By: fallen angel

At times when i go to a movie. I ask myself do the locals understand the slang and expressions?. Once i ask my friends and they answered me, “oh we read the subtitles”. Ooook, so i thought let’s catch up on some American slang, expressions & phrases.

Common words

Ballpark figure - a good numeric guess, an estimate

Brewski – a beer, a bottle, a can or a glass of beer.

Dis – to insult someone (noun), or insult itself (verb).

Doormat – wear individual who is regularly insulted by others.

Haywire - broken, in a state of chaos, not workin.

Gibberish – Speech that doesn’t make sense; nonsensical words and phrases.

Hype - loud advertising and promotion.

Love handles – Unsightly fat that shows from the sides at the waist, usually on men.

Go bananas – To be irrational and wild; to lose control.

No-brainer – Something that is perfectly obvious; easy to do, requiring very little effort.

On cloud 9 - to be extremely happy, elated.

Uncle Sam – The U.S. government; a patriotic figure who symbolizes the United States.

Rookie – A beginner; one who is new to a profession or field.

Psyched – Very excited and ready to go; in high spirits.

I can go on and on but want to leave some space and move on to another category.

Words commonly use in the hood

Da bomb - Excellent, the best.

Blow it – to lose or waste something, to do poorly or fail miserably.

Crib -a person’s place of residence.

Later - bye, short for see you later.

Hangout – To pass time idly; to loaf with pleasure, at ease.

Hoodlum – A criminal or gangster.

Hooked – Addicted; to like something so much that you need it every day.

Klutz – A clumsy person; an awkward or physically incompetent individual.

Hung up on – To be obsessed about something or someone.

Phat – excellent, cool, the greatest.

Bounce – to leave.

Dawg – Slang for “my close acquaintance of an African-American ethnic background”

Ghetto – residential area of a city, usually troubled by a disproportionately large amount of crime.

Projects – Usually a group of dirty buildings made for really poor/homeless people to live in. Projects are dangerous,very dirty,filled with gangsters,drug dealers,pimps,hookers and such.

These are few common words you will hear black African American use in the movies. There are many more and the words will keep on growing. Back when i was in Brooklyn, i use words like break out which means leave or now they have change it to “bounce”. The slang/expressions constantly change all the time. These are just few words for your understanding.

Till next time…

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