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Older Black People and Coded Language

LJJJJJJ

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I feel this. Definitely the reason I don't give up the game. If they wanna know make em figure it out but don't serve it up on a platter.
Yeah, it sucks like heck. I think I want to do some threads about some medleys/rifts/songs that I first heard through white media, only to find out or instinctively know this came from AA roots. Might wait for OP first to see what she is putting out, don't want to step on her toes.
 

Fauxfox

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Wow, these are clever. The only one I remember my grandmother saying is "she can't hold a nickel between her knees". Meaning her legs are always open/she's loose.
 

sunflowerz

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I use a lot of these in everyday speech. I’m southern and gen x. I love it. AA vernacular is my first language.
 

Looks Far

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It's easier to "keep up" then to "catch up". This refers to paying your bills on time. My Big Mama and Big Daddy used to always say this if there was a need to have to borrow from them.

One of the best lessons I've learned, although it took me a minute to actually start doing it.
 

Looks Far

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"A closed mouth don't get fed" - meaning if you don't open your mouth and say something, nobody will know what you need.

"Everybody's business ain't nobody's business".

"Going to see a man about a dog" meaning, nunya' business where I'm going.
 

Looks Far

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"If you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me, help the bear!" - meaning (I'm BAD).

... on the other hand

"Don't poke a bear" - meaning, when a person is already on a rampage, leave them alone.

"Let sleeping dogs lay" - meaning, if ain't nobody else brining a subject up, leave it alone.
 

Looks Far

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If "ifs" were fifths, we'd all get drunk.

He/she ain't got enough sense to pour piss out of a boot.

Wish in one hand, sh!t in the other and see which one fills up the quickest. (For wishful thinking).
 

babylamb

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A favorite y'all. Buy what you want, Beg for what you need. Most influencers and young people in general, not all though. You gotta learn this one the hard way. Me....
 

TSquared

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If "ifs" were fifths, we'd all get drunk.

He/she ain't got enough sense to pour piss out of a boot.

Wish in one hand, sh!t in the other and see which one fills up the quickest. (For wishful thinking).

The way we always say it down here goes:

"He/she couldn't pour piss out a boot with instructions written on the heel. "

I holler every time.
 

Alchemy

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Haven’t gone through the thread but my moms aunt always used to say people were “out to lunch” - aka crazy LOL
 

THA RAQ

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Why am I just seeing this?
giphy.gif
 

THA RAQ

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My family still talks like this. My mother and aunts don't like to be "unlady like" so they throw shade in coded-language.

We need to go back to doing it. This is the best kind of shady gossip--saying it without "saying it."
I've been saying everyone is using the term shade very incorrectly and doing it all wrong. Old school shade is almost undetectable and sometimes you have to think about whether or not you were just shaded.

Seeing older Black women going back and forth shading the hell out of each other is something to see and it's really an art.
 

mekap31

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“She don’t think fat meat is greasy!”

A person that thinks they know everything and is usually wrong.
 

MysticalAnxiety

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Oh, I haven't seen Nana's favorite, 'Don't pee in my face and tell me it raining." Today's language, "Bihh, I ain stupid. I ain finna let you play in my face or bihh, you got me fuxxked up"

She is a Southern treasure!!!!
 

TSquared

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Oh, I haven't seen Nana's favorite, 'Don't pee in my face and tell me it raining." Today's language, "Bihh, I ain stupid. I ain finna let you play in my face or bihh, you got me fuxxked up"

She is a Southern treasure!!!!

Our rendition:

"Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining."
 

90sfine

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All shut eyes ain't sleep. (Meaning, just because a person might look like they are sleep - watch what you are saying; they might be listening).
Lol my family says “playing possum”, same meaning though. Someone is faking sleep.
 

ibrown23

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If a gay guy died---- He probably had the '' monster '' :no2
My mom had two neighbors. One side Mr.Sunny and his “friend”. His “friend” passed from cancer. The other side Ms.Penny. I hear ms.penny telling my mom mr.sunny friend died from “cancer”. They collectively said “ ohhhh ... cancer “
 

Teaswood

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If black families/communities of yesteryear didn't do anything else, they could keep a secret. In this age of anything goes and everything is told on multiple social media platforms, it seems unbelievable that previous generations were oftentimes just as messy and scandalous it simply wasn't known or discussed. That's somewhat true. Previous generations were indeed just as messy and scandalous, but things definitely weren't kept exactly quiet or unknown. You simply had to know what was being said.

The trick with older generations was knowing and deciphering the coded language or euphemisms they used to relay messy or scandalous information. A seemingly innocent phrase could relay a WHOLE lot of information. I'm going to include some of the ones I've heard below and their meanings.

I'll start off with the one I mentioned in another thread, older people in my family would never say anyone was incarcerated they would say the person was in "college". But it was the side eye that let you know "college" wasn't actually college.

"She's visiting relatives/down South for the Summer" - teen or unmarried pregnancy, once the child is born and placed with a relative they come back

"Mr. So and So has a bachelor household" - he's gay

"Every time she take a step, she cut a corner twice"- a married woman who frequently steps out on her husband

"He buying sweet milk for the summer"- a married man who has a girlfriend or a mistress

"They almost had to name the baby Peter" - the paternity of the child was suspect but the husband eventually accepted the baby(from Peter denying Jesus)

"He had to feed that one" - the husband knew the child wasn't his, but as the old folks would say "He took home and fed him until he looked like him".

"She knows how to thread a needle"- she's a lesbian

"S/he keep a touch of something/stay porch sick" - alcoholic or drug addict

"S/he can spot a shadow in the dark"- mentally ill person or person with mental issues

"She do her laundry on Wednesdays" - a loose or immoral woman, Mondays were wash days

"They built their house on a creek/over a creek" - messy couple with a lot of verbal and/or physical back and forth

"His family put on a nice sitting up(emphasis on family)" - the funeral won't be mentioned because the outside children showed up

And I still laugh til this day at my grandmother not wanting to leave her purse in a cubby that we could clearly see at my son's pre school because as she said the teacher looked like "her slip had an inside pocket(she looked like a thief)".
I’ve never heard any of these and I’m from Alabama. I’m aware of alternate meanings/language dictions. These are new to me though. Lmao
 

MissDemeanor

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No. I’m Southern American. But my Grandfathers family is Gullah Geechie.
Are you Caribbean? I've heard Jamaicans say that back yard and in a bashment song or two but never knew the official meaning. Lol. I.e "Me have white liver 'cause me ah Indian" - Vybz Kartel -_-
.
 

boomerangTHEORY

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For some reason they used to call the local jail “the honor farm” but I didn’t get it. I just thought my uncle was real upstanding since he was always there
So I asked my mama about this today and she told me it was really called the honor farm

 

ImInYourFace

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"smelling yourself" - Being aware of your developing body and having confidence around the opposite xes.
 

dreams2020

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grandfather to grandmother: " baby,we going dancing later* grandma giggles


wasn't until i was adult with my own kids, that i found out they were talking about freaking e6


peace
 

4GoodAndEvil

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grandfather to grandmother: " baby,we going dancing later* grandma giggles


wasn't until i was adult with my own kids, that i found out they were talking about freaking e6


peace
They were doing the slow drag...
 

Ms Her

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I promise you, I thought certain fonts were overreacting about sharing our language/experiences, etc. Then, I see today there are a few threads using the experience and then pose a research question. I stand by my statement that 'it becomes obvious'. To those who warned, my apologies. I got it before (about a different topic) but I see what y'all meant. SMH * Headdown*
 

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