Slang Terms That Just Confuse You

[TDK]

Some slang words just baffle the listener.

For example: Shorty (or "shawty", if you're retarded), so far as I can tell, means "girl", usually affectionately.

This doesn't seem to have any basis in reality, as the girl's height doesn't seem to play into whether she is a "shorty" or not. Also, "shorty" sounds more derogatory if anything when referring to height.

Possible: Because girls are slightly shorter on average. I really don't want this to be true because I REALLY don't want to believe people are that stupid. But these are the same people who glorify beating women and getting shot, so...


Any takers? Want to fill me in on the (most likely stupid) origin of this term, or post something that baffles you?

[Magus]

No, I think you got the origin of the term right, where the girl is, on average, shorter than the guy. Although it probably wouldn't hurt to look it up on Urban Dictionary, they might have something on there.

I have a harder time figuring out how "boyfriend/girlfriend" got turned into "boo".

EDIT: "boo is a term that is derived from the French word "beau" meaning beautiful. In 18th century England it meant an admirer, usually male. It made it's way into Afro-Caribean language perhaps through the French colonisation of some Caribean islands.

Now meaning girl or boyfriend"

Sounds reasonable.

[Hanuman]

British English.

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by TDK

Some slang words just baffle the listener.

For example: Shorty (or "shawty", if you're retarded), so far as I can tell, means "girl", usually affectionately.

This doesn't seem to have any basis in reality, as the girl's height doesn't seem to play into whether she is a "shorty" or not. Also, "shorty" sounds more derogatory if anything when referring to height.

Possible: Because girls are slightly shorter on average. I really don't want this to be true because I REALLY don't want to believe people are that stupid. But these are the same people who glorify beating women and getting shot, so...


Any takers? Want to fill me in on the (most likely stupid) origin of this term, or post something that baffles you?

Shorty can also mean "Child" in certain regions up north, at least it did when I was a Shorty :P.

Slang means different things different places. Some people argue that slang exists specifically to not be understood by those outside the subculture that uses it, as evidenced by slang terms falling out of use when the mainstream culture picks up on it.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Premonitions

Shorty can also mean "Child" in certain regions up north, at least it did when I was a Shorty :P.

Slang means different things different places. Some people argue that slang exists specifically to not be understood by those outside the subculture that uses it, as evidenced by slang terms falling out of use when the mainstream culture picks up on it.

"Come on, let's go back to the flippity-floppity-floop!"
"Noooo! Don't say that!"

[Melfice]

Originally Posted by Lev

British English.

Yeah, this amuses me too.
And then I figure "US superiority complex", and I move on.


No offence to people from the US.

[Green Spanner]

"What am I, chopped liver?"

Yeah, I get what it means given the context I've heard it in, but still...

What?

[Viridis]

Rhyming slang.

[Doc ock rokc]

Originally Posted by Lev

British English.

American term Describing the British accent and tendency to use longer words (mostly due to stereotypes)
their is one for both the southern and northern parts of the US as well... its mainly a describing term.
example
"why where you having such a hard time understanding him?"
"oh he was speaking British english"

[katiuska]

Originally Posted by Melfice

Yeah, this amuses me too.
And then I figure "US superiority complex", and I move on.


No offence to people from the US.

None taken, though that's not quite fair. It does sound kind of redundant, but it's added when one needs to specify the dialect. We don't add the qualifier every time we mean "American English" because it's implicit in a context where that's what most or all of the people are speaking. I don't know, how do Canadian francophones indicate France-French, as opposed to Canada-French?