Bourgie

[Baker, John]

        The Washington Post today used this term, which apparently means "African-American bourgeois."  From page C1:  "A lack of high-end retail is one of many indignities that accompany life in this community, which is in real life and fiction, the bourgie capital of the world."  The community in question is Prince George's County, which the article describes as the most affluent black enclave in the nation.

        The earliest usage I have seen is from the 1/17/89 L.A. Times:

        >>Cynthia Lewis, a black real estate broker who moved here from
Boston five years ago, said she was dismayed to discover that many
black Washingtonians refuse to attend certain cultural events,
including Shakespearean plays at the Folger Theater or free art
exhibits at the National Gallery, because they are afraid other
blacks will call them "bourgie"-black English for bourgeois.

        Blacks who go anyway "are no longer considered black," she said.
"Being black is really complicated," Lewis added, only half-joking.<<


John Baker