Drove (adv)
1. Profoundly stupid. i.e, “You feel hella drove.”
1. Profoundly stupid. i.e, “You feel hella drove.”
Jenky (adj.)
1. Describes something unsafe or unclean in condition.
Hoop dee (n)
1. A car that is jenky on the outside, but outfitted with a large engine and stereo inside.
Straight up (interjection)
1. A phrase expressing the truth of a statement. “You straight dropped mortar in my mouth. I’m gonna buck you, straight up.”
Synonyms: Flat down, real talk, chunk
Antonyms: trifling, trippin, goosin, playin
1. Describes something unsafe or unclean in condition.
Hoop dee (n)
1. A car that is jenky on the outside, but outfitted with a large engine and stereo inside.
Straight up (interjection)
1. A phrase expressing the truth of a statement. “You straight dropped mortar in my mouth. I’m gonna buck you, straight up.”
Synonyms: Flat down, real talk, chunk
Antonyms: trifling, trippin, goosin, playin
This summer I am working as a construction crew leader at an urban youth job-training program. I work with a team of fifteen teenagers teaching tuckpointing houses for widows and elderly people in the community. The job is, as my kids would say, “Hella tight.” Working with teenagers in the inner city comes with its own new vocabulary, and I am studying street slang like an etymologist.
“So, Gankin,” I say to T-West, “I heard you say that yesterday. Does that mean someone stole something from you, or somebody lied to you? I wrote the word down along with some possible meanings.”
“Miss Renee, you straight silly. Hil-ar-i-ous.”
“But what does it mean?”
“Uh… it’s like cheating.”
Some words have surprisingly sophisticated meanings. I asked my kids if “Buck” meant to beat-up someone.
A conference between D. T-west and J, happened:
D. “It’s punching someone.”
Me. “No, doesn’t it mean like to mug someone?”
T. “No, it’s means you punch someone once. But really hard… How do I explain this?”
J. “It means you give someone one punch.” (Here he jabbed his fist out once quickly) “And that punch is powerful enough to knock them out.”
“So, Gankin,” I say to T-West, “I heard you say that yesterday. Does that mean someone stole something from you, or somebody lied to you? I wrote the word down along with some possible meanings.”
“Miss Renee, you straight silly. Hil-ar-i-ous.”
“But what does it mean?”
“Uh… it’s like cheating.”
Some words have surprisingly sophisticated meanings. I asked my kids if “Buck” meant to beat-up someone.
A conference between D. T-west and J, happened:
D. “It’s punching someone.”
Me. “No, doesn’t it mean like to mug someone?”
T. “No, it’s means you punch someone once. But really hard… How do I explain this?”
J. “It means you give someone one punch.” (Here he jabbed his fist out once quickly) “And that punch is powerful enough to knock them out.”
Me. “Thanks, I’ll write that down.”
T-West. “Renee, you straight silly.”
-Renee B.
T-West. “Renee, you straight silly.”
-Renee B.
Interesting but way sad.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's sad at all. I love the way language evolves, how words take on different meanings and whole new words are created. Take the difference between American English and British English: it's recognizably the same language and it's still possible to communicate fairly easily; even so, some words that are commonly used here aren't even recognized as real words in the UK, and vice versa. At one point, I'm sure, people were shaking their heads and lamenting over the acceptance of "okay" into the English dictionary.
ReplyDeleteKitti, I think that Larry means the meaning of some of the words are kind of sad (gankin, buck, etc.), as a reflection of violence in our culture.
ReplyDeleteAs for the words themselves however, I, too, find them most exciting. It's exciting to have language be new and unfamiliar to me again, for it to pop and sizzle on my tongue as a try new words out. I feel this way when I learn new, standardized words as well... When I first learned the word "vicissitude" I spent all week trying to find ways to work it naturally into conversation.