tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post6993053153992521449..comments2023-10-29T09:32:24.412-07:00Comments on Undercover Black Man: When Time magazine discovered black slangUndercover Black Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-12998126937279611242009-01-18T05:41:00.000-08:002009-01-18T05:41:00.000-08:00Posts like this are why are love this blog.This re...Posts like this are why are love this blog.<BR/><BR/>This reminds me of that scene from the movie "Undercover Brother" where The Man's minion is completely anti-black but just can't help himself bursting out into black phrases and songs. Love that movie. It's silly, but I love it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-38751601419778934172008-03-17T07:38:00.000-07:002008-03-17T07:38:00.000-07:00bad boys bad boys whatcha fin'a dowhatcha fin'a do...bad boys bad boys whatcha fin'a do<BR/>whatcha fin'a do when dey com fo you?<BR/>yaw mean?<BR/>yaw'm zane?<BR/>keep your sense of humor and everything will turn out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-58080269012684431472008-03-03T11:00:00.000-08:002008-03-03T11:00:00.000-08:00Muze: Welcome. Thanks for the comment.Brotherbrown...Muze: Welcome. Thanks for the comment.<BR/><BR/>Brotherbrown: I actually used "pootbutt" in an episode of "NYPD Blue"... a black detective talking about somebody with a "pootbutt pistol."<BR/><BR/>Thanks for adding to the conversation.Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-90059486027883089112008-03-02T11:43:00.000-08:002008-03-02T11:43:00.000-08:00Haven't heard "bootsie" meaning second rate, have ...Haven't heard "bootsie" meaning second rate, have heard "booty."<BR/><BR/>Urban legend has it that "MF" is one of those terms that crossed over.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Here's a twist: What are terms than have not crossed over?<BR/><BR/>Pootbuttbrotherbrownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14917937418151800903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-51193438596131629292008-02-28T17:12:00.000-08:002008-02-28T17:12:00.000-08:00wow. i love this post! i didn't even know phat was...wow. i love this post! i didn't even know phat was being used way back in 63. that's pretty amazing. i'll have to think of some words and come back. great post! i actually learned something. lol.Muzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02388312176758739005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-78517426435995492012008-02-28T09:44:00.000-08:002008-02-28T09:44:00.000-08:00I use "plentynine" when I am describing my own age...I use "plentynine" when I am describing my own age or someone else that doesn't want to reveal their true age.<BR/><BR/>Said quick enough and most people don't even catch it,said slower and it's a real knee slapper at the parties.Dollar Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07661567216851728503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-60721204698431484592008-02-27T15:02:00.000-08:002008-02-27T15:02:00.000-08:00The word is "Fiftyleven".MDC, I'll be shocked if t...<EM>The word is "Fiftyleven".</EM><BR/><BR/>MDC, I'll be shocked if that one ever crosses over. :^D<BR/><BR/>There are all sorts of black phrases indicating plentitude that haven't crossed over: <EM>goo-gobs</EM> being an example.<BR/><BR/>But also <EM>gang</EM>, as is: "That woman got a gang of kids."Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-67367813394165529162008-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:002008-02-27T12:23:00.000-08:00^I haven't heard fiftyleven yet. White folks say ...^I haven't heard fiftyleven yet. White folks say eleventy for large numbers (particularly to do with age). Thank you, Tolkien!<BR/><BR/>I like this discussion of beaucoup: http://tinyurl.com/2bgp4dAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-38414914984626533802008-02-27T11:36:00.000-08:002008-02-27T11:36:00.000-08:00Hi UBM,I hope this conversation is still going on....Hi UBM,<BR/><BR/>I hope this conversation is still going on. I thought of a word that the larger culture has not used yet.<BR/><BR/>The word is "Fiftyleven".<BR/><BR/>Usage; that woman has fiftyleven kids.