping of Australian television journalist John Martinkus, who was released after his captors checked his bona fides on the internet. During his captivity he learned—to his shock—that he had been stalked for three days, without knowing it, before he was snatched. Since April, amid kidnappings and murders of Westerners in Iraq, the “dicking” of the media has reached such epidemic proportions that few journalists who remain in Baghdad feel either safe or able to function at their job. 2006 James Meek Guardian (United Kingdom) (Oct. 14) “In their minds, all they want to do is kill English soldiers”: The paras knew they were being watched—the sort of apparently casual, apparently civilian, yet purposeful surveillance the British army calls “dicking”—but there was no violence. The paras went unmolested on patrol; they wore soft hats. Then, one night in late June, everything changed. 2006 John Humphrys @ Basra, Iraq BBC News (Oct. 23) “Dangers remain for British in Iraq”: We’re about to cross a river, and I ask the reason for stopping here and having the men deployed around the place? “The reason for stopping is that a bridge by its nature forms a vulnerable point,” another of the men says. This is where they might have what is known as a “dicking screen.” “It’s very easy for locals and or insurgents, to view military traffic crossing this bridge, therefore we put in place what we call a “dicking screen.”

Posted 25 Oct 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend