Lexicon

Drove (adv)
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

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.”

Me. “Thanks, I’ll write that down.”

T-West. “Renee, you straight silly.”

-Renee B.