<BR/><BR/>Meaning; a lot<BR/><BR/>Has anyone heard this used by the larger culture?Mes Deux Centshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10697034868111011343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-83098348733817690022008-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:002008-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:00"Psyched" (bein' psyched and psyching someone out)..."Psyched" (bein' psyched and psyching someone out) is the same term. It has multiple uses, all derivative of psyche and the association with psychology. The illiterates on the web just have no idea of the origins of the term/s and don't know how to freakin' spell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-38650948123856355852008-02-26T21:36:00.000-08:002008-02-26T21:36:00.000-08:00'Scuze me. But it's "git-go."Whenever I see it wr...'Scuze me. But it's "git-go."<BR/><BR/>Whenever I see it written in SAE (Standard American English), it just doesn't work for me.<BR/><BR/>"Brother" was never shortened to "bro"; it was "bruh" -- as in "brutha/bruva-man" ("brutha-man.") Again, that's white folks f*ckin' things up by shortening the SAE "brother" (instead of the way it's prononced in AAVE, African American Vernacular English) to "bro." <BR/><BR/>Like white folks talking about "wolf tickets." And now <I>we're</I> (Black folks) using the term. Sh*t. It's <I>woof</I> tickets. Like a barking dog puttin' up a ruckus/displaying aggression, dammit! Woof! Woof!<BR/><BR/>I mean jus' <I>day</I>-um.<BR/><BR/>I wish White folks would just leave our sh*t the hell alone! lolAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-87947624152090797972008-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:002008-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:00^ Sa da tay!^ Sa da tay!Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-908051406338245952008-02-26T14:32:00.000-08:002008-02-26T14:32:00.000-08:00Does anyone remember the sketch on Mad TV where th...Does anyone remember the sketch on Mad TV where there was a cadre of Black ad execs whose job it was to come up with new slang terms to insert into everyday use? The words they came up with were totally nonsensical, utterly ridiculous, but when said with attitude and confidence, seemed to make perfect sense. It was hilarious. Guess you had to be there....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-41927431211000572412008-02-26T11:21:00.000-08:002008-02-26T11:21:00.000-08:00Kevin Allman, In answer to Beaucoup, I just found ...Kevin Allman, In answer to Beaucoup, I just found it in the last paragraph of this Times article. So, it's being used by mainstream media, so I guess it isn't slang anymore...<BR/>http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/bright-lights-at-night-perhaps-not-such-a-delight/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-69284913574135073162008-02-25T18:34:00.000-08:002008-02-25T18:34:00.000-08:00^ That's crossed over. I've heard white folks on c...^ That's crossed over. I've heard white folks on cable news say it.Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-84040074754904390662008-02-25T15:54:00.000-08:002008-02-25T15:54:00.000-08:00"Shout out.""Shout out."bklyn6https://www.blogger.com/profile/03878143211808703104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-54255453939676221462008-02-25T11:06:00.000-08:002008-02-25T11:06:00.000-08:00^ "I ain't pressed." The all-purpose declaration o...^ "I ain't pressed." The all-purpose declaration of cool.<BR/><BR/>The "junk" to which you refer is spelled by the Urban Dictionary as "jawn." And I presume it's a corruption of "joint."<BR/><BR/>And "syced" is different from "psyched." "Syced" rhymes with sliced and diced. In fact, I have no idea how it's supposed to be spelled or where it derives from... but on the internets folks seem to go with "syced."Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-10803732450818585212008-02-25T07:40:00.000-08:002008-02-25T07:40:00.000-08:00I remember a kid I knew from northern California u...I remember a kid I knew from northern California using Hella all the time, back around '99, but I'm pretty sure I'd heard it before then.<BR/><BR/>I remember, growing up in DC in the 80s, a whole constellation of words treating one's degree of excitement. "Syced" or "psyched", as Dave pointed out, meant "excited" (although "psych!" was also an expression one used to indicate that one was lying or joking; "I psyched you out", presumably). If one was a little <I>too</I> psyched, one was "pressed": desperate, clingy. One way being pressed manifested was in "riding" someone else's style. As a junior-high student in DC, one lived in fear of being accused of being pressed, or of riding somebody.<BR/><BR/>There are other little DC-isms that I haven't heard too much from other spots. "Junk", pronounced closer to "joumps", indicated one's stuff or one's business.