AMERICAN SLANG DOPE SAVAGE HYPE
Yo, this is dope! Check it, it’s the summer
of slang.
Today you’re learning 3 new slang words:
dope, savage, and hype.
Slang is something that changes a lot,
a term may only be in use for a year or two.
‘Dope’ is something that was around way
back when I was a kid,
so I thought it has passed.
But a friend of mine said he heard his son
use it the other day,
and then I noticed on the HBO series GIRLS,
that it was used twice in episode 1 of season 6.
So it’s definitely still in use.
It’s used as an adjective to mean cool,
awesome, great.
Jay-Z’s new album is dope.
Dope shoes!
It can also mean drugs.
It’s a little outdated, this use for it,
as far as marijuana, but it’s still used for narcotics like heroin.
She does what she can to get more dope.
It’s also used as a verb, doping,
in sports to talk about athletes who take steroids, illegally, to enhance performance.
Doping has been a big problem in American
baseball.
Lance Armstrong has admitted to doping.
Savage.
This is used when someone is bold,
doesn’t care about consequences.
Someone might also use the term ‘bada—' you get the point.
It can also be used if you did something hard,
something other people wouldn’t do,
and you did it really well, making it look easy.
Like the guy who recently climbed the face
of El Capitan without ropes.
That was savage.
It can be used in terms of an insult.
If someone insults you and you come up with a great comeback,
and insult them even more than they insulted you,
someone might say: That was savage.
So, it’s a positive thing you might say.
You’re complimenting someone on doing something really well.
Hype. This means excited.
I’m so hype! We’re going to Disneyland tomorrow.
You’re really looking forward to it.
You’re pumped up for it.
I’m so hype for the state finals.
You’re pumped, excited, you’re ready to play.
Both ‘dope’ and ‘hype’ are 1-syllable
words that end in P.
You may hear Americans dropping the release: dope— dope— dope— dope—
I’m so hype!
But you don’t have to make it a heavy P: pp— hype— hype—
Not a strong escape of air. It should be very light or it might be skipped.
Dope.
Hype.
When should you use slang?
I went over that in Summer of Slang video 2.
So click here to check out all the videos in that series.