Edited by Azizi Powell
This post is provides a list of twenty African American slang words, phrases, and/or sayings that are found in a YouTube juke [bobbin] dance competition video's viewer comment thread. By no means is this intended to be a comprehensive listing of African American slang in that viewer comment thread. Although this post only list 20 different slang words, phrases, or sayings, I've identified at least 100 different entries that could have been featured in this post.
WARNING: This YouTube comment thread includes profanity, explicit sexual language, and other content that may be inappropriate. None of that content is included in the examples that are featured in this post.
The content of this post is presented for etymological, cultural, and sociological purposes. These examples provide insight about the lifestyles, values, and opinions of persons who posted to this particular YouTube viewer comment thread.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't consider myself an etymologist, but I am interested in the origin, meaning, and uses of words & phrases.
Additions & corrections are very welcome.
In the context of this post, by "Black Slang", I mean African American Vernacular English (AAVE) particularly Hip-Hop originated or influenced AAVE*. However, in some of these examples "downhome"** African American English and Internet/telephone text elements*** are also combined with that style of African American Vernacular English.
I'm not saying that everyone who used African American Vernacular English in this discussion thread was African American, particularly since the tendency is for much of that slang to be incorporated into standard American English. However, I believe that it's likely that the majority of those commenters were African American.
*By "Hip-Hop originated or influenced African American Vernacular English", I mean words & phrases that come from Hip-Hop culture, or whose meanings have changed or been expanded or whose usage (such as from a noun to a verb) have changed by Hip Hop cultural adherents. By Hip-Hop originated or influenced African American Vernacular English I also mean standard English words that are purposely spelled differently as a result of the influence of Hip Hop culture, and purposeful - not accidental grammatical - constructs such as "true dat" instead of "that's true".
**By "downhome African American English" I mean Southern American influenced dialectic English such as "she be", "dem", and ain't gonna" and Black church words & phrases such as "Upon my soul", and other features.
***By "internet/telephone text elements, I mean comments that include acronyms such as "lol" and "lmfao", comments with little or no capitalization, or punctuation, comments with run on sentences, words with repeated letters to denote enthusiasm, and other features.
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FEATURED VIDEO: Lani pop vs Mariah
Enzomaranello33, Uploaded on Dec 20, 2010
Juke
-snip-
This is part of a series of videos called “Juke Party”. According to most of the commenters, Mariah, the girl in the black (or blue) with the stripped shirt officially won this competition. LaniPop is the girl in the gray.
For some information about Juke music & dance, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/11/jook-juke-words-phrases-in-caribbean-in.html "Jook (Juke) Words & Phrases In The Caribbean & In The USA"
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EXAMPLES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SLANG FROM THIS FEATURED VIDEO
Note: These definitions are gleaned from my direct & indirect experiences. Additions & corrections are welcome.
1. AIN’T FEELING IT [phrase] - In the context of this comment, "Ain't feeling it" means "doesn’t have the heart for it; isn’t emotionally invested in it.
Comment example from video thread:
SM00CH3Z2YOU, 2012
"IDK I seen both vids with Fee Fee and Mariah Vs, Lanipop and to me it seems like Lanipop ain't feeling it no more. Like the BOB seems dead to her, Just Booty shaking period, With Fee Fee and Mariah you can tell they love it and feel it all day but Lanipop she just doing b/c its something to do. She didn't have any plans so she decided to go to the little BOB contest Bla Bla Bla Bla........... It could just be me but that's the feeling I get when I watch her Videos."
-snip-
"The Bob" ("Bobbin") is a type of Juke dancing that appears to me to be a form of "Popping". Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popping. "Fee Fee" is another prominent Bobbin competitor.
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2. BEEN PLAYED [adjective] - used to describe something that is no longer cool or popular because it received too much attention
Comment example:
McCalyTPhotography, 2013
"This dance been played years ago"
-snip-
"Been played" was formerly given as “played out”.
