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On 5/9/16 1:40 AM, Califbill wrote:
Keyser SÃ¶ze wrote:
Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 5/7/2016 8:31 PM, Keyser SÃ¶ze wrote:
On 5/7/16 8:23 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 7 May 2016 20:06:30 -0400, Keyser SÃ¶ze wrote:

As a liberal arts grad, I am aware of the vagaries of language, as is
the OED:

? ghetto, n.

(?g?t??)

Also 7 gheto.

[Of uncertain etym., perh. f. It. getto foundry, as the first ghetto
founded in Venice in 1516 was on the site of a foundry.]

1.1 The quarter in a city, chiefly in Italy, to which the Jews were
restricted.

1611 Coryat Crudities 230 The place where the whole fraternity of
the Iews dwelleth together, which is called the Ghetto. Ibid. 234
Walking in the Court of the Ghetto, I casually met with a Iewish Rabbin
that spake good Latin. 1756â€“7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 76 A
particular part of the city, noted for houses of ill-fame, was assigned
by Cosmo I. to the Jews, for their particular quarter, or ghetto.
1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 5 The crowded ghetto of a Pagan capital.
1887 Dowden Shelley II. vii. 277 An obscure quarter of Rome, hard by
the gate of the Ghetto.

2.2 transf. and fig. A quarter in a city, esp. a thickly populated slum
area, inhabited by a minority group or groups, usu. as a result of
economic or social pressures; an area, etc., occupied by an isolated
group; an isolated or segregated group, community, or area.

1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. i. 2 The particular Ghetto
that is the dark background upon which our pictures will be cast is of
voluntary formation. 1897 Literature 27 Nov. 180/1 The
Farringdon-road collection of barrows has become the veriest Ghetto of
bookland. 1908 J. London Martin Eden (1910) xxxvi. 310 They
dismounted and plunged off to the right into the heart of the
working-class ghetto. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 8/3 The people?have
grown superior to the banal excitement and cheap attractions of the
densely crowded areas. The day on which the tramways went over
Westminster Bridge recorded the unlocking of the London ghettos. 1937
Times 6 Oct. 13/7 Part of the benches [in the Warsaw Polytechnic] have
been marked for students belonging to a union almost exclusively
controlled by â€˜Aryansâ€™, and others for the Jewish students' union, while
a few seats for non-union students are left unmarked.? The establishment
of the â€˜bench ghettoâ€™ is an important precedent, unknown even in
Germany. 1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Nov. 713/3 On records the Coloured
jazz musicians still played largely for their race; in life they played
for the immigrants into the Negro city ghettoes. 1961 L. Mumford City
in History xvi. 493 The suburb?was a segregated community?a sort of
green ghetto dedicated to the elite. 1961 Listener 7 Dec. 1000/3 [The
television programme] â€˜Bookstandâ€™, (November 30), capriciously shifted
to the Tuesday ghetto, had one memorable item. 1966 Ibid. 29 Sept.
454/1 The ghetto is one of two in which most of Chicago's Negroes, who
make up a quarter of the city's population, are forced to live. 1968
N.Y. Rev. Books 11 July 34/1 The â€˜breakdown of the Catholic ghettoâ€™ is a
good thing, but the breakdown of intellectual ghettos at M.I.T. and
Harvard might be, educationally, an even better thing.

3.3 attrib. and Comb.

