i was thinking recently about some of the things we used to say in the early 90s when i was in a more inner city school.. these are all really mostly just black people saying this stuff.. some of this is EXCLUSIVELY black people
these days i'm always around diff people from diff regions so its diff now, but back in the early 90s everything was more cultural.. like back then there was no internet so people were less connected as a whole world, but more connected as in their community.. people had family and friends and cliques and lingo and genres of music.. today everything is way more blended.. like for example in the early 90s it was like black people liked rap and white people liked rock.. but today everybody likes everything.. so when i think back to the early 90s i am remembering all the cultural things that existed then that don't really seem to exist much today because culture has dwindled in favor of some sort of assimilation among everyone.. which is ok in a sense but u lose a lot of the cool differences and weird aspects we have in culture too here are a few of the things we used to say to each other on a regular basis (in no particular order) by "we" i mean like black youth in the midwestern region (michigan, ohio areas) 1. "african booty-scratcher" .. we used to call each other an african booty scratcher for some reason lol i don't know why but we used to say that ish all the time 2. "maybe that's your upper lip" .. as in "what's that smell?" and someone chimes in.. "maybe that's your upper lip" which meant.. your breath stinks.. i don't know why.. but this insult got used a lot and it always had a certain sting to it.. like if someone said "ur breath stinks" that was like a 5 or 6 on the insult scale.. but if someone said "maybe thats your upper lip" then that was always like a 9 or 10 3. "indian giver" .. that was like if i give u something and then 5 minutes later i want it back.. then ur an indian giver.. i don't think this was "urban" or even "youthful" but we used to say it either way 4. "moosey" .. this was a little more later 90s.. i kinda think this is only around the michigan region.. moosey kinda seemed to come out of nowhere but it kinda instantly became a common word among us in the youth or urban circles.. moosey meant like.. like a lighthearted version of stupid.. or semi shameful.. like if u slip on some ice outside and everyone saw u then u were lookin moosey.. or if you were the only person in class to get an F and everyone got an A then you felt "moosey den a mug" 5. "den a mug" .. this was like a clean version of m.f. .. like if u lost a video game u'd say "i just got beat like a mug" lol.. i kinda think people still say this from time to time but back then it was like second nature 6. "the back of your neck" .. this wasn't really a specific insult.. it was more like a common comparison.. the back of peoples necks were talked about a lot.. "its black like the back of yo' neck" or "i should slap the black off the back of yo' neck" .. the back of peoples' necks used to be talked about or compared to black things lol 7. "on crack" .. this was real common back then.. it always got a good laugh for some reason.. "don't he look like will smith?" .. and someone chimes in.. "yeah.. will smith ON CRACK! LOLOLOL!!!!!" <--the laughter ensues .. people still say this today but it had a much bigger emphasis back then.. i think because society was coming off the 80s where crack was a serious thing 8. "blackie" .. or anything talking about a person being real black.. "u r so black that ur blue-black" or "he ain't even black anymore! he's a silhouette!" LOL .. some people actually internalized this a bit and felt like they were being hated on by lighter skinned black people.. i don't think that's the case.. black is black.. its not an insult as much as it is a joke.. like for example a light skinned black person would be called "high yellow" ... "sit yo' high yellow behind down somewhere" LOL thats not a real diss, its just a funny way of saying sit down 9. "nappy" or "naps" .. this is when ur hair curls up into little mini balls that are hard to comb through.. u have 'naps' in your hair or ur hair is nappy.. back in the early 90s when "capping" was huge (capping is dissing people).. we used to cap on people for their naps.. there was a restaurant in michigan called bill knapps.. so we might even say somethin corny like "u got more naps than bill knapps!" <---lol + smh if i think of anymore i'll add them later i kinda miss these days by the way! its a good thing i can catch up with them with old episodes of "a different world" or "martin" or any shows with that youthful or urban approach from that time period!!! but whatever peaCe
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December 2011
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