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Folklore: Slang words
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Subject: Folklore: Slang words From: Sorcha Date: 12 Jul 05 - 03:14 PM I love 'new' slang words. Newest to me is 'hooptie' or 'hoop' meaning beat up old car. It's inner city (at least Wash DC and environs) black, drug culture ghetto slang. Came froma rap song, but why 'hooptie'? Where did it come from? Sistah Azzizi, you might know this....or some of the DC/Silver Spring folks. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Bill D Date: 12 Jul 05 - 04:57 PM I do NOT love new slang words.....I come very close to despising new slang that is created just in order to be different and stay ahead of everyone else....much of it, as 'hooptie', bears little direct resemblance to what it purports to describe. It is a divisive, confusing, awkward way to advance communication. Some slang used to be clever, useful and relevant, even if you didn't use it yourself....but much of today's is just random babble. what, me? opinionated and outdated? naaawwwww....... |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 12 Jul 05 - 05:23 PM Cripes Sorcha - don mean ta be flamboasting - but if that gets you off you will have a GREAT Time at:
http://www.rapdict.org/
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Jul 05 - 05:29 PM As another Mudcatter has put it, new ephemeral words are argot, not slang. The word must go into common usage to be slang- or at least reach puberty. Hoop-de-dooden-do! (A 19th c. phrase no longer used). |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 12 Jul 05 - 05:54 PM So some folks don't like certain group's slang? Well, to each his [or her] own...Different strokes for different folks..What's good for the goose may not be good for the gander. And all that Jazz.. It aint no biggy if someone doesn't like another persons's creative expressions, or doesn't at all see it at creative..or doesn't "get it" or attributes purposes to it that may not even be near to what it's all about for all who are 'down with it' any or all the time. But since mainstream Western culture [USA and otherwise] has so often looked to Black folks to add new life to its language, then if people want to be hip to the jive, they have to at least try to be up on [down with] Hip-Hop languaging. 'Cause-as much as Hip-Hop has sold its soul to the capitolist system and has crowned bling bling as its god, it is still where much of this nation's creative energy is. As to 'hoopty' to discribe an old, beat up car that is usually large and held together with duct tape and a prayer...that word is actually at least 15 years old. I believe that the word comes from Hip-Hop culture and is routinely used in Hip-Hop jams such as 50 Cent's hit rap "21 Questions" as here "If I went back to a hoopty from a Benz, would you poof and disappear like some of my friends?" Where did the word "Hoopty" come from? My theory is that it came from a previous colloquial term for motor vehicles: "wheels". At all wheels are round and a hoop is also round. So... But that's just a guess. Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 12 Jul 05 - 06:15 PM Sorry-here I go again... I don't have a clue why that 'at' is in the sentence that is supposed to read: "Wheels are round and hoops are round" **** I just asked by 32 year old daughter does she how old does she think the word 'hoopty' is...She said she remembers it from when she was in high school and mentioned a song by Sir Mix-a-lot that talked about a tail pipe dragging on his hoopty. According to an interesting [to me] website called 'Slang City', "bucket" is another word for slang. When I mentioned this to my daughter she said, and I quote "Oh, Mom, that is so old..that's even older than 'hoopty'. Where've you been?" I just shrugged my shoulders and kept on typin... See this quote from Slang City "Hoopty (sometimes hooptie) is a another word for bucket often heard in rap music, such as 50 Cent's 21 Questions. Older synonyms include the vintage tin lizzie (1910s) and struggle-buggy (1920s), as well as my personal favorite from later in the twentieth century, crapmobile".... |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Sorcha Date: 12 Jul 05 - 09:26 PM Thank you Zi, and, Now, Bill, mah main man, ya gotta get up on this here stuff. Get yer hooptie detailed and git on down an cruise the main line a bit....be good for ya, aiiright? Grin....Sorry, sistah Zi..... |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Kaleea Date: 12 Jul 05 - 