California slang
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California slang is slang used in California English, or which originates in California. The slang heard in California originates from four different regions: Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Central California, and Southern California. Though some slang is used in all four regions, the usage of certain slang can help identify where a person is from in California. Since the center of the film and television industry is in Hollywood, California slang often becomes mainstream American slang due to its usage in movies and television.
Northern California slang
HELLLA is a slang word used by people living in Northern California or "NorCal" for short. While it is heard in other parts of Northern California, it is most commonly heard in the San Francisco Bay Area where it originated. Most Southern Californians do not use the word "hella”, so it helps distinguish Northern Californians from Southern Californians. Though, the Southern California band No Doubt (Orange County) used the word in their song "Hella Good".
The term "A Kelly" was common soon after the slang term "Betty" was popularized in Southern California. Especially in the East Bay and Oakland, the term "Kelly" is used to describe a "hot girl" who is considered low maintenance. A "Kelly" essentially looks good coming and going, day or night, in sweats or in the hottest dress. The term was used in the XBox game A Pimp RPG where the main character Big Daddy K first meets up with Trixie and says "Whoa, you know what you go there? That's a Kelly. She ain't never gonna disappoint."
San Francisco Bay Area slang
While the rest of the world may use the slang "Frisco" for San Francisco, native San Franciscans prefer to call it "SF" or "The City". To measure distance, people sometimes use "blocks", which means the length of one street, instead of miles or time because the city is structured in a grid.
Gay Culture Influence
Since San Francisco is home to The Castro, the largest gay neighborhood or "gayborhood" in the U.S., a lot of gay slang originates from the gay community living there. Examples include "rice queen", a non-Asian homosexual man who is predominantly attracted to Asian males, and "Castro Clone".[1]
San Francisco Bay Area hip-hop culture slang
Slang from the Bay Area, also known as the "yay area", is influenced by The Hyphy Movement, hip hop music, Mexican, Asian, and Eastern European cultures. Bay Area slang consists of words like: "hyphy", ballin, holla, bounce, chillax, coochie, ginormous, cutty, scraper, perkin, "crossfaded", "yeee", "erray", "ghost ride the whip", "gas break dip", "bootsie", "bleezy", "dime", "scrilla", "stunnas", "dubb", "gig", "sideshow", "stunting", and many other words. Some slang is rooted in drug culture such as "thizz" and "molly" for ecstasy, "yayo","yola",or "yay" for cocaine, and "purp", "sticky icky", "yurple", "buds", "trees" for weed. Other slang refers to getting intoxicated, partying, and dancing such as "get stupid", "go dumb", and "get hyphy". The slang "yadadamean" means "you know what I mean?" and "fasho" means "for sure". Some derogatory terms for females include "beezy", "ripper", "runner", and "biatch". Bay Area rappers like Mac Dre, Tupac Shakur, E-40, Zion I, Too Short, Andre Nickatina, Luniz, The Pack, The Coup, and more have coined many of these terms in their music. "Swag" or "Swagger" is also slang used in both Northern and Southern California to as a way to describe someone that is "cool."
Hippie influence
At the start of The Hippie Movement in San Francisco in the 1960s, the term "hippie" was coined by a San Francisco journalist, Michael Fallon, in his article "A New Haven for Beatniks". During the Counterculture of the 1960s when psychedelic drugs were on the rise, Ken Kesey coined the words "acid test" and "acid rock", in reference to the parties that experimented with Lsd and the music that played in the background by bands such as The Grateful Dead.
Words like Groovy, far out, and peace (as a farewell) are also originated from the Hippie movement. The word "flower child" was coined during the Summer of Love on the streets of the Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
Central California Slang
Central Californian slang tends to be an amalgamation of both Southern and Northern Californian slang, often siding toward the surfers. For example some common terms/phrases are sweet, hella, mobbing, trupunx, balls cold, amped up, intense, you're fucking up, you don't even know, man, dude, bro, "brah" or I know how that is. People will often refer to marijuana as dank, weed, or bud; it is also common to refer to a bowl of cannabis that has been expended as cashed.
