flashback sunday

so, thought of this while on the metro tonight. let's list out some vernacular we use or used in high school and beyond:


swoop: to pick up or be picked up (in a vehicle), or to get sheisted by another dude at a club concerning a female (aka, will's gonna come swoop in a minute; OR, that dude just swooped your girl)

through: not looking your best (eg: i be lookin hella through right now.)

tight: good, excellent, above average (eg: 'transformers' was hella tight.)

hella: very, a lot, one hell of (eg: she was hella vicious; that smells hella good.) variation: 'hellza.' not to be confused with 'hells yeah,' which expresses enthusiastic agreement.

fo' sho': definitely, of course, duh. variation: 'f'sho,' accent is always on 'sho.'

straight: very, significantly, in a specific state (eg: i was straight overjoyed and shit.)

salty: not happy, grumpy, upset (eg: i was straight salty the night my car got towed.)

scrill/ scrilla/ scratch/ bank/loot: money, expensive (eg: i was abouts to get these shoes, but they was hella bank, right? so my moms said no.)

...and shit: common post-script following a description of emotion, one's mental state or appearance, for the purpose of emphasis (eg: i was hella happy and shit.)

tow up: very inebriated, or visually very poor in appearance (eg: that bitch is hella tow up - her shit's all grown out.) variation (in reference to appearance): 'tow up from the flo' up' (a particular favorite of carolyn's daddy. god knows where he learned that.)

shit: belonging, possession, physical attribute or personal characteristic (eg: did you see what she was wearing?! my shit always tight.)

anyways...: indicates moving on to another subject, a switch in topics. (eg: so we was hella fucked up that day. anyways.... how's your mom?) can also be used in response to an undesirable or preposterous inquiry, dismissive. accent is placed on 'any' (eg: 'so did you hook up last night or what?' 'ANYways...')

fiending: craving, frequently with reference to illegal or controlled substances (eg: we was hella fiending last night... but derek didn't call us back.) variation in pronunciation: fienin'

rollin': laughing uncontrollably, OR driving, OR manufacturing a handmade cigarette

mob / mash: to drive at a high speed, usually in an aggressive manner (eg: will and i were straight mashin' down skyline boulevard.)

wrap: to be involved in a serious car accident, usually involving an inanimate object that the vehicle 'wraps' around as a result of high speed driving (eg: drew and them almost wrapped last night when we were mashin' around the coliseum.)

dope: very good, excellent. also used to express agreement (eg: 'so i'll see you at eight then?' 'dope.')

pshhhh...: sound used to dismiss or otherwise express disdain or disagreement (eg: 'then she was saying that you was like, hella jealous of her.' 'pshhh.... girl, please.')

bitch, please: negative response, used to show disagreement and dismissiveness. tone and cadence ranges with the level of absurdity of the assertion. usually used in arguments or confrontations (eg: 'you stole my man!' 'bitch, please. he was all up on my shit first.') variation: girl, please. a milder form of the expression, reserved for friends or relatives.