I have been participating in a great post at
Undercover Black Man about Black slang words. The post is basically asking readers to think of words that have been used in the Black community that have made their way into the larger culture.
Black slang originally was a way for African Americans to communicate without being understood by Whites. This was vital during the time that African Americans were enslaved and afterword during the Jim Crow era.
Now most Black slang eventually makes its way into the mainstream. Mostly this happens through music and film. Some examples of those words are;
dissed,
Micky D's in place of McDonald's restaurant, crib, holla, dog, cheese and 5-0.
Other slang black slang words are that haven't quite yet made it to the larger culture are
fiftyleven, hyphy, hella or hecka.Then there is Black British slang with words like
criss, which means everything is cool or okay. It doesn't seem that Black British slang makes its way to the U.S. very often.
It also occurred to me that there are White slang words that have made there way into popular culture. Words like
dude, which can refer to a man or woman. Then there is
dork and
nerd. Also words like
totally,
duh and
what - ever, which are Valley Girl slang words.
The amazing thing about slang is that once most slang words work their way into the mainstream, such as being heard in advertisements for corporations, they usually die out in the communities that they originated in.
Can you think of slang words that have not made it to the mainstream?
How many mainstream slang words can you list?
What slang word(s) do you use?
