Pop Culture Definition: Examining the Words I Would Remove from AAVE
In the lexicon there is a total of 52 words that if somebody said them to me I would know exactly what they mean. A couple like `vibe`, `poontang`, `props` and `beef would never have struck me as being specifically or exclusively AAVE. Some of these words or phrases though I definitely hear being used more frequently than others specifically like to get some, for someone trying to get laid, or I feel ya, when trying to relate or agree with someone. There are a lot of words I would remove from the list as being exclusively part of AAVE.
On the other hand though there are quite a few words and phrases I have never heard in my life whether that`s do to this being a dated list or the lack of contact with AAVE in my life. Some of my favorites were `fuck you and dat damn horse you rode in on` for dismissing or dissing someone which is interesting because there is a similar phrase in SAE like `He rode in on his damn high horse` as a way to talk about someone who came in with a holier than thou attitude. They aren`t quite the same but they are both still used to talk down on someone. Or there were some phrases in the lexicon like `go off` or `true dat` and "what you on" where I hear SAE speakers use the phrase but they bring it back closer to SAE than AAVE. True that, what are you on, they went off on me, respectively where the meaning does not necessarily change but some of the phonological features that make it AAVE are dropped from the utterances. I also found nine words that I believe to have different definitions than those in the lexicon.
Like "holla" as described in the lexicon as a request to talk or acknowledge someone but I hear it used more as like an affirmative to agree with somebodies opinion on something. "Hook up" as a deal or connection, anything good. I think it does still mean to have a hook up for something or to hook someone up with something but I think its most used definition nowadays is to have sex, the act of hooking up with someone, 20 somethings don`t date because they are part of the hook up culture. `Mack" to sweet talk or to manipulate needs to be updated with a third definition to make out, to hook up. "Red neck" derogatory term for a white person. This needs to be narrowed because it doesn`t describe any old white person now but is synonymous with hick or white trash or trailer trash. `Rollin` - habitual behavior or to associate with someone/something. It should be added also to mean someone who is currently wealthy. Shorty/shortie- a term of endearment, I think this term has evolved past just a term of endearment and would probably be pronounced/spelled like `shawty` by everyone using and she is just the token hot girl in the song or the girl in the club. "The struggle" defined as the struggle of African Americans against racism or the daily struggle to survive. This term has been bastardized by the youth of today to dramatize anything that might be mildly inconvenient.
