Latest revision: June 11, 2024
This is Part I in a two part pancocojams series about the African American Vernacular English originated sayings "Word", "Word up!", "Word as born" and "Word to the mother".
Part I provides excerpts from two online discussion threads about the African American Vernacular English originated sayings "Word", "Word up!", "Word as born" and "Word to the mother".
Update September 27, 2019- I've added a section that presents several contemporary uses of the term "word" or "word up" from the discussion thread of a sound file for the now classic 1985 Hip Hop song "The Show" by Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick.
The Addendum to this post provides information about "The Five Percenters" who popularized the saying "Word is born" which led to the other colloquial "Word" sayings.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/01/cameos-1986-hit-record-word-up.html for Part II of this series. Part II showcases Cameo's 1986 Funk and Rock & Roll song "Word Up!".
The content of this post is presented for linguistics and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click the "affirmative words and sayings in African American Vernacular English" tag for additional posts in this series.
Pancocojams Editor's Note
All of these vernacular "Word" sayings have been largely retired in the United States since at least the late 1990s. However, as demonstrated in a section of this post, these terms may still be used to convey an old school flavor to one's speech.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/01/early-1960s-birds-word-record-by.html for a pancocojams post on the 1963 song "The Bird's The Word "and its 1963 cover "Surfin Bird" by The Trashmen. In those songs "the word" means "the best", and/or "cool" ("hip"). Those meanings are different from the later African American vernacular usages of "the word", "word up" etc.
****
ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT THESE SAYINGS
These online excerpts are given in no particular order, with numbers added for referencing purpose only.
I. From https://www.quora.com/When-someone-says-word-in-reply-what-does-it-mean
1. Trevor Paul Turner, Answered Apr 18, 2015...
"It means: yes, or I agree, or you've said something that appeals to me. It evolved from "word to your mother" which meant honestly: I swear to your mother it is true... Then evolved to "word up" which was a generic catch all positive reply to many types of questions or positive affirmations. it is a bit of old school that has kind of hung on probably because is sounds so street to say instead of "yes"."
**
2. Ila Sajoir, Answered Jul 14, 2017...
"The phrase “word “comes from a few phrases the first being“word is bond”.. it means your word is your bond so anything you say you are bonded to. Its an old black american slang. Many old rappers used it in the 80s or 90s in their lyrics. If somebody said “word is bond” at the begining or ending of a phrase it means they mean 100 percent what they are saying and they are not lying or joking.
[Example]:….Did he really say that I dont believe it….- “word is bond. he yelled it in the street everybody heard it”. .. it kind of has the same meaning as “ I swear”..[ex2] are you really coming tomorrow I cannot wait all day if you are not coming, are you really coming{person2}. “word is bond”.
It then changed to other forms like word up, or word to the mother..( I swear to my mother) . And even just WORD.
“Word up that movie sucked.. same meaning as I swear that movie sucked. . .
It then came to also mean I agree. If two people swear on the same topic they normally agree..{example}you are in a group and somebody asks the group.. I heard that movie sucked is that true—[two people together ] “word”
So if your text was..” that was the best movie I seen all year”..
If the person says .”word.”. it means they agree..
or they give their word what they said before was true"...
-snip-
This comment is given as it was found in that discussion, except for the eclipses (...) at the end.
**
II.
From https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/25086/what-are-the-meaning-and-possible-origin-of-word-and-word-up
1. Wulfhart, asked May 12 '11 at 17:37
"Several times, I have had conversations, all over instant messenger, finish with "word" or "Word up G".
As it ends a conversation, I am guessing it is like "goodbye".
My question is what is the meaning of "word" and "word up g"? Also, what is the origin?
I am more interested in the meaning as that will help with understanding its usage."
**
2. Wulfhart May 13 '11
"I ended up asking the guy, he said it meant, "I agree". Thank you"
**
3. phenry, answered May 12 '111
"Both are generally used to mean "I agree." The terms are from late 1980s hip-hop slang. As Ed Guiness notes, popular usage probably originated with the single Word Up! by Cameo."
**
4. 5arx Jul 19 '12 at 23:17
"The expression was in common use loooong before that Cameo single."
-snip-
phenry would be correct if he or she had written that Cameo's record probably raised awareness of and increased the usage in the United States of the already existing African American Vernacular English use of "Word Up".
