The Official ‘Jersey Shore’ Dictionary: GTL, Grenades and More Guido Lingo Explained

Yeah, buddy! Though it’s been nearly a decade since we took our first trip down to the Jersey Shore, we’ve been left with an array of classic lines. And while certain acronyms and abbreviations have been burned into all of our brains and branded onto countless Seaside Heights boardwalk t-shirts, you may have forgotten what they actually mean. Now that the crew is having fun on Family Vacation, you should definitely brush up on those iconic phrases that have been immortalized in some of your favorite GIFs. But where do you start?

Well, we have you covered! From “gorilla juice head” to “pouf,” we defined some of the most common phrases, words, and important exclamations from the series.

Atomic Bomb

Meaning: The most deadly (read: large and horrifying) variant of a grenade.

Beat Up the Beat

Meaning: An elaborate and usual collaborative variant of the “fist pump” in which the pumper in question starts banging the ground and then brings that pump up to the ceiling.

Blow Out

Meaning: A charming hair-spray-and-gel style popularized by DJ Pauly D that takes about 20 minutes to do (it comes out perfect every time).

Cabs Are Here

Meaning: A proto-Uber call to arms meant to assemble a group to an awaiting motor vehicle. Variants include the Italian, “taxi arrivato!” and Spanish, “taxi sono qui!”

DTF

Meaning: Down to… oh, come on, we’re sure you’ve been suckered into enough frat parties in your youth to remember what this one is.

Fist Pump, Pushups, Chapstick

Meaning: Not a mantra, but a way of life.

Gorilla Juice Head

Meaning: Any woman’s ideal man in the early aughts of the Jersey Shore. Tan, so muscled he probably has a hard time putting his arms down (the gorilla part) and jacked up on steroids (the juice head part).

Grenade

Meaning: In the words of Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, a “fat, ugly girl.” (see also: atomic bomb, landmine, grenade launcher).

Grenade Launcher

Meaning: A larger, uglier girl (again, not our words) who is brought along to make a grenade look better by comparison.

Guido

Meaning: Pretty much any man who makes it on camera in this show, or charmingly defined by The Situation in this video, “It’s like a swag.”

Guidette

Meaning: In the immortal words of Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, “a guidette is somebody who knows how to club it up, takes really good care of themselves, has pretty hair, cakes on makeup, has tanned skin, wears the hottest heels. Pretty much they know how to own it and rock it.”

GTL

Meaning: Gym, tan, laundry — an essential, everyday ritual for any good guido or guidette.

Jersey Turnpike

Meaning: An exotic form of nearly completely diagonal grinding which has the female in question doing some sort of handstand (ugh, sounds exhausting).

Kooka

Meaning: A very charming terminology for Snooki’s… you know. Her nana. Her pinhole. Come on, guys.

Landmine

Meaning: According to Mike, the thin version of a grenade.

Meatball

Meaning: A tiny, booze-loving lady who just wants to have fun. Particularly refers to Snooki and Deena Cortese, could also refer to us if we doused ourselves in spray tan and drank too many margs at happy hour.

MVP

Meaning: A dynamic trio consisting of Mike, Vinny Guadagnino, and Pauly. Sometimes modified to MVPD to included Deena.

Pouf

Meaning: A giant hair bump, usually haphazardly held in place by a plastic clip and half-deflated by your second drink at Karma. Also known as “the Snookit” via the hairstyle’s originator.

She’s Too Young For You

Meaning: …if she still has coloring books, if she’s got a basket on her bicycle, if she still has the parental controls on her TV in her bedroom, if she only owns Snow White on DVD, if her Keds still light up (bro).

Staaaaaahp

Meaning: The thing that Rahn should be doing.

Stalker

Meaning: This girl who followed Pauly around the boardwalk in the summer of 2012.

Also this chick who we’re sure had no trouble dating after this show aired.

Staten Island Dump

Meaning: A colorful nickname for poor Angelina “Staten Island” Pivarnick from Season 1 (and Season 2? Season 1 and a half?).

Situation

Meaning: Originally this referred to the gently mangled lower torso section that Michael Sorrentini called his abs, but it also encompasses mildly to extremely dramatic circumstances that would befall the Jersey Shore house.

Sunday Night Dinner

Meaning: An important weekly gathering where everyone eats baked ziti and occasionally unpacks whatever drama-of-the-episode plagued the beach house (like, you know, any good Italian family).

T-Shirt Time

Meaning: The moment before you go out when you switch your white muscle shirt for a legitimate t-shirt (and look fresh to death, we guess).

Wasteypants

Meaning: Pretty much the state of inebriation that got Snooki arrested, so if you’re going to get wasteypants, just try not to do it mid-day in front of your reality TV crew.