09:42 PM My father tells me that "whoopie" was used by the old timers for automobiles, & before that, a buggy drawn by horse(s). Daddy says that one had to "whoop the horses to get 'em goin'." [I my day, a "whoopin'" was a hard spanking.] His Daddy & his "Granpap" came from around the border of Texas & Oklahoma, and I have heard a great deal of oldtimey talkin'. I heard his father as well as my Irish Grandad use the term "whoopie" meaning a vehicle. My Irish Grandad never drove any whoopie except for one drawn by a horse or mule. Notice the term "Granpap" short for "Grandpappy?" The old timers--especially the Irish but others too, according to my Daddy, used the terms "Pappy" and "Mammy" for their parents, thus Grandpappy & Grandmammy. As in "Mammy Yokem" & "Pappy Yokem" of the Lil Abner comic strip. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Teresa Date: 12 Jul 05 - 10:01 PM I think that a lot of the evolution of language comes from experimentation and slang. Someone had to invent every single usage in the language at one point and another, and in my opinion, the more it changes, the more alive it is. Having said that, I don't know a lot of the modern slang anymore, but that's just because I don't move in the same circles as urban and younger folk. For awhile, I was going to poetry readings that attracted a lot of slammers, and I also went to protests that featured underground hip-hop groups. But since I've moved to the suburbs and far away, I don't encounter it much anymore. Now it's "do lunch" and "power walks". :-P Teresa |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Jul 05 - 10:05 PM A whoop is a short distance. A whoop and a holler is a little farther. Two whoops and a holler is farther yet. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 12 Jul 05 - 11:44 PM Could "hoopty" be the folk process at work? hoopty from -whoop or whoopie? Is it possible that people let out a whoop {a yell?; a laugh?} when they saw someone's broke down, beat up car. And this happened so much that they started calling the cars a "whoop+tee" {the 'tee' added to make it sound better}. And eventually {since we Americans just feel we need to simplify things}, the 'w' was dropped, and there ya go-we ended up with the word "hoopty"... On the other hand, maybe "hoop" was created to rhyme with 'coup' {you know, like the car} and then the 'tee' was added-to make it sound better... Hey, who knows whether any of these theories or the one I gave earlier are real... In other words, where did the word "hoopty" come from? Your guess is as good as mine. Sista Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: khandu Date: 12 Jul 05 - 11:47 PM "I do NOT love new slang words.....I come very close to despising new slang that is created just in order to be different and stay ahead of everyone else....much of it, as 'hooptie', bears little direct resemblance to what it purports to describe. It is a divisive, confusing, awkward way to advance communication. Some slang used to be clever, useful and relevant, even if you didn't use it yourself....but much of today's is just random babble. what, me? opinionated and outdated? naaawwwww......." Copy that!! k |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: coldjam Date: 12 Jul 05 - 11:57 PM All I gotta say is "Faaaar out!" |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: sixtieschick Date: 13 Jul 05 - 12:00 AM I love inserting old, out-of-date slang expressions into "intellectual" dialogue for contrast. golly gee gee whilickers geez Louise scuttlebutt it's the berries heavens to Betsy boy howdy brother, you ain't kiddin' birds-eye lowdown my stars etc. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Chip2447 Date: 13 Jul 05 - 12:02 AM Around here a crest in the road used to be called whoopty do, or a hoopty do. and any car that you drove over a hoopty do fast enough to get air under all four tires was called a hoopty, enough hooptying and you wound up with a broken down old car. I suspect that the term hoopty predates hip hop. Chip2447 |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 01:06 AM Chip2447, Since we [African Americans] are always alert to words [and music]that we can take hold of and use as is or, more often, stretch and re-shape for our creative purposes, it's quite possible that "the term hoopty predates hip hop". You wrote "Around here a crest in the road used to be called whoopty do, or a hoopty do. and any car that you drove over a hoopty do fast enough to get air under all four tires was called a hoopty, enough hooptying and you wound up with a broken down old car. " May I respectfully ask where 'here' is, when it was that these words were used, and by which ethnic or age group? And would you share your thoughts on why these terms were used for a broken down old car? Thank you. Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Nellie Clatt Date: 13 Jul 05 - 03:02 AM If you lot learned how to speak the Queens English properly you wouldn't need any stupid invented words. Gawd what a lousy bloody job we did in teaching you colonials. Talk about estuary English |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:22 AM Yep, there ain't no bad students, jest bad teacherz. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Leadfingers Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:33 AM I personally think it would be a reasonable improvement if the 'average' American learned to speak English . Ducks down and Runs like Hell !!! |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:48 AM And I suppose if we [colonials of whatever race and ethnicity]learned all those old English folk songs, there would be no need for 'invented' songs after-what?-the 18th century... Yeah, right. [said with much sarcasm] |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:50 AM And I suppose if we Americans[ of whatever race and ethnicity]learned to sing all those old English folk songs, there would be no need for 'invented' songs after-what?-the 18th century... Yeah, right. [said with much sarcasm] |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:58 AM Sorry for the double posting... my computer was taking its time and [as usual]I was impatient. But I guess it's doubled for emphasis... And none of this is to say that students shouldn't learn how to speak and use 'standard' English.. I thank those vocabulary quizzes in Reader's Digest magazines for sparking my interest in word meanings, and one of my leisure pastimes in high school was to read a dictionary to learn new words. I consider my interest in slang as part of my overall interest in etymology. IMO, using slang can fun and harms no one if used in its proper place {i.e: not in the professional area unless you're blessed to work for yourself or have a laid back job}. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Dave Hanson Date: 13 Jul 05 - 09:22 AM Except for the people who haven't got a clue what on earth you are talking about. eric |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: coldjam Date: 13 Jul 05 - 10:37 AM I'm pretty sure the reason "we" left the British Isles was so that we could speak how-ever-the-hell we wanted to. That, and to eat our "crisps" out of small cardboard boxes rather than *hurumph* folded paper! (you know, whatever it takes to make us feel superior to one another) |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 10:45 AM eric, If you or anyone else wants to learn slang terms, the Internet has all sorts of resources-some better than others in turns of accuracy and 'up to dateism'. I often include hyperlinks to Internet resources on slang such as this one: Surfing for Slang I also often include definitions to the slang terms that I use. If you could care less about slang, that's one thing. But if you are the least bit interested in learning different slang terms, then in this Internet age, you can do so right from your home [or work; or library; or school] computer... |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: manitas_at_work Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:27 AM We eat our crisps out of bags (usually foil) and our chips out of folded paper. On the other hand we do have fries in cardboard boxes. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:32 AM FROM: Random House Dictionary of American Slang Vol. II, J.E. Lighter.
hoopty n. [ orig. unkn.; cf. slightly earlier syn. hoopy in Dictionary of American Regional English Orig. Calif an automobile. Also vars.
1968 - 70 Current Slang. III & IV '70; Hoopty, whoopty, n. A car, - Watts. 1970 Land Underground Dict. 105 hoopdee Latest model car. 1985 "J. Blowdryer" Mod. Eng. 64 hoopry [sic] a car. 1986 Morning Call (Allentown, Penn.) (Aug 18) [Court slang:] Hoopty; Car. 1988 Norst Colors 209; The Man everywhere, like four to a hoopty, 1990 "Sir Mix-A-Lot" My Hooptie )rap song0: My hooptie rollin'. 1995 UTSQ: Hooptie, a big older model ('76) car. He was driving his grandmother's hooptie.
My Hooptie (1990)(released as a 12 inch)Producer Nastymix Records By Sir Mix-A-Lot (aka - Anthony Ray DOB August 13, 1963, Seattle Wash.)