**
9. Callithumpian, May 12 '11
"In his 2006 Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture, H. Samy Alim quotes Geneva Smitherman on this use of word:
The African American oral tradition is rooted in a belief in the power of the Word. The African concept of Nommo, the Word, is believed to be the force of life itelf.[sic] To speak is to make something come into being. Once something is given the force of speech, it is binding—hence the familiar saying "Yo word is yo bond," which in today's Hip Hop Culture has become WORD IS BORN. The Hip Hop expressions WORD, WORD UP, WORD TO THE MOTHER, and similar phrases all stem from the value placed on speech. Creative, highly verbal talkers are valued.
And the concept of someone's word being their bond is as old as dirt (or at least dates back to Shakespeare's time)"
**
10. cobra libre Mar 7 '15
"See also Felicia M. Miyakawa, Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission, 2005: "... the affirmations 'word' and 'word is bond,' common to hip-hop argot of the 1980s and 1990s, derive from Five Percenter lessons."
**
11. Dictionary treatments of 'word' and 'word up,' 1994–2005 [Note: This excerpt is from that same etymology discussion thread.]
Geneva Smitherman, Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner (1994) has two relevant entries, for word/word up and word is born:
"WORD!/WORD UP! A response of affirmation. Also Word to the Mother! Word Up is also the title of a music magazine published in New Jersey. [Cross reference omitted.]
WORD IS BOND! An affirmative response to a statement or action. Also Word!, Word up!, Word to the Mother! A resurfacing of an old familiar saying in the Black Oral Tradition, "Yo word is yo bond," which was popularized by the FIVE PERCENT NATION [formed in 1964] in its early years. Word is born! reaffirms strong belief in the power of the word, and thus the value of verbal commitment. One's word is the guarantee, the warranty, the bond, that whatever was promised will actually occur. Born is a result of the AAE pronunciation of "bond"; [cross reference omitted]."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's note: Geneva Smitherman may have used the word "born" to approximate how some African Americans pronounce "bond'. However, I don't think that she meant that "Word is born" is a saying.
**
"Word is bond" is the first line in Ice Cube's hit 1993 Hip Hop record "Check Yo Self". That record popularized the African American vernacular saying "Check yourself before you wreck yourself".
***
Smitherman also has this entry for G:
"G 1) A form of address for a male, usually one who is HIP or DOWN. Probably the AAE version of "guy." Also man (older term); money (newer term). 2) A woman a man has a relationship with.
I should note that Smitherman offers this reading of G while fully aware of the term OG, which has this entry in her book:
"OG Original Gangster; a gang member who has earned PROPS because of his bold actions."
**
Clarence Major, Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African American Slang (1994) has these entries:
"Word interj. (1950s–1990s) affirmation spoken in agreement; the truth; street culture gospel. (T[erry] W[illiams], [The] C[ocaine] K[ids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring (1989)], p. 138.) Example: "Word! I was there, I aw it with my own eyes." S[outhern] C[ity] U[se], P[imp and] P[rostitute] U[se], Y[outh] C[ulture] U[se], D[rug] C[ulture] U[se]."
**
"Word up! interj. (1980s–1990s) call for attention; used as an expression of one's word of honor. (W[illiam] K[.] B[entley and] J[ames] M[.] C[orbett], P[rison] S[lang: Words and Expressions Depicting Life Behind Bars (1992)], p.51.) Example: "Word up, the cops are down there right now busting Rickie." S[outhern] C[ity] U[se]."
Major does not have an entry for G in the sense of "guy," although he does include entries for G as a noun meaning "a thousand dollars" (from the 1940s–1950s) and as a verb meaning "to have sexual intercourse with" (1990s). Major's entry for O.G. notes only its meaning (from the period 1900s–1950s) "Old Girl; mother."
Smitherman dates "yo word is yo bond" to 1964, and Major dates "word" (as affirmation) to the 1950s. Nevertheless, Major's earlier Dictionary of Afro-American Slang (1970) has no entry for any form of word.
It's interesting that, publishing in the same year (1994), Professor Smitherman of Michigan State sees "Word" and "Word up" (and "Word is born") as essentially interchangeable expressions of agreement, while Professor Major of the University of California at Davis, sees "Word" as an expression of agreement but "Word up" as, in the first instance, a call for attention, and, in the second, an attestation along the lines of "I swear."
This inconstancy underscores an essential problem with defining slang words: Since they don't show up in popular use neatly predefined, they are subject to multiple interpretations by the people who hear and adopt them; as a result, it is not at all unlikely that a term may mean one thing in one locale and another in another. This phenomenon might serve as a caution to authors not to assume that a slang term's usage across a diverse but definable group (such as "African Americans") is settled and uniform—especially in its early years of propagation.
