Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Slang at CRLS

CRLS is the school where I teach. The only public high school in Cambridge, MA. It stands for Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Try saying that 10 times fast.

It's categorized as an urban school, which mostly means it's a place where black students attend. Or low-income students. Or low-income black students.

I'm heading back there next week, and the students will be in the classroom the day after Labor Day. Which means I should brush up on all the slang I learned last year. Here's my growing vocabulary list:

"we're sherms" - we're spacey, we're not being smart
"swing" - pass (as in "swing that pencil to me")
"peep" - see (as in "let me peep that book")
"dog it out" - tough it out
"to rash" - to criticize
"on dogs" - fair to say, I agree
"to dip" - to leave abruptly (as in "gotta dip," gotta leave now)
"ham" - hard as a motherfucker
"what's poppin' slime?" - what's going on? (followed by "nothin' five.")
"what's good?" - what's up?
"spittin g's at a shorty" - hitting on a girl
"mad" - very (an oft used intensifier, as in "that test was mad hard")
"aggy" - mad, angry (from aggravated)
"she's a dime" - she's a good looking girl (a ten)
"forcing it" - trying too hard, one step too far
"jackie" - whatever
"salted/saulted" - you got burned, you got owned (uncleared whether it comes from "salt in the wounds" or "assaulted")