Mincing Words

Did you ever notice that most of the phrases that capture the zeitgeist of our culture from the early 90s and on have been introduced to us by African Americans? And that it's typically Caucasian males that ruin said phrases? I have to say, I feel a little guilty just being a white male... simply because it is other white males that have destroyed so many a great phrases.

Let's go through several, shall we?

Whoop, there it is. -- The rap duo Tag Team introduced us to this one. MTV crammed it down our throats, and we, the white population, made it sounds akin to nails on a chalk board.

What up, Dough? -- This one came from the brilliant film Boyz in the Hood. Ice Cube's character's name was Dough Boy. So when Tre saw him, it was "What up, Dough?" Tragically, I'm still guilty of using this one.

All that and a bag of chips! -- I can honestly say I've always hated this saying... I don't care who ruined it... nobody should have started it. Maybe "All that and a delicious, cream filled Zinger!" would have been better. Or maybe that's just me.

Da Bomb! -- As in, "You da bomb!" Why anyone would want to be a bomb is beyond me, but it used to be a really good thing to be.

My bad. -- Again, I'm still guilty...

Who 'dis? -- Another one brought to us by Boyz in the Hood. It's a way to answer the phone.

Don't go there! -- This one was killed by the white ladies, not the fellas. Seriously, is there anything worse than hearing a white chick throw this one out there?

Gettin' Jiggy with it -- Ok, so this one may have come from Will Smith, but his core audience has always been about 97% white. So I guess we technically didn't ruin it, since I never heard a self-respecting African American say it in the first place.

It's all good! -- Not sure where this one came from. But I know whitey ruined it. Even when modified to 'It's all good in da hood', we stil managed to try and assimilate it into our vocab. Pathetic...

Mad and Dope -- As in, "Yo, her ass is MAD fine!" and "This song is the DOPE track." Both are still being butched by suburban white kids today.

Phat -- You know, the more I type, the more I hate white males... Such racial self-loathing cannot be good, but I can't help it. I mean shit... we're a bunch of dudes that used to think Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were cool. What right do we have to even voice an opinion, let alone try to adopt the slang from a different, cooler culture?

Trippin' -- I feel more and more cracker-like just typing these...

Dawg -- Granted, that lame dude on American Idle (I know, it's Idol, but I like my way better) says it all the time. But it was ruined by us WAY before he started in with it.

Whacked -- As in, "Yo, that bitch is whacked!" This one is tough. As far as I can tell, 'whacked' has gone through several incarnations. It used to mean someone who was killed (typically by the mob). As in, "Jimmy the Nose was talkin' too much, so he went and got himself whacked." Either way, dudes like me shouldn't ever have been using it.

Even though there are plenty of more examples, I'll leave you with just one more:

Word! -- Again, this is one I'm still guilty of saying. Why? I have no idea. But I know I can't help myself. Just like I can't help myself from pulling terms from the 80s out in daily conversation such as wicked, sweet, and rad. They're just a part of me. I'm not proud of it, but that's who I am.

Will the guilt I feel for being a white male and taking part in ruining perfectly good slang introduced to us by our African American brothers and sisters even subside? I doubt it. Because I know that it's a cycle that is never going to end. I may be fairly out of touch with 'kids these days', but I see them in my neighborhood... silly suburban white kids who all think they're a part of Kid 'n' Play, when they come off looking more like members of New Kids on the Block. And they speak all 'street' even though their Dad's drive Volvos. It's sad, but it's a part of life. Only together can we face this problem and overcome it. Maybe I can lobby some politicians and get some PSAs (those are Public Service Annoucements) made that can play on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. We've got to get kids young if we're ever going to get a handle on this problem.

Can you imagine Al Gore partnered with Elmo and those goddamn Wiggles dudes on the ol' boob-tube, telling young kids that just because they hear a phrase in a rap song, that doesn't mean it should be adopted into their popular lexicon? Not that there's anything wrong with the terms they hear. Quite the contrary. The terms are just too damn cool for suburban white kids. It's that simple. Yeah, that would be an awesome PSA!

Until then, keep it real, G! Word!
~ S. Rick