Southern California slang
Slang used in Southern California originates from several subcultures:
Beach/Surf Slang
This is often associated with the large population of surfers, skaters, and popular Southern California sports. To be stoked, or excited about something, is slang that can be traced back to sixties surf culture, glorified in movies such as The Endless Summer and Big Wednesday. Words such as gnarly,"bro", rad, sick, sketch, beast, epic, and buzzkill are used regularly now.
Valspeak
The valley girl stereotype, as depicted in the 1983 film Valley Girl, influenced the speech of northern and southern California natives living throughout the valley in California, by popularizing the valley girl sociolect, where the words "like", "and", "so", "whatever", and "totally" are employed as linguistic fillers.
Hip Hop
People say cruise, bounce, or mob when planning on going somewhere (let's bounce/cruise to the store). People call marijuana trees, chronic, kush, ganja, buds, hydro, purple or skunk, but most commonly, it is simply referred to as "weed." "Trip" is often used to describe an overreaction (don't even trip, it's not a big deal.) "Baller," "G," and "swag"/"swagger" are all terms meaning or relating to "cool."
Beverly Hills
The term '"Betty"' which refers to a an attractive woman or hottie originated from Clueless (film) set in Beverly Hills in 1995 was widely used and eventually made it into mainstream vernacular. [citation needed] Possibly a reference to Betty Rubble. The usage is best articulated from from the character Cher (Alicia Silverstone) in the line: '"Wasn't my mom a Betty?"'
See also
References
- ^ Sharpio, Eddie. Remaking the Castro Clone. Out Publishcation, 2008 http://www.out.com/entertainment/2008/12/01/remaking-castro-clone, p. 1.
![]() | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (December 2009) |
- Bay Area Hip Hop Dictionary. 14 April 2004. Bay Area Dictionary. 30 June 2008. <http://www.riceplate.com/rap/rap.php>
- “California Slang” Title Forum Project.10 Dec. 2004. <http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/archive/index.php/t-78326.html>
- Carmichael, Kristin. “Slang is used to Unify the Masses” Cat Bytes. 7 July 2008. <http://www.csuchico.edu/jour/catbytes/s99/slang.htm>
- Dean, R. Dennis. “Slang is Language too” The English Journal Vol. 51. National Council of Teachers on English. May 1962. 323-326. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/810008>
- Folsom Slang. 7 July 2008. <http://www.myfolsom.com/folsomslang.shtml>
- “Heard ‘em Say?” The Paisano. 6 Nov. 2006. Popular slang on Campus. 7 July 2008. <http://media.www.paisanoonline.com/media/storage/paper975/news/2006/11/06/Features/heard.em.Say-2672950.shtml>
- Johnson, Janice. "Slang: A Transitional Language". Planet Papers. 7 July 2008 <http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4180.php>
- Morgan, Marcyliena. “Twisted in the Anti-Circle” Department of Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology: 2004. 30 June 2008. <http://language-culture.binghamton.edu/reviews/symposium7/morgan.html>
- “Slang Dictionary to the Rescue” CBS News. 5 Dec. 2003. CBS: 2 July 2008.<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/04/earlyshow/contributors/tracysmith/main586911.shtml>
- “Slang Makes Language Unique” The Orion Online. 16 Feb. 2005. Maria Davalos. 30 June 2008 <http://media.www.theorion.com/media/storage/paper889/news/2005/02/16/Features/Slang.Makes.Language.Unique-1507320.shtml>
- Slangman, “Surfer Slang” News VOV. 5 Feb. 2002. 2 July 2008. <http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2002-02/a-2002-02-05-11-1.cfm>
- “Surfer Slang” Surf Guru. 12 May 2008. 2 July 2008 <http://surfguru.com/forum/forums/t/734.aspx>
- Urban Dictionary.30 June 2008. <http://www.urbandictionary.com>
- “Vox Slang” Vox Communications. 8 Dec. 2007. Slang. 29 June 2008.<http://www.voxcommunications.com/>
- Walker, Robert. “Gangs OR Us” Gang slang.19 May 2008. Slang. 6 July 2008. <http://www.gangsorus.com/letterso.html>