DC Translations aka THE DMVICTIONARY

I have friends from all over the place. New York, New Jersey, the south. Whenever they come to town it’s always amusing on both ends the slang terms each person uses and the way they talk. It seems that DC has some unique terms that no one else uses, some terms that are used differently other places and some terms that just down right make no sense. New York and Atlanta are cities that are more popular culturely in this country (mainly cause so many mofos live there…GEEZ) so it’s not always necessary to decipher their terms. The terms DC folk use are quite endearing those born in our nations capital and we seem to take them wherever we go, getting the gas face in many a conversation. I don’t know how many of my followers are from the DMV or from other states, but have no fear, again True is hear to help. I offer you some translations of some terms used specifically in the DMV. SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY DMV FAM!!!




1. BAMA – A person with no class, style, are not cool, act in a degrading manner ect. (Of course most people have heard of bama by now. I know @Wale has used it. I even got into it with tweet fam @themanofaction over who has been using Bama the longest, Atlanta or DC. I am going to go ahead and claim DC owns this term).



Ex: Gilbert Arenas acted like a bama when he pulled that gun out and lied about it.



2. Carry – To dis someone, to disregard them or disrespect them


Ex: “Damn Greg got carried by that phat booty girl. She said ‘Nigga please you work for UPS’ “


3. Jon or Jone (pronouced (joan) – To snap on someone. To cut up on them. To make fun of their appearance or their skills. Not limited to making fun of family members of the person getting joned on.


Ex: “Yo…Mike and nem was joning the mess out of Rudolph. They said his momma was so big that her azz has it’s own zip code.”



4. Carry-Out –(Dedicated to my girl T in NY). A place where you can get Chinese food, American food, Mexican food, ..hell ANY FOOD. It is usually carried home and eaten. 95% run by someone of Asian decent. Can also be franchised but not usually. You can find them on any corner where lot’s of middle to low income black people reside. Not to be confused with Take out.


Ex: Asian person answering the phone: Danny’s carry-out, Can I tek yaw owda?

Black Person: Yeah can I order a shrimp fried rice, a pizza w extra cheese, a chicken salad and some wings and frieds


5. Go-Go – A place where you can hear Go-Go music. Go-Go music is comprised of lots of drum beats, cow bells and a sample of some popular song on the radio. Usually a live band at a club that is out of your way or fashioned from an old wharehouse or some local dive. Sexual dancing by women is very popular here and the drink of choice is usually a zombie. Band names are usually acronyms or random letters


Ex: What go-go band playing up the Tradewinds tonight? TCB, BYB, ABC, DEF, GHI, OR Rare Essence?


6. Joint – A term used used to define ANY NOUN…and yes I do mean ANY NOUN.


Ex: Craig: Aye Mike you got that joint?


Larry: Naw man but they got uh joints up at that joint on the corner.


Craig: Aight umma go get that joint at the uh joint instead.


* only a DMV person can understand this ENTIRE conversation *



7. Metro – The DMV’s mass transit system. Public transportation


Ex: Yeah man I gotta catch the Metro today to get to work, someone broke the window out my car last night.



8. Tennis Shoes – What everyone else in the country calls sneakers. Yes, no matter what kinda sport shoe it is..we call them “Tennis Shoes”


Ex: “Aye Ma…you seen my Football Tennis shoes?”


* I kid you not…this is how we use the term…but it makes sense to us *



I know I probably left some out. So DMV folk…feel free to add.



MUCH LOVE TO ALL DMV..HOLLA



True