Jolie Rouge
05-10-2003, 08:51 PM
"Bling-bling" will soon be entered into the Oxford English Dictionary.
What started out as hip-hop jargon has turned into slang. And it's not just for teenagers. CNN Headline News can't get enough of "bling-bling." Listen carefully and you'll hear it on ESPN commercials. Newsweek used it in its May 12 edition in an article on, of all things, Costco. Newsweek's exact phrase was "Ring up the bling." At Costco.
All of which has gotten the very proper people at the very proper Oxford English Dictionary interested in "bling-bling." And not just as a noun. They're interested in it as a verb and adjective, too!
What is "bling-bling"?
The Record, a newspaper serving Bergen County, N.J., explains it for the unhip: Coined in 1999 in a song titled "Bling-Bling" by a New Orleans rapper named B.G., it refers to big showy jewelry. It "sets off alarms at airports and goes bling when it collides with other bling," says The Record.
Who has "bling-bling"?
According to Record reporter Virginia Rohan, here's a list of who has it:
50 Cent has it.
Elizabeth Taylor dripped it.
Liberace flaunted it.
Carmela Soprano is a walking advertisement for it.
P. Diddy is real-life poster boy for it.
Jewelry designer Robert Verdi aspires to it.
and who doesn't (but thinks he does):
Vanilla Ice
You know a word is no longer cool and cutting edge and oh-so-MTV when it lands in the dictionary. You know it's crossed over when your mom starts using it in everyday conversation.
And what does Cash Money artist B.G. think about the word he coined way back when? He told MTV News, "'Bling-bling' will never be forgotten. So it's like I will never be forgotten. I just wish that I'd trademarked it, so I'd never have to work again."
He's right. It won't be forgotten. Once a word goes into the Oxford English Dictionary, it never comes out. Ever. "Bling-bling" will join a host of other hip-hop words: "jiggy," "bootylicious," "breakbeat," "dope," and "phat."
What started out as hip-hop jargon has turned into slang. And it's not just for teenagers. CNN Headline News can't get enough of "bling-bling." Listen carefully and you'll hear it on ESPN commercials. Newsweek used it in its May 12 edition in an article on, of all things, Costco. Newsweek's exact phrase was "Ring up the bling." At Costco.
All of which has gotten the very proper people at the very proper Oxford English Dictionary interested in "bling-bling." And not just as a noun. They're interested in it as a verb and adjective, too!
What is "bling-bling"?
The Record, a newspaper serving Bergen County, N.J., explains it for the unhip: Coined in 1999 in a song titled "Bling-Bling" by a New Orleans rapper named B.G., it refers to big showy jewelry. It "sets off alarms at airports and goes bling when it collides with other bling," says The Record.
Who has "bling-bling"?
According to Record reporter Virginia Rohan, here's a list of who has it:
50 Cent has it.
Elizabeth Taylor dripped it.
Liberace flaunted it.
Carmela Soprano is a walking advertisement for it.
P. Diddy is real-life poster boy for it.
Jewelry designer Robert Verdi aspires to it.
and who doesn't (but thinks he does):
Vanilla Ice
You know a word is no longer cool and cutting edge and oh-so-MTV when it lands in the dictionary. You know it's crossed over when your mom starts using it in everyday conversation.
And what does Cash Money artist B.G. think about the word he coined way back when? He told MTV News, "'Bling-bling' will never be forgotten. So it's like I will never be forgotten. I just wish that I'd trademarked it, so I'd never have to work again."
He's right. It won't be forgotten. Once a word goes into the Oxford English Dictionary, it never comes out. Ever. "Bling-bling" will join a host of other hip-hop words: "jiggy," "bootylicious," "breakbeat," "dope," and "phat."