Noah in Burlington, Vermont, wonders about the catchphrase I’m too cringe for New York, too based for LA. As explained at Know Your Meme, the slang term based is now a positive term popularized by the rapper Lil B, referring to one’s...
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s witches’ knickers! What do you call stray plastic bags that litter the landscape? Also, what it means to do something like a boss, how to hyphenate correctly, and why we say we have a crush on...
yak n.— «Their discovery of cognac—“yak” as they affectionately call it—started a fashion among young black Americans who, in a practice considered heresy in France, mix it with fruit juices to make cocktails such as French Connection and...
boom-bap n.— «Staying true to the early- to mid-‘90s boom-bap aesthetic—”boom-bap” being an onomatopoeic nod to the ferocity of the kick and snare drums—the album was unapologetically rooted in New York’s Golden Era. And so...
movietisment n.— «Combs, who produced and stars in a three minute version of the commercial, refused to edit the video and instead released it online.…The so-called “movietisment” details Combs’ encounter with a...
Eric B and Rakim n.— «One of the more bizarre terms has to be Eric B and Rakim, which means a “zero balance fee note.” The phrase ironically comes from the rappers” hip-hop classic Paid in Full.» —“Revealed: how to...