Slang

T he Load of Fun graffiti alley isn't visible from the intersection of North Avenue and Howard Street, which is gray and beige and blighted and grim. Nearby is a nondescript motel and a check-cashing service with a barred entrance. But when visitors walk north on Howard Street and turn onto the quirkily named 19 1/2 Street, suddenly, there the alley is. People abruptly stop walking and even lean back slightly. They draw in their chins and swallow their breaths. It's almost like stepping into an ancient walled European city or an outdoor urban cathedral.

Guess who was the highfalutin cook of my family when I was growing up? Me. I stayed busy whipping up French dishes a la Julia Child or concocting chili-laden Chinese stir-fries. My mother was more than happy to stay out of the kitchen, but she was a very good basic cook. Her fried fish, shrimp scampi and this homey slumgullion were among her classics. Slumgullion is said to be old Gold Rush slang for stews made from leftovers, according to The New Food Lover's Companion. My mother always started hers fresh.

The Rev. Michael Braxton removed his clerical gown and took off his tie."This is dress-down Sunday," he told his Annapolis congregation a few weeks ago. "God isn't so much concerned with your outward appearance; God is concerned about your heart."Mr. Braxton, the pastor of Cecil Memorial United Methodist Church on Parole Street, often breaks with tradition to make a point.Sometimes, he'll quote teen-ager's slang during sermons that tend to be lively and humorous."I use the slang the kids know," he says, "like, 'Whoomp!

A PROMINENT JAMAICAN gay rights activist is brutally murdered one June morning, and a crowd gathers to rejoice and sing "Boom Bye Bye," a popular reggae song about killing gay men. Nine days later, another gay man is "chopped, stabbed and stoned to death" by an angry mob egged on by police officers who, according to a witness, told them to "beat him because him a battyman," local slang for homosexual. Days later, six men are driven from their home and beaten by a group of angry men. When they report the crime to police, officers nearly laugh them out of the station.

Prosecutors will not charge the Baltimore police officers involved in arresting and fatally injuring a man — after finding that they did not use excessive force and followed police procedure when a detective tackled Anthony Anderson in a vacant lot last September. Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein made the announcement Thursday, in a case that has roiled Anderson's East Baltimore community and sparked accusations of police brutality against black men. "I said to the family this morning, there's no question Mr. Anderson's death is a tragedy," Bernstein said.

Say it ain't so.We've struggled for so long to resist that ugly little negative contraction, and now Merriam-Webster says "ain't" ain't so bad after all."Ain't" and 10,000 other new entries have made it into the newest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. It's not the first dictionary to print the word, which has long appeared in unabridged dictionaries as well as Webster's New World Dictionary. But most identify it as substandard or slang. Merriam-Webster, the largest U.S. publisher of dictionaries, now includes it without any warning against its use.Other words and terms that got the nod are signs of the times: safe sex, date rape, boom box, politically correct, megahit, downscale, wire fraud, voice mail, significant other, veg out.You'd think Noah Webster, great granddaddy of American English, would be turning over in his grave.

Maybe you've heard these phrases before: "If you have a phone, you have an attorney. " "You're making a big mistake. " "Nobody bothers me. " "Jack says 'Yes.'" For better or worse, these are the catchphrases of Baltimore advertising, lines delivered incessantly by TV pitchmen who, not coincidentally, own the businesses they're pitching. They're not actors, and they might not have the greatest voices in the world. But they certainly are one thing: everywhere.

John Lindner's Lunch Timed review in Monday's Sunrise section is of Duesenberg's in Catonsville. Time does not always turn out to be a factor in these Lunch Timed reviews. But this time it was. Some folks think the slang word " doozy " stems from "Deusey," the nickname for the American luxury car, but there are etymological sightings of "doozy" that predate the manufacture of the automobile. Here's Lindner's review of Duesenberg's .

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a relatively obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar, another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: GIT No, not the rural American imperative of get , but the British slang for "a worthless person. " The etymology is interesting; the word derives from the old word get , "offspring. " When you beget , your get is what you get, your begotten . Git is, for those fond of British slang (and who isn't?

Here's a guide to the vernacular of the International Man of Mystery and his menacing counterpart, Dr. Evil, from the book, "Shagadelically Speaking" by Lance Gould:Aging hipster: Dr. Evil's stinging condemnation of Austin's life and lifestyle.Bag: As in "Not my bag, baby!" Something of interest to an individual. Also, burlap bag, something in which Dr. Evil was placed and beaten with reeds when he was insolent as a child.Bird: British slang for "babe" or "chick."Burt Bacharach: Treacly 1960s singer-songwriter and favorite of aging hipsters who makes a cameo appearance in the movies.