Heard in Barbershop II

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The token white barber working at the black Barbershop, asked whether
> he thinks he's the Eminem of barbering, replies,
>
> Hell, yeah! That's why they call me "The Real Slim Fady"!
>
> As most people know, M&M had a hit album that was entitled, "The Real
> Slim Shady."
>
> In BE slang, blacks are called "shades" and white people are called
> "fades." Hence, by punningly calling himself "Slim Shady," M&M claimss
> that he's as good at rapping as any black rapper.
>
> Then, the white barber, by calling himself "The Real Slim Fady," puns
> on M&M's pun, claimiing that, though he's white, he's as good at
> cutting Negroid hair as any black barber.

See, I would've guessed it was just a reference to "fade" in the
hairstyle sense, as in "hi-top fade".


--Ben Zimmer

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