My hooptie rollin', tailpipe draggin'
My hooptie - my hooptie
Four door nightmare, trunk locks' stuck
Cars barely movin', but now we got heat In a hooptie
It's a three-ton monster, econo-box stomper
By a hooptie
Runnin' outta gas, stuck in traffic
It's my hooptie
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Emma B Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:37 AM I love slang, particularly archaic slang......the origins and changes in usage can be facinating both from etymology and a social perspective..... |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 12:13 PM Thanks, Gargoyle . That was the very song that I was thinking of. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Chip2447 Date: 13 Jul 05 - 01:25 PM Azizi, "Where"; Central Missouri. "When"; This would have been around the early to mid seventies that I actually became aware of the usage. "Who"; Rural, Caucasian teens. "Why"; If one were to drive a car/vehicle hard like teens are wont to do you can expect severe wear and tear on your vehicle and if you drove fast enough over a whoopty do your car got airborn then crashed back down on tires and suspension often bottoming out. This always led to turning cars into junk the steps being; 1) my new??? (to me) car. That you tried to take care of. 2) The car, Was just transportation. 3) Whoopty/hoopty, a car that you didn't take care of. Too many trips over the whoopty dos, or too many Brodies (donuts), or too many trips into a farm field at 70 mph. 4) Fishing/Farm car, only good to drive around the farm or to your favorite fishing/swimming/party place. Usually meant that you had just gotten another "NEW" to you car. 5) Field car, when your car finally succumbs to the punishment that you've so skillfully dished out and has to be parked in a field somewhere because it will no longer run. Hope this helps. It kinda surprises me that no one else has a similiar tale. Surely we werent on the cutting edge...LOL Pax. Chip2447 |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 13 Jul 05 - 01:31 PM Chip2447, sounds to me that you guys {and gals} had it goin on! Thanks! Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Bill D Date: 13 Jul 05 - 01:32 PM "I personally think it would be a reasonable improvement if the 'average' American learned to speak English ." hey, leadfingers..*grin*...good thing you ducked and ran!...now, just where IS it in jolly olde England that one goes to hear the "proper" form of English? Northumbria? Hull? Within earshot of the Bow Bells for a good education in Cockney? The BBC news programs? goodness! If you can't find an 'avarage' Englishman, how are we gonna determine an average American an educate him? Now, let me clarify my early post for Azizi and others who might think I am criticizing a group of people. The point is, slang, argot, vernacular, jargon, patois, etc.....is clear and useful within a group who understand its current usage. "Noun: slang Informal language consisting of words and expressions that are not considered appropriate for formal occasions; often vituperative or vulgar" If members OF a group find it 'cool' (*grin*) to play this game with each other so that they can maintain an identity and/or be intentionally confusing to outsiders, well....I certainly see why they might at times. But if they use ONLY this informal language, and are unable to switch into something resembling 'standard' speech for formal (i.e., business) occasions, it becomes a problem. People are passed over in job interviews, they get bad grades in school, they get into altercations with OTHER groups who use different slang and interpret words wrong. I note that it is difficult to search for origins of words like 'hooptie', because they were said before they were spelled, and whether 'hoop' or 'whoop' was the main basis gets muddy with time. You, Azizi, are aware of much of the African-American culture and nuances of language, but because OF that awareness, you 'could' change your name, not admit your heritage, and not be identified in a forum like this.....that is, you are able to switch into or out of, a slang-based language at will. But I sometimes see those who either can't (or won't)....in fact, I often see posts from people who go out of their way to spell out their 'attitude' in unusual spellings and word usage. Whether the group is African American, Cockney, Georgian peanut farmer, Texan or Maine fisherman, if they lose awareness of what is considered 'standard' speech and throw their slang (and more extreme forms of pronunciation) into all conversations, RT or VT, they do themselves a disservice, as well as placing unnecessary barriers between themselves and those they are trying to communicate with. I remember in the Watergate hearings, Senator Howell Heflin using his VERY exaggerated southern drawl almost as a weapon to make points and intimidate witnesses. (There used to be websites commenting on this!) as usual, I have rambled...and probably gone way beyond the original point of Sorcha's question...but Mudcat thread-drift does have a way of doing that, hmmm? so...semi-rant over....you may all on with the original debate now...(not that you need my permission) |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: sixtieschick Date: 13 Jul 05 - 01:56 PM Last usage I heard of hooptie or whooptie was/is (it's still around) to say in highly sarcastic tones, "Well, hooptie-DO," while twirling an index finger in the air, to indicate complete disdain for whatever another person just described. As in, A: Hey, the guy who wrote "The Bridges of Madison County" has a new book out! B: Well hooptie-DO. M. