Ghetto

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> > 1997 _Source_ Oct. 146/3, I was so ghetto, threatening the crowd, talking
> > about if anybody takes it, I'ma see you.
>
>Here's an earlier example:
>
>1996 _Wash. Post_ 27 Dec. (Nexis)  But that stuff doesn't mean anything to
>me because I'm so ghetto.

It seems to me that this is just an attributive noun becoming a
full-fledged adjective. One of the signs is its appearance as a predicate.

A similar case: the RH dictionary lists the adjective "country", with an
example "country roads". Surely this is fully analogous to "city streets",
but no adjective "city" is listed. Just about any noun can be used
attributively -- e.g., "I'm a city boy" or "I'm a country boy" -- but "He's
so country" sounds natural, while "He's so city" does not (at least not to
me, and presumably not to the RH folks) -- although I'm sure the latter
appears occasionally ... probably you'll even see "He's so Staten Island"
somewhere ....

-- Doug Wilson