[Ads-l] ratchet < wretched

[Benjamin Barrett]

Thank you. I see, too, that ADS members can search the journal online, something I had wondered about. BB

> On 26 Oct 2016, at 10:15, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> See our treatment of "ratchet" in the Summer 2013 installment of "Among the
> New Words" (AmSp 88.2), covering a batch of WOTY 2012 nominees.
> 
> http://bit.ly/ATNW88-2
> 
> We mention the "wretch(ed)" etymological theory in the introduction. The
> earliest citation we give is from 1999, from the Lava House song "Ratchet."
> But as David Kendal pointed out to us, "ratchet" appears in an earlier
> song, as cited in Green's Dictionary of Slang:
> 
> 1992 [US] UGK ‘I’m So Bad’ [lyrics] Get your knees dirty, hoe, or either
> get your ratchet ass out my fuckin do’.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 1:03 PM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Boosie Badazz released a song “Do tha Ratchet” in 2006 (
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boosie_Badazz_discography <
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boosie_Badazz_discography>, lyrics:
>> http://bit.ly/2eMhDRe <http://bit.ly/2eMhDRe>).
>> 
>> According to The Professor The (http://bit.ly/2f7NxuZ <
>> http://bit.ly/2f7NxuZ>), the word is a ghettoized form of “wretched,”
>> i.e., unhappy, very bad, poor in quality. This meaning of “ghettoize” is
>> not in the online Oxford Dictionaries (http://bit.ly/2ebf2Pm <
>> http://bit.ly/2ebf2Pm>).
>> 
>> According to stupidniggerskerritpussclot81 (http://bit.ly/1iarDmu <
>> http://bit.ly/1iarDmu>), a ratchet is a diva that has reason to think
>> she’s hot but that is also wrong.
>> 
>> JonPae (http://bit.ly/2ebgpxp <http://bit.ly/2ebgpxp>) provides a
>> fascinating definition that gets to the emotive content of the word:
>> 
>> ——
>> Basically Ratchet is a term for someone who is such a
>> ghetto/slutty/ugly/trashy hot mess that you have to use a word that doesn't
>> even technically apply because what you are seeing is such a mess that it
>> goes beyond any normal description.
>> ——
>> 
>> Urban dictionary has 183 definitions. I didn’t look past the first page.
>> 
>> This word is in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ratchet <
>> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ratchet>) but not the online Oxford
>> Dictionaries.
>> 
>> AFAIK, I had never heard this word before. The word evidently still has
>> currency because the Hudson Brothers (http://bit.ly/2fg4YIW <
>> http://bit.ly/2fg4YIW>) used it in an America’s Got Talent comedy act in
>> 2014.
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
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