Is this slang used in all UK or just by kids from this part of London?
Or is it in connection to the gang life, or is it a pigeon English used in certain UK immigrant communities?
shareYour estimations are not far off.
It's a bizarre, off shoot form of English whose foundations are primarily in African American gun crime. It doesn't really have a life outside of London except for perhaps a place such as Birmingham, where the horrors of mass immigration (and the consequent forced integration of blacks with whites) has created a load of poverty striken zones wherein youngsters of any ethnicity/genration speak this form of English.
@johnnyboyz
"African American gun crime?" Um, it's just a unique English twist on inner city slang--dosen't necessarily have anything to do with "gun crime". Here in the U.S., white folks and other non white folks have ripped off and imitated black slang for over 4 centuries---for the ones who actually grew up in both black rural and urban communities, it's different since they come by the slang/learn it naturally in those environments. "Forced integration of black with whites"---what makes you think it's forced? "Horrors of mass immigration"---um, practically EVERY country has some form of integration, and it's not necessarily a "horror", as you put it. Boy, this film really brings out all the racists, straight-up---I' m not even the least bit surprised.
Admittedly, the first part of my response was poorly worded; to the extent I actually missed out the word 'culture' from the very end of the opening sentence entirely! My point was more broadly related to how African-American 'culture' has infiltrated the UK over the years via rap music; the allure of owning firearms and how it has influenced our language to the extent words such as 'sick' and 'blood' now mean entirely different things to certain people in certain parts of the UK. I see this as a take on how words in America such as 'dog(g)' might take on an entirely different definition when used in conversation with a black. The writer/director, Joe Cornish, has already spoken in the UK on how this inner-city set content isn’t so far removed from the science fiction genre in how these pockets of people exist in their bubbled communities (planets) with their separate languages et al. Hence, it only seemed natural to merge science fiction/alien invasion narratives with the sorts of people we see in the film.
I stand by what the rest of my post read. Maybe 'EVERY country' does indeed have 'some form of integration, and it's not necessarily a horror', but examples of this are most likely limited to a Portuguese going to work in Brazil for an extended period and merely getting on with things. In spite of what you post, racial integration in this country HAS been forced and while certain ethnicities have arrived and successfully integrated (the Hindus and the Sikhs with the whites, for example), the majority of it has only gone on to induce what we observe in Attack the Block: young offspring of the West Indians generation whom initially arrived in the 1960s feeding off widely accessible African American gun/crime/youth culture and turning pockets of the nation into what you see in the film.
The rise of this sort of thing is, of course, in sync with our last half-a-dozen governments and their gradual eroding of everything that used to guard against this stuff: there are fewer policemen running beats; caning in schools has gone; capital punishment (the ultimate deterrent) has been abolished; absurd human rights laws have been implemented and a general sense that figures of authority (one’s parents, teachers, police officers) can be challenged, ignored or even dismissed is in force. Consequently, most people think they can get away with anything and they’re often right. In closing, perhaps 'white folks and other non white folks have ripped off and imitated black slang for over 4 centuries' in America – blacks have lived in America for a lot longer than they have here. Thank you for your response.
Actually, the slang used by Moses and his gang reflects not African American vernacular but a Carribean vernacular known as 'patois'. Its roots being in the post-war immigration from the Carribean.
Moreover, blacks have lived in England for a lot longer than they have in America and there are a number of books available (some you can preview online) that discuss the black diaspora in Europe. Africans have been present in Europe since classical times and this presence has remained consistently. After all, King James of Scotland courted a 'blak' woman called Margaret - she rejected his advances but accepted the gifts. Oh, women~
Singing ability is not a prerequisite for making great pop music, but original ideas...are
No matter what the american cultural exposure is very clear... "Feds" is an american slang for the "coppers"
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
Your first part about the language being patois and not Afro-American was spot on, seeing as how most black populations in the UK are descended from the West Indies and not Africa directly as with the US. Y'git me, rude bwoy?
However the original dude was correct, we may have had blacks in Britain since before the USA was formed, but only something like 1 in 100,000 people were black, even by WW2 the first time many people in the south of England had ever seen a black person was when they came across from the States.
North America has had a very large black population since the 1600's, the UK has only had a large black population since 1948 when many emigrated here after the dissolution of the Empire. Each of the past 3 generations has become a mixing pot of their own Caribbean heritage, Britishness and borrowing from other black cultures that are in the media, music, tv, sports, etc. Just because the kids in this movie wanted to be gangsters doesn't mean you won't equally find a bunch of kids on an estate doing tricks with a football.
Opinions are just onions with pi in them.
for example the gang say "skanger", which is from the Jamaican 'skank' (dirty/smelly) and has also passed into Dublin slang, probably from irish people in London hearing the word from black londoners
share[deleted]
You speak some garbage in your post. If you have seen the film, its clear that the writer can only be a white guy who is attempting to write for black youth culture and failing miserably.
Its that man again!!
No 100% wrong. In some BTS Footage he went to young youths to ask how they would speak and react in the situations in the film. And yes they use real words i use / have heard others use. (Being a 17 year old black male in the UK)
share