Robert Chapman & Barbara Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, third edition (1995) offers these relevant entries:
"word 1 interj 1980s black teenagers An exclamation of agreement and appreciation, used when someone has said something important or profound: If it's really meaningful, "Word, man, word" should be used—["City Teen-Agers Talking Up a 'Say What?' Storm"] New York Times [(August 29, 1983)] 2 interj =WORD UP"
**
"word up interj 1980s black An exhortation to listen, to pay attention: Word up, fool. We be fresh tonight.—Carsten Stroud [Close Pursuit (1987)] {probably based on listen up}"
Chapman & Kipfer cites instances from the 1980s that corroborate Major's claim that "word" and "word up" had different senses in at least some parts of the United States. Nevertheless, ten years later, Jeremy Sideris & Brittany McWilliams, From Grill to Dome: A Dictionary of African American Slang Words and Phrases (2005) indicates that the Smitherman view (that the terms "word" and "word up" have essentially the same meaning) has prevailed in the broader marketplace of African American English speech:
Word: Statement of agreement. See also booyah, down, fo' shizzle my nizzle, fo' zizzle my nizzle, really though, true dat, and word-up.
Word-up: Strong statement of agreement. See also booyah, down, fo' shizzle my nizzle, fo' zizzle my nizzle, really though, true dat, and word.
According to Sideris & McWilliams, the only difference between the two words is in the degree of strength implied in the statement of agreement.
A note on 'word is bond'
With regard to Smitherman's comment that "yo word is yo bond" is "an old familiar saying in the Black Oral Tradition," that familiarity may be due to the fact that the same essential idea has been a proverb in English since at least 1500."...
****
EXAMPLES OF THE TERM "WORD" OR "WORD UP" FROM A YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE HIP HOP RECORD "THE SHOW" BY DOUG E. FRESH & SLICK RICK [Added September 27, 2019]
Pancocojams Editor: These comments are examples of the contemporary use of the terms "word" or "word up" that were used in a contemporary YouTube discussion thread.
Note that African Americans have largely retired (stopped using) the vernacular terms "word", "word is bond", "word up" and other "word" phrases.
However, some commenters may still use those vernacular phrases as a way of honoring their use in the lyrics for the 1985 record "The Show"* and/or the commenters may be mimicking the vernacular terms that they or others used in the mid 1980s.
Also notice the terms such as "Damn straight", "Amen", and "Ikr" that are used in these comment exchanges. I believe those contemporary (2019) terms have equivalent meanings to the 1980s retired vernacular terms "word" and "word up".
*Lines from "The Show":
"[Slick Rick]
Well, here's a little something that needs to be heard
Doug, I was going downtown (word, Rick?) Word!"
-from http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-show-lyrics-doug-e-fresh.html http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-show-lyrics-doug-e-fresh.html
Numbers are added to these comments for referencing purposes.
Comments From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDkqz5C62SM
1. david starr, 2018
"Old school rap is way better than today's wack rap beats."
**
REPLY
2. David Fullam, 2018
"AMEN!!!"
**
REPLY
3. Phil Duclos, 2019
"You damn right! Amen!"
**
REPLY
4. Oddysea Cat, 2019
"Shhh nobody needs 90’s people bashing our music ;-;
(Ps your only listening to the mainstream rappers there are better ones)"
**
REPLY
5. VINNY VIN, 2019
"Damn straight💯"
**
REPLY
6. Dino Yamraj, 2019
"Wurd!!!!
**
7. Aisha Bailey, 2018
"Original hip hop anthem"
**
REPLY
8. gradymorrrowjr37, 2018
"Ikr"
-snip-
ikr= I know right ["I know right" is a shortened form of "I know that's right".]
**
REPLY
9. EnSabahNur, 2018
"That's word Sista!"
**
REPLY
10. David Giezyng, 2018
"Word"
**
11. Donald Pace, 2019
"I remember this from the inception word up"
-snip-
This comment was written in response to the question "Who remembered Doug E Fresh's & Slick Rick's "The Show" from when the record first was released of when it was included in the movie New Jack City.
"True that" is another African American Vernacular English phrase with the same meaning as "Word" that was used by one commenter in that same discussion thread. "True that" (also given as "true dat" means "That's true".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT "THE FIVE PERCENTERS"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation
"The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE/NOGE) or the Five Percenters, is a movement founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), Clarence 13X, who was named Clarence Edward Smith at birth, and who ultimately came to be known as Allah the Father.
