[Ads-l] aight

[Ben Zimmer]

Plenty of examples of "aight"/"a'ight" in the archives of the Usenet
newsgroup alt.rap, starting with:

---
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.rap/c/-9MGfqWKu-g/m/e3E4CuQgzTcJ
Ronald Johnson, "Whats the 411, hon?", alt.rap, Oct. 20, 1992
I think Mary J. Blige's 411 is a'ight.
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https://groups.google.com/g/alt.rap/c/95DIgvWNK1k/m/9Rkp1NbqcqUJ
K-Mello SGP '92, "Fu Schnickens," alt.rap, Oct. 25, 1992
But until I hear something else from him and say, "That shit was a'ight", I
will regard him as being booty, fast as hell, but BOOTY!
---

--bgz

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 10:07 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The OED has earlier citations as Jesse pointed out, but this citation
> might be useful because it uses the "aight" spelling. The 1993
> citations in the OED use the following spellings: "ay-aight" and
> "I-ight".
>
> Date: March 24, 1995
> Periodical: Scope
> Article: Letters Build a Bridge: Continents Apart, Students Connect as Pen
> Pals
> Author: John Rearick
> (Note: Letter from Donzetta)
> Start Page 12, Quote Page 13
> Publisher: Scholastic Inc., New York
> Database: Internet Archive
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> This is crazy, but you might like it. Here are a few street words:
> 1. "chill" means to relax or calm down.
> 2. "Phat" means something really good or you really like it.
> 3. "Butta" is the same as phat.
> 4. "Aight" (All right) means to agree or saying goodbye.
> 5. "Shorty" means cute when you're talking to a girl.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 7:40 AM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > OED has this, with cites for the adjective from 1993 (in the form "I'm
> ay-aight"), 1999 ("aight"); and for the interjection 1993 ("I-ight"), 2000
> ("A-aight").
> >
> > <Waiting for Fred to improve on this for the ODAAE>
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 07:12:17AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >
> https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/elliot-page-says-christopher-nolan-071350685.html
> > >
> > > [T]he movie was just not very interesting. Whether it was true to the
> > > source material or not, it was just aight. Nothing new there.
> > > I've been hearing this in speech, occasionally, for twenty-five years,
> but
> > > I've never seen it in print  till now.  Lots in N.
> > >
> > > 2002 _Winston-Salem Journal_ (Jan. 7) D-3 [N]: I'll holla at ya, aight?
> > >
> > > 2003 _Albuquerque Tribune_ (July 5) (Comics) unp. [N]: Black English
> > > Month...A'ight. I'm down.
> > >
>

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