Ghetto/nigger-rig

Wed May 2 20:36:39 UTC 2007

To me, that is a very good question. The first time I heard the
phrase I was at a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner with a middle-class,
working-class, south side Chicago, white family. No one took notice
of it but me.

In terms of ghetto, I've heard it used very freely--but--when I used
it to describe where I (a seemingly wealthy, white, young woman)
live--my black independent cinema seminar freaked. Once I clarified
that I actually did live across the street from a crackhouse, my
upstairs neighbours where crackheads who frequently tried to break
into my house (etc), and that I was next door to the projects (ie I
live in one of the worst neighbourhoods in Chicago)--it was
understood that I was using the term "correctly" (ie not to mean that
I lived "near black people").

S.

On May 1, 2007, at 8:36 AM, Scot LaFaive wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Ghetto/nigger-rig
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Just kind of a social question, but when would we consider it
> kosher for
> someone to use this adjective, i.e. at what socio-economic level?
> Do you
> have to make a certain amount or do you have to have grown up in a
> ghetto?
> Can it be a rural ghetto (i.e. trailer park) or does it have to be
> an urban
> ghetto?
> I actually use it and I'm a dirty white boy from rural middle
> class. Though
> since entering school I've been a resident of the lower class.
>
> Scot LaFaive
>
>
>> From: Sarah Lang <slang at UCHICAGO.EDU>
>> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Ghetto/nigger-rig
>> Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:36:58 -0500
>>
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>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Sarah Lang <slang at UCHICAGO.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Ghetto/nigger-rig
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> Yup.
>>
>> Annoying when you actually live in the "ghetto" and have to clarify.
>> Or, frankly, when it comes out of the mouth of your students who(se
>> parents) are paying $50K for them to go to school.
>>
>> Anyone familiar with "nigger-rig"? As in hacking something together
>> to make it sort of, kinda, just barely work?
>>
>> S.
>>
>> On Apr 30, 2007, at 10:10 PM, Doug Harris wrote:
>>
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>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>>> Subject:      Re: Ghetto
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> ---------
>>>
>>> While that usage may not yet be documented in the likes of HDAS or
>>> OED,
>>> it most _definitely_ has been 'standard' for ~at least~ 6-8 years
>>> among
>>> teens and 20-somethings in NY if not elsewhere.
>>> (the other) doug
>>>
>>> =============
>>> I've looked in HDAS and the OED, and I didn't find "ghetto" listed
>>> as an
>>> adjective, as in "Buy a replacement on ebay for $20, don't replace
>>> it with a
>>> plain mirror, that's ghetto."
>>> (http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.chrysler.sebring/msg/
>>> 905ec155d0ee9
>>> 43f)
>>> It seems fairly common slang nowdays.
>>>
>>> Scot LaFaive
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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>> Graduate Student, PhD Program
>> Department of English
>> Northwestern University
>> University Hall 215
>> 1897 Sheridan Rd.
>> Evanston, IL 60208-2240
>> http://www.arimneste.com/
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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--------------------
Graduate Student, PhD Program
Department of English
Northwestern University
University Hall 215
1897 Sheridan Rd.
Evanston, IL 60208-2240
http://www.arimneste.com/

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org