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+--- Thread: Street Slang and Coded Language (/showthread.php?tid=3087)
Street Slang and Coded Language - Michigan Swamp Buck - 10-01-2025
I was thinking about coded language in the form of street slang, particularly about the terms and phrases used for illegal activities. Just curious, as the idea of subculture use of language, including the drug culture or the gay culture, had come to mind. I had also thought to focus on liberal vs conservative use of language to see what possible slang is being used on either side of the aisle. Basically, I was looking into the current popular use of speech, the leading edge of our living language. It never got that far before the search engine bias took over.
I started with street slang and found that it apparently began with escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad and later evolved in urban areas where blacks migrated after the Civil War, and became modern street slang. I got mostly hip hop references from that search, and it wasn't inclusive of the slang used by white people. So I changed the search to "street slang coded language", and suddenly I found references to white coded language almost exclusively.
The bias of these reports was plainly evident, as apparently, the only slang white people use is for racist references in the form of commonly used words. Some examples include . . .
Quote:Phrases like “inner city” and “illegal immigrant” are often code for Black and Latino people, for instance. Terms like “massage parlor” and “liquor store/Food and Liquor,” may seem to simply be names of certain structures or businesses but are often used in coded ways to denigrate certain populations . . .
https://languageplease.org/coded-language/
The above quote is the line of reasoning used for white street slang, apparently. Now, no matter how neutral the term, the left will characterize it as "coded" and racist if it is used by the right. In addition, they literally believe that the Trump MAGA conservatives developed and refined this conservative coded language they claim white people are using against people of color.
There are some that apply this idea to both sides . . .
Quote:Chick-fil-A is right coded. “Rent” and “Hamilton” are left coded. Comedy and wrestling are right coded. Independent movie theaters and capoeira are left coded. “Yellowstone” is right coded and “White Lotus” is left. There’s a case for the HBO show “Girls” being right coded. “Superbad” is a little unclear.
People have often signaled their values in the shows they watch (“The West Wing”), clothes they wear (white pantsuits) and restaurants they frequent. But it has become wildly popular in recent years, and especially in recent months, to read cultural tea leaves with the word “coded.” In group chats, on Reddit and on X, we’re calling anything and everything right or left “coded.” It’s like playing a game of charades, gesturing at the qualities a certain celebrity or bar or podcast has without saying exactly what you mean. Linguists notice it too, pointing to Google data that shows a spike in the use of “coded,” with its current meaning, since the 2010s.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/style/coded-right-left-politics.html
Still, the bulk of "coded" language is something that is being characterized as white slang used to conceal racist comments. Basically, they scrutinize every word white conservatives say in order to reveal the racist/fascist nature they believe white people are born with. I believe that their premise is that white people are natural born racists, and so everything they say or do is racist at its very core. IMO, it is just like the left to point the finger at the right when that has been their M.O. for ages.
This extreme attitude is actually more common than you'd believe, but to be expected with the level of hate that the liberal left has for the conservative right. I can see now how these extreme leftists are becoming so violent as to start a shooting war with the MAGA minions. They seriously believe white people are "unredeemable deplorables" and must be eliminated "by any means necessary". I bet they think that killing a white conservative, or even a black one, is doing the world a great favor, that it isn't a murder but a justifiable homicide or even a mercy killing.
RE: Street Slang and Coded Language - F2d5thCav - 10-01-2025
Pretty sure slang goes back much further than the Civil War.
During the Hundred Years War, the French called English troops "goddams" because English troops used this curse word with some frequency
Some slang is also a result of sexual references, words like "punk" and "pogey". "Punk" is sometimes used simply to to mean a young, supposedly inexperienced or ignorant person ... but the original meaning is darker.
Would guess a fair amount of slang came out prisoner sub-cultures.