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Bill D Date: 13 Jul 05 - 02:04 PM yep...I have heard that many times as a kid...but in my head I 'heard' "whooptie-do" |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: kendall Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:43 PM Change is inevitable. Resistance to change is inevitable. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: coldjam Date: 13 Jul 05 - 09:04 PM From: manitas_at_work - PM Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:27 AM We eat our crisps out of bags (usually foil) and our chips out of folded paper. On the other hand we do have fries in cardboard boxes. Oh you wiley Brits always trying to confuse us "Americans." I actually meant to say "chips". No matter, I was just trying to be flippant. Failure comes easily to me... I like Bill D's comments. If we are going to ever get along we have to have a common ground/language. To communicate. It's hard enough when we do speak the same language and everyone has their own understanding of what certain words mean. I see it over and over again on chat boards. People getting all riled up by some perceived slight. I see no problem with slang, but yeah, you should be able to tell the difference, AND speak it. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 13 Jul 05 - 09:56 PM I can't help but laugh at my friend Terry's comments. Go to the English to English thread and see how many slang terms the Brits use that to our ears sound like complete nonsense. I guess someone else's ridiculous slang is your daily language.. :-) When my friend ColK was visiting us last year, he'd get revved up and start talking a blue streak (sorry about the slang) and I'd say, "C'mon, Colin, speak English!" Which always got a laugh out of him. Much of our accepted language was slang at one point. Does having it in the dictionary make it alright, then? Who knows, maybe slang is like folk music... it has to pass into tradition to get any respect.. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Bob the Postman Date: 13 Jul 05 - 10:09 PM I think a hooptie is a car that is hooped, i.e. decrepit beyond redemption. The term is often applied to motor vehicles. "Hooped" is an exact synonym for "buggered", the hoop in question being the anal sphincter. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Bill D Date: 13 Jul 05 - 10:12 PM "exact synomym"??? mercy! quite a stretch, if you ask me, (he said facetiously) |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,.gargotyle Date: 13 Jul 05 - 10:28 PM The Random House - has almost a full page on HOOP etc -
Yes, the postman is right. RH def #3 Pris. anal copulation. - usu. considered vulgar. 1935 Pollock Und. Speaks:Hoop sodomy (prison).
Sincerely,
Lyrics to Hoop-Dee-Doo have been posted. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Sorcha Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:26 PM Now, I am really digging this! Thank you Sistah Z for so much info! And the rest of all ya'll too! Internet slang dictionary also said that 'hooptie' meant the rings girls wear in their ears. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 14 Jul 05 - 12:31 AM Well - Sorcha - your definition is the RDHDofAmSlang #1 definition with an Oxford English Dictionary history dating from 1507 to 1857 for Standard English. (Not Slang)
What is round goes around.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: sixtieschick Date: 14 Jul 05 - 12:53 AM Holy Toledo, that gives new signifiance to the finger gesture that accompanies the sarcastic rendition of hooptie-do! |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Nellie Clatt Date: 14 Jul 05 - 01:44 AM Not only did we fail to teach you to speak the Queens English properly, we failed to make you understand irony and humour, Azizi and all the defensive ones, honestly can't you tell when you are being wound up or when someone is extracting the urine ? |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Gurney Date: 14 Jul 05 - 01:55 AM There's been a programme on TV here called 'Pimp My Ride.' It seems to be African-American and seems to mean 'tart up my motor.' Wrong gender, wrong job. Right industry. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Le Scaramouche Date: 14 Jul 05 - 04:09 AM Top hole. Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how's your father. Hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper's and caught his can in the Bertie. Bunch of monkeys on your ceiling, sir! Grab your egg and fours and Let's get the bacon delivered. Bally ten-penny ones dropping in the custard. Charlie Choppers chucking a handful. Sausage squad up the blue end! Cabbage crates coming over the briny. Banter is not the same if you say it slowly! |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: HuwG Date: 14 Jul 05 - 06:54 AM I sometimes make an artificial distinction between colloquialisms which nevertheless have an obvious derivation from the object or concept they refer to, and those words or phrases designed to exclude. Examples of the former might be: "gas axe" = oxy-acetylene cutting torch; "nut strangler" = spanner, or sometimes fitter or mechanic Examples of the latter: LART, whooptie, the dog's [look very carefully at the punctuation], GAS (explanations below). I personally would find it amusing to hear the former slang in use, but mildly offended if I thought the speaker was using the latter to indicate that I was not an accepted member of his or her group. (Junior NCO's in the Armed Forces and Database Managers are especially good at this sort of usage.) Some slang falls between these two extremes. "Prang", "gremlin" and other examples of RAF slang are sufficiently onomatopoeic to allow most people to make an intelligent guess as to their meaning. By the way: LART = "Luser attitude readjustment tool" = four-by-two lump of wood, what help desk technicians would dearly like to use on their more clueless callers; "whooptie" = see the discussion in this thread' "the dog's" = "the dog's b*ll*cks" = very good, apt or fit for use, presumably came from the US phrases like the "bee's knees" which again came from "it's the business" as pronounced by recent Italian immigrants to the US. (Thanks to Mr. Nigel Rees for that etymological insight.) GAS = "Guitar Acquisition Syndrome" which many of us suffer from, but which would baffle a non-musician who strayed into the Mudcat or any in-depth musical discussion. |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: Azizi Date: 14 Jul 05 - 08:02 AM Imma gonna try to flip the script. {"flip the script"- Hip-Hopese for "turning the conversation around"; "introducing a different way of looking at a subject"} Instead of thinking that people are using slang to exclude others, isn't it possible that some people use slang as an expression of creativity and/or a way of showing off their 'hipness' {their up to dateness with the latest word fashions} It seems to me that the creative use of slang {or-put another way-slang use as a creative activity} should be a no-brainer for a folk music community since songs and words have something in common {Gee, I wonder what?} And maybe the desire to be creative and/or hip isn't only a people thing. Maybe words themselves have this same desire. Maybe words like people to play with them and change them and update them so that they [the words]can be considered hip. Or maybe words want to be used differently or more than one definitions or have their meanings change because if that doesn't happen they [the words] may be 'kicked to the curb' {meaning=retired; withdrawn from usage; go where all old timey, old fashioned, old hoopty words go-THE WORD GRAVEYARD. To get a sense of where I'm comin from, check out this website: Dictionary of Jive Talk made me think of this idea. And to give you some sense of that site's flava, check out this introductory description: (A selection of uptown and downtown jive talk drawn from the compilations of Dan Burley, Cab Calloway and Bill Treadwell . Like all languages it is not just a question of understanding individual words but comprehending them when they are put together in regular speech! Nevertheless the amazing thing is how many of these words have become Standard English, and are even used for academic purposes!) -snip- Here's another excerpt from that Jive {Swing} Talkin Site: "Swing talk is a loose, vivid, living language. It does not and cannot stand still; it partakes of the dynamics of our time. New words are forever entering the fold, old words departing or changing. Thrown up out of this flux are the following meanings of the moment. Take them for what they are: words, twisting and turning, seeking to find fresh, unique modes of expression that will embody the nuance and spirit of a modern, tradition-smashing music." -snip- Now I'm not sayin that I know anything about jive talkin. As a matter of fact, the 'jive' these people are talkin about is different from what I usually mean by 'jive talkin'. In my neighborhood {which some might call "the 'hood"}, a person talkin jive is talkin trash which means he or she aint sayin nothin I wanna hear. And where I live, if a person, place, or thing is 'jive', that means they aint any good. But once upon a time, some people thought it was good to be 'jive' or to talk jive. I think they were called hipsters..[Well go on with ya bad self!!] Creative Black Jazz musicians created jive talk {which admittedly was an 'in language' but that didn't mean it wasn't creative}. And people danced to the music these jive talkin jazz musicians played {Wow! Dancing to Jazz!! What a concept!} But then somehow the music and the dance got divorced. And many Black people turned their backs on Jazz music and moved on to other newly created dances [some with old names, and most with old steps changed up or kept the same]. And now I see White people have changed 'jive' to 'swing'. After all "It don't mean ah thing if it aint got that swing." I can dig it. Or at least I'm tryin to get into the swing of it all. What about you? Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Nellie Clatt Date: 14 Jul 05 - 09:30 AM Flava ?? FLAVA ? FLAVA ? for fecks sake can't you even spell simple words like flavour properly |
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Subject: RE: Folklore: Slang words From: GUEST,Azizi Date: 14 Jul 05 - 10:12 AM Who determines what is proper? flavour, flavor, flava... same same same {except that saying it one way or the other or the other does say something about you} You say tomato and I'll say tomata etc etc etc. Power to [all] the people [who can think for themselves, and sometimes do]. |
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