what are your favourite grime slang terms?

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captain easychord

Guest
in the interest of compiling a compendium of grime-isms i call for y'all to post your faves.


my fave, GRAFT.

i love how it's used in both the FWD and bashment scenes. (differently). in bashment it refers to the hustle, gettin' by. in FWD it takes on a futurist tone evocative of the fusion of metal and biology, skin graft, cybernetics, clangey machinery...

what are yours?
 

blissblogger

Well-known member
road credibility

really like the way "road" has replaced "street"

it just sounds wrong, but in a good, stop you in your tracks way

"merk" is good too, sounds quite unpleasant

i heard one mc use the word "stiff" as a praise term, like "stiff beats" but don't know if that has any currency

i wonder if there's a slanguage graveyard where prototype terms that didn't take off go -- i remember in hardcore days a brief vogue for "shovelling" as in ... "that's a shovelling tune, mate"... :D :D
 
C

captain easychord

Guest
ya mos def "road" is a highlight. it's so quaint compared to "street" LOL. "slew" is almost as good as "merk".
 
C

captain easychord

Guest
also....

i like how grime slanguage emphasizes being fortright. there's this kind of honour about it, a sense of the virtuous. MC's are always going on about things being "real", "serious" (all those skepta tracks for example), wiley always banging on about "trust me" (that track on the creeper tape) etc.
 

DavidD

can't be stopped
merk is from american hip-hop isn't it? Or maybe dancehall. I donno 50 Cent and others say it all the time, i didn't think it was grime-originated.

I have to say "graft" sounds pretty cool though.
 

luka

Well-known member
the vast majority of grime slang is pilfered, either from us hiphop slang, jamaian patios or cockney, often criminal slang, but it'#s still good. my current favourite is baffed as in baffled, confused,
i was quite baffed bruv. chung is another favourite.
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
got to be 'slewage'!

and 'merkery'

and 'dekos' for decks.
 

mpc

wasteman
mms said:
i like the term standard, meaning really good.

not totally accurate.

standard is usually used to agree unconditionally with what someone has said. i haven't really explained thatvery well.....er..... an example:

Q: did u play the new jon e cash dubplate last night?
A: yeah, standard

'standard' kind of means 'obviously' or "goes without saying"

terms / phrases i like to use (usually in random text messages):

tools (=weapons)
don't watch no face.
never forget ur ends
on a regular
top form / top boy etc.
 

hint

party record with a siren
I like:

good
hectic

bad
swag


and in reference to the term merk / murk I think it means different things in grime terms than it does in hip hop...

grime = to beat someone in a battle / generally kill it on the mic / murder

hip hop = seems to mean the same thing, but also something to do with escaping / hiding?

A lot a niggas is livin with these circumstances,
Sp's the same i still murk ya manz'z,
Drug money to rap money work advances,
Niggas ran and told that i shoulda murked to kansas
 
C

captain easychord

Guest
it seems that grime twists the meaning of hip hop slang. "bare" for e.g.. in grime it means tons, an abundance. but in USHH it means none, a lack...

how could i have forgotten "blood". one of the tops for sure... (meaning a fellow, kinda like "rudeboy".)
 

MolexRoots

switch!
Nang slang

'Road' is good, I intend to use it more. I don't like 'nang' (meaning either good or bad, I've heard it in both contexts). I rarely use 'dawg' or 'blood', mostly because the majority of my friends would laugh at me for saying it. Would refering to Jamaica as 'JA' be considered street slang? If so, that's another good'n.

My fave... 'yard' (meaning house or home).
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
Are these terms meant to have originated in grime, or just been appropriated by it? I mean, "yard?"
 
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