When Michelle told me “crunk” had been added to M-W, I was intrigued. As far as I know, not even the southern hip-hop MCs that use it regularly can agree on what it really means. The most commonly agreed-upon definition seems to be “crazy drunk,” but I’ve heard that it derives from “chronic” and “drunk” and “crack” and “drunk,” as well. One thing is for sure: it means to get f’ed up.
So I was really curious what M-W would have to say about the word. I looked it up, and found probably the lamest definition of all time: “word of fluctuating meaning used during the 1990s in lyrics of the rap groups OutKast and Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz.”
As per usual on matters such as these, The crowdsourced Urban Dictionary provides a much more satisfying result.
Seriously. “Word of fluctuating meaning.” How the hell is that a definition?
001 // Matt Robin // 07.15.2007 // 2:39 PM
‘Fluctuating meaning’ is a bit vague isn’t it?
If a concise definition can’t be agreed on and equates to little more than an uncertainty about slang, then it shouldn’t have got in to the dictionary really. M-W obviously should have researched that one a bit better.
‘Crunk’ sounds like a great word! But it is like the sort of words that appeared in sound bubbles when Batman hit a criminal over the head with a lead pipe during the TV show from the 60s! e.g. KAAPOW, WAPP, CRUNK!
…(actually, the other two words I made up look a bit like Web 2.0 brand-names! I better check on that!! hahaha)