The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

Slang from African-American teenagers in Detroit

Jacked-up - messed up; wrecked; damaged.
You da man - a good friend.
Crack Head - a person who is silly or crazy; a free-base drug user.
Trippin' - a person who is not acting normal.
Illin' - acting stupid; not with it.
Chillin' - being comfortable; relaxing.
Coolin' out - relaxing.
Cheese - money.
Sackin' - a women going with a man just because he has money.
Bad - good; sharp; great.
What up Dog - hello; Hi; What's going on?
In the House - any person within a group or clique.
Proper - decent; good; nice.
Devia - a pretty woman.
Disc - doing someone wrong.
Perpan - a phony.
Old Man - father.
Old girl - mother.

Submitter comment: I noticed that my niece Melanie was saying a lot of slang words
that I couldn't understand, so I asked her to give me the meaning of
several popular slang words used by teenagers in the 90's.

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT

Date learned: 00-00-1991