lot lizard

English

Etymology

The term was popularized by the 2000 novel Sarah, a fictional account of the life of a truck stop prostitute.

Pronunciation

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Noun

lot lizard (plural lot lizards)

1. (slang, US) A prostitute at a truck stop.
   • 1986, University of Kansas City Review, volume 53:

     Maybe he's doin' a run to Shakey Town where some lot lizard checks his dip stick.

   • 2000, JT LeRoy (Laura Albert), Sarah:

     […] the most famous "lot lizard", or truck stop whore, in the business.

   • 2000, Green Day, Misery:

     Virginia was a lot lizard from F.L.A. / She had a compound fracture in the trunk.

   • 2019, S. J. Maher, Social Misconduct, page 241:

     “I'm not a lot lizard,” I say. “I'm just passing through.”

2. (slang, US, by extension) A girl who loiters at any location that can be described as a lot, looking for a sexual encounter.
   • 1994, Steven Michael Ortiz, When Happiness Ends and Coping Begins, page 238:

     In discussing the “lot lizards” who hang out in car lots Lisa comments: This will amaze you. A lot of professional athletes have bought car lots, used dealerships. There [are] girls that hang out in car lots.

   • 2003, Bret Witter ·, Carnival Undercover, page 195:

     Then there are the lot lizards: Locals attracted to the danger and anonymity of a carny sexual encounter.

   • 2009, J. J. Colagrande, Headz, page 141:

     He arrived in the middle of the night and looked for spun out lot lizards that couldn't sleep. He lured them to one of his comrade's tents with pharmaceuticals, and then he had his way. But he never ventured inside the festival.

3. (derogatory) A poor and uneducated person.
   • 1993, Manufactured Home Merchandiser - Volumes 41-42, page 21:

     The art of selling Attractive homes and interest rates don't help a retailer/builder much, however, if salespeople treat customers like “lot lizards."

   • 1994, Susan Baur, Confiding:

     And Larry across from them — fuckin' dumbo, that guy, a regular lot lizard.

   • 2013, K. Halnon, The Consumption of Inequality: Weapons of Mass Distraction, page 102:

     The ideologically loaded “lot lizard” caricature of poor white males, an elaborated compilation of the redneck, drunk, and wife beater, is featured on the Blue-Collar TV skit titled "White Trash Days of Our Lives" […] One skit opens inside a trailer showing Bill Engvall in lot lizard drag with a mullet haircut, a bloodstained, dirt-soiled, and ripped white tank top (wife beater), and dirty blue jeans.

4. (slang, US) A salesperson at an automobile dealership.
   • 1989, Leonard L. Berry, David R. Bennett, Carter W. Brown, Service Quality: A Profit Strategy for Financial Institutions, page 177:

     Carl Sewell, CEO of Sewell Village Cadillac in Dallas and other automobile dealerships, tells the story of how Sewell Village "lot lizards” significantly improved their performance.

   • 1990, Chris Harold Stevenson, Auto Repair Shams and Scams: How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off, page 36:

     Managers can be fine-tuned individuals, molded and bred from managerial schools, but more often they have worked their way up from "lot lizard."

   • 2005, Automobile Magazine - Volume 20, page 32:

     My last lot lizard wasn't even shaving yet .

   • 2017, Michael Bronte, The Dealership, page 274:

     Lot lizard to lot lizard, "I'd like to take her for a test drive," the new guy said as Chita walked off.

5. (slang, US) A customer at an automobile dealership to whom a vehicle is difficult to sell.
   • 2000, James Morgan, The Distance to the Moon: A Road Trip Into the American Dream, page 309:

     A 'lot lizard' was somebody who walked the sales lot and looked at every car and still didn't buy.

   • 2001, Keith Harrison, Islands West: Stories from the Coast, page 247:

     Do these ads actually move their lipstick-colour cars to the tirekickers and lot lizards and lay downs and strokers?

   • 2014, Michael W. Kramer, Managing Uncertainty in Organizational Communication, page 123:

     Some salespeople also avoided interacting with another type of previous customer that they sometimes called “lot lizards.” A 48-year-old salesman with 8 years of experience described these people: These people are professional shoppers.

6. (slang, US) A snowboarder or Skier that tailgates in the parking lot of a ski resort on a nice spring day.