Shawty

It's funny how one small anecdote will gain momentum especially if you involve social media. Case in point, Fang and I have been having intellectual rants about hip hop terminology. As a frequent consumer of hip hop music and urban dictionary, I like to think I am fairly au courant with street vernacular.

I have referred to Fang as my Boo. He seems to get the concept of that term. Last night, we heard a Sean Kingston song which referenced (like many hip hop songs do these days) someone named "Shorty."

"What's a shorty?" Fang asked, "is that a drug reference?"

So 1970s.

I endeavored to explain. " A shorty is a hot girl, a girlfriend, someone you're crushing on."

Fang looked thoughtful. "So you're my shorty?" he asked.

"No," I explained. "I am your wife. A shorty is a girlfriend or a pole dancer at Scores that you want to get nasty with."

"You're my shorty," he finally said. Well, OK. Not the correct actual reference but I did like the appeasement.

In fact, I liked it so much that I posted it as a pithy comment on Facebook. That done, I promptly forgot it and went to bed.

Today at work, I was scaring up some lunch when the marketing team came marching in singular fashion down the hallway by the lunchroom. As I greeted them, one of the team (a Facebook friend) said to me, "Hey, shorty!"

I'd nearly forgotten. I burst into laughter.

Joining The Fisherman and The Man in Plaid for lunch, I was still laughing. The Fisherman told me I was nearly blushing (no small feat for a cynical old broad like me). I eventually recalled the entire story. The Fisherman is my Facebook friend and he's down with music and trends and he's cool with hip hop. The Man in Plaid is another story--he's a true Yankee and traditional in many ways. It's unlikely he has never heard the term "boo" or "shorty" or any other slang terms, to say nothing of hip hop trends. He listened thoughtfully as I recounted the whole story.

When I left work tonight, I bid good night to the duo cited above. As I strode out, I yelled to The Man in Plaid, "Goodnight, Boo!" Without missing a beat, he smiled and shouted back, "See ya, Shorty!"

I loved it.