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3. [TO] BATTLE (verb), a dance competition between individuals with a referee. The winner is determined based on points scored. Fans of a particular competitor refer to themselves as "Team [competitor's name].
Comment example:
pebblestc31, 2013
"Mariah she got more moves :) she pop hard like me i wanna battle her ♥
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4. BOB BATTLE -(noun)- a battle (competition) between individual Bobbin dancers
Comment example:
Frostgrl681, 2013
"This is still one of the best Bob battles ever."
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5. BOOTY (noun) - butt (buttocks), behind, rear end, etc
Comment example:
soleflyyy, 2012
"the name of the song is Put Your Booty in the Air by EQ Why !!!!!"
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6. BOOTAY (noun) - a hip way of pronouncing* and spelling the word "booty" [meaning "butt"]
* pronunciation Boo-TAY
Comment example:
rahnyc4, 2013
"girl in the black has a big ol bootay!"
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7. COLD WIT IT [phrase] - very serious & very cool about what is being done
Comment example:
sxyjellybean, 2012
"Yup! I agree Mariah was more versatile with her moves...She cold wit it..I like LaniPop,but Mariah won this one:-)
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8. GETTING OLD [adjectival phrase] - something whose popularity is fading; consequently it is now out of style & unpopular
Comment example:
Bobby Mobay, 2012
"Now, Y'all know the lil girl (Mariah?) killt it!! Her dance was more creative, had swagger, and didn't repeat moves. Popping your big ole booty is getting kinda old."
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9. GETTING IT [verbal phrase] - [in the context of this comment] this means "dancing well".
I think this vernacular meaning for "getting it" may have come from sports competitions where "it" in "getting it" meant "scoring points" to win the competition.
Comment example #1
lyric wynn, 2012
"i really dnt know who was better cause both of dem was gettin it"
Comment example #2
Ja'lencia Rucker, 2013
"the girl with the different color shirt was gtn it"
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10. GIRL FALL BACK [sentence] - To tell a female [in this case] to "fall back" is to tell her to figuratively back off [move away] from her statement or action. "Fall back" used this way has a clear threatening element to it. A somewhat similar way of saying "fall back", although one without any integral threatening connotation is "Get out of here" [with what you said because you are talking nonsense.*]
*Note that I had originally used the word "rubbish" instead of "nonsense", but I changed that word because "talking rubbish" is too much like the phrase "talking trash". "Talking trash" has a whole 'nuther meaning [using disparaging, taunting, or boastful comments to an opponent] than "talking nonsense"... and that's not quite the same thing as talking nonsense. But if a person talked trash to someone, that person could tell him or her to "fall back".
Comment example:
Certifiedbhaddchicks, 2012
"mariah won that battle lani pop thought she was geting her~girl fall back everybody know mariah won;]"
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11. GO GIRLS [exclamation] - In the context of this comment, "Go girls" is an exclamation of support. This exclamation probably came from the "Go team go" cheerleader cheer where "go" meant "Go on to win the game" and/or "Go score some points" etc.
Comment example:
Frostgrl681, 2013
"Upon my soul! This was a fierce Bob battle. Lani Pop, and Pants On Fire Mariah went so hard on this. Upon my soul they went hard. Go Chi-Town girls
-snip-
"Pants on fire Mariah" is a [non-sexually] affectionate nickname for the bobbin competitor Mariah which apparently was coined by her fans. "Pants on fire" is lifted from the playground rhyme "Liar, Liar/Pants on fire".
That nickname for the Bobbin competitor Mariah demonstrates an aesthetic appreciation for rhyming, as does the nickname "Big Booty Judy" that one commenter in that thread used as a referent for Lanipop, and the referent "Skinnie Mimi" that another commenter used for Mariah (I think that "Mimi" was probably a typo for "Minnie".) Another commenter referred to Lanipop as "big butt Brenda" which reflects an appreciation for alliteration.
It seemed to me that all of those nicknames were meant to be physically descriptive without any insulting intent. That atatement includes the "Big Butt Brenda" referent since among African Americans, a young woman who has a "big butt" (also known as an "African booty") is generally admired.
