Flavorwire: The Year in Rap Neologisms

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 4:11 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >
> > Most of these were new to me.
> >
> > http://flavorwire.com/133481/the-year-in-rap-neologisms
>
> _Yak_, with the meaning of _'yac_ "cognac," is in the UD from 2003.
> IME, it's earlier than that. But, of course, a memory isn't citable.
> :-(

Yeah, that one's not terribly new. "Yak" was identified as West Coast slang in
this alt.rap thread from April 1996:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.rap/browse_thread/thread/560ddca9da198180/

And it was included in the online Rap Dictionary in 2001:

---
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.answers/msg/f7fa022b9f0ca811
yak
(n) This is actually the phonetical version of "gnac", as in "cognac". "Dre and
snoop chronic'd out in the 'llac (caddilac), with Doc in the back sippin'
on 'gnac" - Dr. Dre (The Next Episode)
---

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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