The Term Crunk Makes it into the Dictionary

Andrew Bess
Much like bling in the past, crunk has made it into Webster's Dictionary.

"There's only one rule for a new word getting in: If it's likely to be found in printed reading matter - magazines, newspapers, novels - it's likely to get in," Peter Sokolowski, an associate of Webster's Dictionary told MTV news.

The term CRUNK recently made the cut off list.

So what is the definition of CRUNK?

Crunk, according to the dictionary is defined as "a style of Southern rap music featuring repetitive chants and rapid dance rhythms."

If Beyonce can make "bootylicious" into the dictionary, why can't the word CRUNK make it?

"We try to include words that aren't just trends...We're looking for words that will be referred to in the future and people won't need any explanation to know what it means. If the editor of a newspaper can publish a word and he or she expects readers to know what it means, we'll include it," the associate added.

"It has to be said that when a word makes it into the dictionary, it's already past being cool. It's no longer cutting-edge...I mean, a crunk song won an Oscar a few years back [Three 6 Mafia's 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp' from 'Hustle & Flow,' which took home the award for Best Original Song in 2005], so it's already become part of the establishment."

"The etymology is important, and the fact is, crunk cannot be defined. But hey, lets get crunk.

Don't expect Hip-Hop to stop influencing the dictionary. According to WEBSTER'S, hyphy might be next hip hop word to make it into the dictionary.

Published by Andrew Bess

I'm a journalism major and English minor at the University of Arizona. I graduate in December and look to get my Masters there after. I'm looking to network and meet people in my field. If you think we can n...  View profile

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  • Shamontiel7/13/2007

    And by the way, I would NOT consider that song from "Hustle & Flow" to be crunk. Usher's song "Yeah" is crunk. The "Hustle & Flow" song was just regular rap. Isn't crunk supposed to be mean hyper energy? *shrugging* Whatever. I can't remember the last time I heard anybody say "bling" by the way.

  • Shamontiel7/13/2007

    I heard about this b.s. I hate it when they put slang terms in the dictionary because as soon as mainstream America starts saying it, it goes out of style. If I hear one more out-of-touch person say "You go girl" I'm going to scream. That logo was played out way back when "Martin" was shown as a new sitcom.

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