**
Read the entry for "Went hard" below.
**
"Upon my soul!" is an example of what I call "downhome African American Vernacular English". Other examples of downhome AAVE are "I ain't got no___" , "gonna", and "Sing it! (But I'd categorize the present tense exclamation "Sang it!" as Hip Hop AAVE rather than downhome AAVE).
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12. HANDS DOWN (adverb) - to decisively win a competition, to win big [Read the comments above about "killed it" and "murdered"]
Comment example :
Bianca Theogene, 2013
"gurl in the jeans and colorful shirt one hands down"
-snip-
My guess is that "gurl" (girl) is purposely spelled the "Hip Hop" way, but "one" for "won" is a typo.
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13. HATIN; HATIN ON [verb] - spreading negative comments about a person out of jealousy
Comment example #1
mariah mason, 2013
"Hey everybody thanks for the comments and to the people that's hatin I dont practice dancing I do wat I do so if anybody wanna battle let's get it"
Comment example #2
jada dukes, 2013
"Ppl Always Hating On Lani Pop She Did Good Too #TEAMLANIPOP AllDay"
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14. HIGH WATERS [noun] - long pants whose length is too short for the person wearing them, causing the person's ankles to be seen
Comment example:
Tea' Fenner, 2012
"Notice The One With The Gray Sweat Pants Got On High Waters!!! Lol"
-snip-
Another commenter wrote "Where's the flood". The meaning of that comment is unclear if readers weren't aware about what "high waters" are.
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15. KILLED [KILLED IT ; KILLIN IT, KILLED HER] (verb) - did something very well, won [a competition] without any question
In the context of that competition, "killed it" means to "win decisively", to perform so well against your competition that there's no question that you won. "Murdered" and "slaughtered" are verbs with the same meaning that are also found in that video's viewer comment thread, but if someone "slaughtered" her or his opponent, there's no question that she or he won against a very weak opponent.
Comment example #1:
keannberry95, 2010
in reply to PookyBadder12
@PookyBadder12 excatly your not from the chi so why are you speaking! if you was from the chi you would know lanipop was crowned queen when bob just came out! this aint nothing new! yes mariah killed it but lani got the title cause she was one of the first! and fyi you cant kill anybody from the chi because this is what we do...<3
-snip-
"Chi" is a nickname for Chicago, Illinois - the home of Juke music & dance.
Comment example #2:
Jaylesia Johnson, 2012
"the first girl killllllled it"
Comment example #3:
sunja Hill, 2013
"good battle on both ends but The little skinny killed, murdered, slaughter big girl!!! If lil girl had a body like the big one it wouldn't even be a competition that needed a discussion!!"
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16. LIL MAMA [noun] - an informal referent for
1. a young female from babyhood to young adulthood;
2. a short female teenager or short woman
or
3. a referent to the Hip Hop vocalist whose stagename is "Lil Mama [The rapper “Lil mama” got her stage name from the colloquial referent and not the other way around]
Comment example #1:
TheLeeluu23, 2012
"lil mama in the jeans got tht hands down
Comment example #2:
Fantashia Tyson, 2013
"if you ask me she looks like lil mama i mean look at her and she can dance just like lil mama"
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17. SHAWTY (noun), a referent that can refer to a short person [usually a female], or children of any gender, or a general referent for a female from a man, although usually that female referred to is shorter than the male using that referent
"Shawty" is derived from the standard English word "shorty" and reflects the practice in Hip Hop African American Vernacular English of coining word & spellings that more closely match the way that African Americans informally pronounce certain words.
Comment example #1:
jahstayfly91, 2013
"Shawtty in da grey omg"
-snip-
Note that Lanipop, the dancer competitor in the gray was taller than Mariah, the other competitor. Yet, the commenter referred to her as "shawtty".