Allah the Father, a former student of Malcolm X, left the NOI after a dispute with Elijah Muhammad over Elijah's teaching that the white man was the devil, yet not teaching that the black man was God.[2] Allah the Father also rejected the assertion that Nation's light-skinned founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, was Allah and instead taught that the black man was himself God personified.[2] Members of the group call themselves Allah's Five Percenters, which reflects the concept that ten percent of the people in the world know the truth of existence, and those elites and agents opt to keep eighty-five percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb; the remaining five percent are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the eighty-five percent.[3]"...
[...]
Hip hop
In its article on Five Percenter Jay Electronica, Vice Magazine stated in regard to the Five Percent Nation: "It's a movement that's been affiliated with hip-hop from the very beginning, coining terms like 'ciphers' and 'dropping science' and influencing everyone, World's Famous Supreme Team, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Common, Poor Righteous Teachers, Nas, and AZ. With these artists, and any others associated with the Five Percenters, music was more than just a message."[55]
The Nation of Gods and Earth has propagated its teachings throughout the United States and abroad. In the early 1980s, this spread was in part due to early adherents teaching when away at college or in the military and, more famously, because of the rise of hip hop music. The main theme of the NGE doctrine spoken on hip hop records were the teachings that black people were the original or first human life to walk the planet, that the Blackman is God, the Blackwoman is Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the Gods and Earths, the youth can transform and possess its true potential, which aspires to overthrow the overbearing oligarchy by becoming just rulers of themselves. This especially meshed well with conscious themes found in other golden-age hip hop recordings.
Early hip-hop acts affiliated with the Five Percenters, and who spread its teachings through hip hop, include two MCs of the late 1980s–early '90s conscious-rap era—Rakim of Eric B. & Rakim[56] and Big Daddy Kane. These two acts, as well as some of their other contemporaries, infused Five-Percent teachings and symbolism throughout their music and videos. This reputation brought fans of Rakim in particular to refer to him as the God MC. Not soon after Rakim and Kane's heyday rose acts that were even more explicit with allegiance to the NGE, most notably Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, Killarmy, Sunz of Man, Gravediggaz and Busta Rhymes. The popularity of these acts sparked a boom of new NGE students. Even the Caucasian hip hop group 3rd Bass cited NGE lessons in the song "Triple Stage Darkness" and other songs.[57]
Five Percenters were the innovators behind early hip-hop slang, including "Word is bond", "Break it down", "peace", "droppin' science", and "represent".[3][58] Many MCs employ the technique and terminology of the Supreme Alphabet to create acrostics, acronyms and backronyms in their rhymes. For example, in the song "Wildflower," Ghostface Killah rhymes, "I'm God Cipher Divine," spelling G-O-D in the Supreme Alphabet.[59][60] Furthermore, The RZA directly rhymes the Twelve Jewels of life's objectives on his later work with Gravediggaz, rhyming in succession: Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Food, Clothing, Shelter, Love, Peace, Happiness.[61] He regularly wears an eight-pointed star pendant with a number seven and a crescent, which can be seen on the cover of his album The World According to RZA.
Five Percenters in New York City were even known as a visible presence at parties during hip hop's formative years of the 1970s. Scene pioneer DJ Kool Herc recalled that while there was a heavy gang presence in attendance, the Five Percenters were also there as a de facto peace-keeping element.[62]
Other examples of hip hop and R&B acts who are (or have been) associated with Five Percent teachings include Killah Priest, Digable Planets, J-Live, Nas,[63] Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Planet Asia, the Guru, and Petey Pablo."...
****
This concludes Part I of this two part series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Also notice the terms such as "Damn straight", "Amen", and "Ikr" that are used in these comment exchanges. I believe those contemporary (2019) terms have equivalent meanings to the 1980s retired vernacular terms "word" and "word up".
*Lines from "The Show":
"[Slick Rick]
Well, here's a little something that needs to be heard
Doug, I was going downtown (word, Rick?) Word!"
-from http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-show-lyrics-doug-e-fresh.html http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-show-lyrics-doug-e-fresh.html
Numbers are added to these comments for referencing purposes.
Comments From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDkqz5C62SM
1. david starr, 2018
"Old school rap is way better than today's wack rap beats."
**
REPLY
2. David Fullam, 2018
"AMEN!!!"
**
REPLY
3. Phil Duclos, 2019
"You damn right! Amen!"
**
REPLY
4. Oddysea Cat, 2019
"Shhh nobody needs 90’s people bashing our music ;-;
(Ps your only listening to the mainstream rappers there are better ones)"
**
REPLY
5. VINNY VIN, 2019
"Damn straight💯"
**
REPLY
6. Dino Yamraj, 2019
"Wurd!!!!
