Props

[Michael Newman]

>A few "dictionary" citations:
>
>http://www.udel.edu/eli/rw4/language/slang2.html has
>Props: as in "Give me props." This refers to giving someone a proper
>greeting, often involving hand taps of some sort.
>
>http://www.rapdict.org/terms/p has
>props
>(n) An abbreviation of "propers" or proper respects. A show sits on
>physical and non-physical props. At an award ceremony the winner gives
>props: "And I would like to thank...".
>
>http://www.geocities.com/online_slang_dictionary/slang/p.html has
>props   n   1. praise, compliments. One usually "gives" props. Sometimes
>prefixed with "mad". ("I'll give Joe props for that crazy stunt.")

"Mad"  means "a lot" not "crazy.""I'll give mad props"=I'll give a
lot of respect. In any case, I don't hear the expression much if at
all from my informants. Also, the  tapping fists together has evolved
into a more elaborate handshake, still called "giving a pound".

On hip-hop related slang, I'm wondering when the first non-racial use
of "nigga" can be found and relatedly it's acceptability by whites.
The first time I heard it was in 1991 on a subway from an interracial
group of kids from Bronx Science High School (a notoriously nerdy
place as it's name makes clear, and Safire's alma mater to boot).
Now, the kids I talk to separate it from the "r" form, which
maintains it's racial/racist implications. A similar distinction can
be found in some of Geneva Smitherman's mid 1990s work, but for her
informants even "nigga" couldn't be used by whites. Now, though she
told me she heard white kids using it in the Upper Peninsula! I bring
this up because a White student teacher I supervise told off a Latino
h.s. kid for using it, and then was informed by her African-American
mentor, that it was normal usage with them.  Of course it still
upsets a lot of older people, and many older Whites remain totally
ignorant of the shift.

Interestingly, it parallels the Caribbean Spanish usage of "negro" to
mean "person," although I was assured by some Black linguists that
the U.S. English usage evolved independently.

--
Michael Newman
Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics
Dept. of Linguistics and Communication Disorders
Queens College/CUNY
Flushing, NY 11367