Comment example #2:
Shakedatting2011, 2013
"Shawty in tha blue did it!! Otha shawty thought ha booty was gon make her win..NO [expletivee deleted]"
-snip-
This commenter refers to the shortest competitor Mariah as "shawty".
In neither of those examples is "shawty" considered an insult. "Lil mama" is often used as a referent for females the same way as "shawty" is.
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18.SMH [Update entry 9/30/2014]
"smh" is an acronym that means "shaking my head' [in exasperation, disdain, disgust, disbelief, and/or annoyance].
From my online research, it appears that "smh" nymn is only used in written communication on the internet and in telephone text messaging. This 2009 Yahoo answer blog is the earliest documentation that I can find about "smh": https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090503231937AA75mhg. The anonymous poster asks "is smh a black internet slang?" He or she also wrote “i have no idea what it means, but i often see it in message boards and comment areas. the posters are always black people. can someone clue me in?”
-snip-
There are six responses to that query, all of them from 2009. The one that was ranked [by the person making the query] as the "Best respnse" was written by Chrissy. That response was
"It [smh] means
"shakin my head"
there you're clued in
Example:
Girl: What are you doin?
Boy: Smokin Crack..
Girl: Smh you're a loser
-snip-
Although the "Asker" gave this response the highest rating, she or he wrote "it sounds incredibly stupid".
Three of the five additional commenters to that blog post either self-identified as Black or their photograph appeared to be of a person most people would consider to be Black. (Although those gloggers didn't specify what "Black" means, I think it probably meant "African American". Each of those identified as Black responders indicated that they didn't know what "smh" meant. One of those commenters who used the screen name "knowitall" answered
"I'm black.. and I have no idea what it means..
Get over it..
Its just an internet slang..
That hasn't caught on yet.."
-snip-
A pancocojams post on "smh" will be published ASAP. When it is published, I'll add its link to this post.
"Smh" is usually used alone after a sentence, but may also be used at the beginning of a sentence.
Comment example #1:
DIYSandMore, 2012
[written in response to questions about what type of dancing is done in this video]
"It's chicago, Illinois. the style is JUKE ... it's in the description... smh
Comment example #2
Kiya Mckee, 2013
"all they girl in the blck is doing same thing smh"
-snip-
I believe that the high value that is placed upon speed in interent writing and [telephone] texting has created new norms that greatly minimize the importance of capitalization & punctuation. Furthermore, those "new norms" mean that words can be omitted as long as the comments/messsage could be understood -similarly to the "You" being omitted when writing a command such as "Come here."
In that example given above the word "they" may be a typo, but the spelling of the word "black" might have been purposely done because with that spelling, that word is understood.
Furthermore, I think the commenter purposely decided not to type the words "is the" after the word "doing" and before the word "same" as a form of typing shorthand because the commenter believed that most readers would know that those words were supposed to be there.
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19. THICK (adjective) - a person who has more weight than what mainstream America considers to be the ideal; "Thick" is usually applied to females where it is a synonym for a "big girl" or a teenager who is "built". "Thick" is sometimes, but not always, used as a euphemism for "fat"; It appears to me that among many African Americans, "thick" doesn't usually have the negative connotations that "fat" does.
Comment example #1:
unforgotten223, 2012
"Like if you think the skinny girl won and that you think everyone just chose the other girl because she thick.....!"
-snip-
"Like" here refers to the system YouTube has for readers to indicate their approval of a comment or a video.
Comment example #2
kishia84, 2012
"I think they both were good, and lanipop proved that thick chicks can work it too! Good job ladies!"
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20. WENT HARD [adverb] description of how well [how agressively] someone performed an activity such as playing sports, or, in this case competing in a Bob battle
Comment example:
Frostgrl681, 2013
"Upon my soul! This was a fierce Bob battle. Lani Pop, and Pants On Fire Mariah went so hard on this. Upon my soul they went hard. Go Chi-Town girls"
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Thanks to Lanipop & Mariah who are featured in that video and thanks to the producer of that video. Thanks also to all those who I have quoted in this post.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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