**
7. Aisha Bailey, 2018
"Original hip hop anthem"
**
REPLY
8. gradymorrrowjr37, 2018
"Ikr"
-snip-
ikr= I know right ["I know right" is a shortened form of "I know that's right".]
**
REPLY
9. EnSabahNur, 2018
"That's word Sista!"
**
REPLY
10. David Giezyng, 2018
"Word"
**
11. Donald Pace, 2019
"I remember this from the inception word up"
-snip-
This comment was written in response to the question "Who remembered Doug E Fresh's & Slick Rick's "The Show" from when the record first was released of when it was included in the movie New Jack City.
"True that" is another African American Vernacular English phrase with the same meaning as "Word" that was used by one commenter in that same discussion thread. "True that" (also given as "true dat" means "That's true".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT "THE FIVE PERCENTERS"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation
"The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE/NOGE) or the Five Percenters, is a movement founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), Clarence 13X, who was named Clarence Edward Smith at birth, and who ultimately came to be known as Allah the Father.
Allah the Father, a former student of Malcolm X, left the NOI after a dispute with Elijah Muhammad over Elijah's teaching that the white man was the devil, yet not teaching that the black man was God.[2] Allah the Father also rejected the assertion that Nation's light-skinned founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, was Allah and instead taught that the black man was himself God personified.[2] Members of the group call themselves Allah's Five Percenters, which reflects the concept that ten percent of the people in the world know the truth of existence, and those elites and agents opt to keep eighty-five percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb; the remaining five percent are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the eighty-five percent.[3]"...
[...]
Hip hop
In its article on Five Percenter Jay Electronica, Vice Magazine stated in regard to the Five Percent Nation: "It's a movement that's been affiliated with hip-hop from the very beginning, coining terms like 'ciphers' and 'dropping science' and influencing everyone, World's Famous Supreme Team, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Common, Poor Righteous Teachers, Nas, and AZ. With these artists, and any others associated with the Five Percenters, music was more than just a message."[55]
The Nation of Gods and Earth has propagated its teachings throughout the United States and abroad. In the early 1980s, this spread was in part due to early adherents teaching when away at college or in the military and, more famously, because of the rise of hip hop music. The main theme of the NGE doctrine spoken on hip hop records were the teachings that black people were the original or first human life to walk the planet, that the Blackman is God, the Blackwoman is Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the Gods and Earths, the youth can transform and possess its true potential, which aspires to overthrow the overbearing oligarchy by becoming just rulers of themselves. This especially meshed well with conscious themes found in other golden-age hip hop recordings.
Early hip-hop acts affiliated with the Five Percenters, and who spread its teachings through hip hop, include two MCs of the late 1980s–early '90s conscious-rap era—Rakim of Eric B. & Rakim[56] and Big Daddy Kane. These two acts, as well as some of their other contemporaries, infused Five-Percent teachings and symbolism throughout their music and videos. This reputation brought fans of Rakim in particular to refer to him as the God MC. Not soon after Rakim and Kane's heyday rose acts that were even more explicit with allegiance to the NGE, most notably Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, Killarmy, Sunz of Man, Gravediggaz and Busta Rhymes. The popularity of these acts sparked a boom of new NGE students. Even the Caucasian hip hop group 3rd Bass cited NGE lessons in the song "Triple Stage Darkness" and other songs.[57]
Five Percenters were the innovators behind early hip-hop slang, including "Word is bond", "Break it down", "peace", "droppin' science", and "represent".[3][58] Many MCs employ the technique and terminology of the Supreme Alphabet to create acrostics, acronyms and backronyms in their rhymes. For example, in the song "Wildflower," Ghostface Killah rhymes, "I'm God Cipher Divine," spelling G-O-D in the Supreme Alphabet.[59][60] Furthermore, The RZA directly rhymes the Twelve Jewels of life's objectives on his later work with Gravediggaz, rhyming in succession: Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Food, Clothing, Shelter, Love, Peace, Happiness.[61] He regularly wears an eight-pointed star pendant with a number seven and a crescent, which can be seen on the cover of his album The World According to RZA.
Five Percenters in New York City were even known as a visible presence at parties during hip hop's formative years of the 1970s. Scene pioneer DJ Kool Herc recalled that while there was a heavy gang presence in attendance, the Five Percenters were also there as a de facto peace-keeping element.[62]
Other examples of hip hop and R&B acts who are (or have been) associated with Five Percent teachings include Killah Priest, Digable Planets, J-Live, Nas,[63] Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Planet Asia, the Guru, and Petey Pablo."...
****
This concludes Part I of this two part series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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