1892 I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto (1893) 2 The Ghetto?becomes only a
swarming-place for the poor and the ignorant.? Such people are their own
Ghetto gates. 1903 Daily Chron. 5 Aug. 5//2 What he calls the Ghetto
face and the Ghetto eye, observable enough in immigrants, cannot be
detected after a generation or two on American soil. 1908 J. London
Martin Eden (1910) xxxviii. 328 Tell them why you don't want Socialism.
Tell them what you think about them and their ghetto ethics. 1941
Koestler Scum of Earth 48 The country which was the first to introduce
yellow ghetto benches in its schools. 1949 ? Promise & Fulfilment ii.
iv. 251 The victory of the new type of Israelis grown on Palestine soil
over the obstinate fanaticism of ghetto-bred politicians. Ibid. iii.
i. 294 The same ghetto-heritage of suspicion. 1968 Guardian 24 Oct.
10/2 Those ancestors of today's ghetto-dwellers came to areas where,
unlike the South, there was no discrimination. 1969 Ibid. 17 Sept.
10/2 Catholics are not going to abandon the ghetto mentality which the
events of the past month have created unless Stormont shows some belated
signs of having the stomach for dealing with Protestant extremists.
1971 Radio Times 16 Sept. 37/5 Social workers are becoming
increasingly worried by the â€˜ghetto mentalityâ€™ in the deprived areas of
our cities.

b.3.b Special Comb. ghetto blaster slang (orig. U.S.), a large portable
stereo radio (and cassette player), esp. one on which (Black) popular
music is played loudly.

[1982 N.Y. Times 30 May 46/3 He and his sextet, the Ghetto Blasters,
brought their mixture of harmonized Southern rock and rhythm-and-blues
to the Bottom Line.] 1983 Times 27 May 10/3 The growing high-street
popularity of Sony Walkmans and portable stereo cassette players
(â€˜*ghetto blastersâ€™). 1983 Daily Mirror 4 June 13/1 A beat throbbing
from a ghetto-blasterâ€”a giant, portable stereo system. 1983 Christian
Science Monitor 27 Sept. 21 Six feet tall, 16 years old, and carrying a
â€˜ghetto blasterâ€™.

______________________________

Draft partial entry June 2006

? ghetto fabulous n. and adj. orig. U.S. (a) n. an ostentatious or
flamboyant lifestyle or manner of dress, associated with the hip-hop
subculture and characterized as a marker of status in economically
disadvantaged urban neighborhoods; (b) adj. of, relating to, or
exemplifying this style (variously viewed approvingly or
disapprovingly).

1996 N.Y. Times 14 Jan. xiii. 4/2 Founded by Andre Harrell, it
merged the softer approach of rhythm and blues with the hard edge of
hip-hop to create what Mr. Harrell called â€˜New Jack Swingâ€™â€”or, as he
describes it, â€˜high Style urban black life a.k.a. *ghetto fabulousâ€™.
1996 Billboard (Nexis) 4 May Horace is the kind of guy who can wear
a mink coat and Versace shades. His style is ghetto fabulous?. He comes
from the 'hood, but he has class. 1998 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
(Nexis) 21 Apr. 5 b, Blige held the crowd in the palm of her hand
through every lazy step as she sauntered across the stage in ghetto
fabulous outfits. 2001 GTA Today 12 Jan. 10/4 Avoid red fox fur (not
hip), fluffy coats (too ghetto fabulous), and anything ankle length.
2003 Boys Toys Aug. 105/3 You should also try Vana Talinn, a
mega-strong, very sweet liqueur. It's usually served with coffee over
ice or if you're ghetto fabulous, with champagne. 2004 Vanity Fair
June 60/3 [His] style is a combination of pimp, ghetto-fabulous, and
make-believe dandy.

And also:

Golden Ghetto

As opposed to a traditional 'ghetto' community that is destroyed by
poverty, the golden ghetto's problems stem from excess

Pretty weak. Ghetto still means a place where Jews or poor people
live.
The fact that a few rappers embraced the term does not change the
meaning ... unless you think "nigga" is now OK since Larry Wilmore
called the president "my nigga".

There are plenty of references that expand the meaning of ghetto beyond
what you think it means.

Point is, in normal conversation or writing, even by the "highly
educated" ... "Ghetto" has only one normally used meaning.

The original meaning or the evolved meanings? Language is fluid.

Yup, the old meaning of ghetto has been washed away.

No, it is still there, but the meanings have expanded. Language is fluid.