<BR/><BR/>It's much easier, actually, to remember the parts of the dialect that <I>didn't</I> become widespread; the ones that get absorbed by the rest of the culture are very difficult to remember as ever having been anything but normal. This is, it occurs to me now, a valuable function of pop culture nostaligia: when some jive turkey from a mainstream Hollywood film from the 70s uses a word like "yo", it highlights the fact that the word hadn't yet hit the mainstream at that time.Matt Norwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15303561722758722861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-90827343362259971412008-02-24T09:21:00.000-08:002008-02-24T09:21:00.000-08:00HYPHY 101 (from the perspective of a white nerd wh...HYPHY 101 (from the perspective of a white nerd who lives in East Oakland):<BR/><BR/>Yes, people do in fact say Hyphy here in The Town. <BR/><BR/>Getting hyphy is acting hyped up and kinda crazy and the hyphy "movement" is the music, the dance style and the 'scene'. Hyphy music was "underground" in the sense that it didn't come out of commercial hip hop. <BR/><BR/>Supposedly Hyphy is short for "hyper" - who knows though. I'm starting to hear middle class white kids say that so-and-so is getting "hyphy" so I suppose we can anticipate its rapid demise as a word used among Black and other "urban" youth right? Although Oakland's always had some crossover slang in my experience - like "hella".Bay Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655591736263258814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-15194334301816257662008-02-24T00:17:00.000-08:002008-02-24T00:17:00.000-08:00UBM,As far as I know "Hyphy" means to party withou...UBM,<BR/><BR/>As far as I know "Hyphy" means to party without any drama (fighting).<BR/><BR/>I think hyphy is also a type a rap music originating in the Bay area.Mes Deux Centshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10697034868111011343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-87025652387148286612008-02-23T21:36:00.000-08:002008-02-23T21:36:00.000-08:00^ Being from the Bay Area, perhaps you could expla...^ Being from the Bay Area, perhaps you could explain this one to me: <EM>hyphy</EM>.<BR/><BR/>I've never heard it uttered in real life, but I come across it every now and then on the internet.<BR/><BR/>I think the D.C. equivalent -- which I've never heard outside of D.C. -- is <EM>syced</EM>. Basically, excited.Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-47659242345938594052008-02-23T21:03:00.000-08:002008-02-23T21:03:00.000-08:00I grew up in Oakland and I've been saying "hella" ...I grew up in Oakland and I've been saying "hella" and the elementary school version, "hecka" since as long as I can remember, so it's at least 30 years old.Bay Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655591736263258814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-21516961185947215462008-02-23T19:16:00.000-08:002008-02-23T19:16:00.000-08:00^I remember "bookoo" but I didn't hear it a lot, a...^I remember "bookoo" but I didn't hear it a lot, and haven't heard it in at least 20 years! And I'm from NY.<BR/><BR/>"Son" is very popular here. "Whaddup, son?" "Knowwhutumsayin' son?" "Yo, son!" etc. It's like, every other word in a conversation is "son." I've even heard girls call each other son.<BR/><BR/>And let's not forget, "Yo!"bklyn6https://www.blogger.com/profile/03878143211808703104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-18937341482507391632008-02-23T16:01:00.000-08:002008-02-23T16:01:00.000-08:00What about "beaucoup" (or "bookoo") to mean "many"...<EM>What about "beaucoup" (or "bookoo") to mean "many"? Is that just a Louisiana term?</EM><BR/><BR/>That was common in D.C. when I was growing up in the '70s.Undercover Black Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704721024820668555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486244714643027014.post-30096798860382052462008-02-23T15:40:00.000-08:002008-02-23T15:40:00.000-08:00"Hella" is all over, but I agree that it's most po..."Hella" is all over, but I agree that it's most popular on the West Coast.<BR/><BR/>The one I (over)use is "mos def" -- not referring to Mos Def, but used to express surety: "I'll mos def be there."<BR/><BR/>What about "beaucoup" (or "bookoo") to mean "many"? Is that just a Louisiana term? After the storm I know people who used it in other parts of the country and people looked at 'em like they had two heads.Kevin Allmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14816304949142113895noreply@blogger.com