Chicago to New York Gangs and Clubs - Outsiders
Gang Slang
In large cities like Chicago
and New York, A rumble is
more than a low, heavy,
rolling sound. A rumble, in the
argot of teen-age street
gangs, is a mass fight
between
rival
groups.
Teen-agers have always had
their special language, but
the jargon of the teen-age
gang is something recent. In
a sense it is eclectic, drawing on the language Of “hip” jazzmen, the underworld, and
the military, But much of it consists of common terms given surprising Twists.
New York and Chicago Gang Slang
■ Bopping​- Fighting against a rival gang. Also as a body language which said a
lot about the nature of the gang. When a gang decided to become a fighting, or
"bopping" gang, its members immediately took on a different way of walking. A
rhythmic gait characterized by the forward movement of the head with each
step.
■ Humbug​ – (Chicago) same as bopping.
■ Jitterbug​ - Used like Humbug in Queens New york
■ Burn ​– To bop, especially with weapons.
■ Bust​ – To beat up. Also to disperse, as, “Man, the cops busted us and we
wasn’t Doing nothing.”
■ Call it on​ – To arrange a rumble.
■ Clique​ – The gang.
■ Cool it​ – To call off the rumble.
■ Crew​ – Same as clique.
■ Debs​ – short for debutantes. The girl friends of gang members. Sometimes the
debs are loosely organized as an auxiliary of the gang.
■ Down​ – Bad; tough. A gang member might say admiringly of his gang. “Man,
we’re way down.”
■ Down kiddie ​– A tough guy. He doesn’t punk out; he’s not chicken.
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■ Fair one ​– A fist fight, without weapons, between one or more representatives
of two rival gangs. A fair one may occur when individuals members of rival
gangs have personal grudges to settle, or when it has been decided to settle
gang grievances without resorting to a rumble. In many cases what starts as a
fair one, with the rest of the gang watching, ends in a rumble anyway.
■ Go down​ – Same as a burn.
■ Job man​ – the social worker, usually from the Youth Board, who tries to help
gang members. Gangs often like tp have a job man assigned to them because
it shows how tough they are.
■ Jump ​– A dance or social event. Also, as a verb to attack rival gang members
without warning.
■ Pad down ​– To search or “frisk.” The cops padded us down and then busted
us.”
■ Piece​ – A firearm; usually a pistol, but also a rifle, perhaps cut down. “The
heat’s on, man; I got to hide my piece.”
■ Pot ​– Marijuana.
■ Pull a jap​ – Make a sneak attack. From the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the
Japanese “burned our guys.”
■ Punk out​ – To behave in a cowardly manner; to run away, as from a fight or a
threat.
■ Rank​ – To taunt rivals with threatening or insulting looks or words; a form of
challenge. Probably from the Army expression “to pull rank,” meaning to make
use of one’s higher rank to bulley a subordinate.
■ Rep​ – Reputation, prestige, status. One of the major reasons for joining a
gang.
■ Schemer​ – The shrewd member of the gang. A schemer might take over the
gang leadership by subtly playing one faction against another. Also, the one
that thinks up things to do.
■ Session​ – Same as a jump or dance.
■ Mix​ - Same as a rumble. The Jets and Sharks are Going to mix.
■ Shank​ – to stab, particularly in the leg.
■ Sound ​– Same as to rank.
■ Tight​ – Close, in the sense of close friends.
■ Turf​ – The neighborhood territory ruled by a gang.
■ Waste​ – To defeat thoroughly; to annihilate.
■ Chickie​ – The Cops. “Hey Chickie,” warning the Cops are coming.
■ Hack​ - Cop; Man on the walk.
■ Rolled​ - We rolled that Flake.
■ Throwdown​ - Fight; That cat can Throwdown.
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■ Jive stud​ - Liar
■ Repping your end​ - Giving out your postal code.
■ Sound your clique​ - Shouted like a military order. Response would name of
your gang, or, "I am Cool," meaning: you are a civilian.
■ Cheese it​ - Lets cut the rug! Lets book outta of here. Used in Chicago.
■ Gum Shoe​ - is the Copper. The Fuzz. Police. Mr. Police Officer. Used in
Chicago.
■ Duper​ - a.k.a. Doopers (Dear Old Oak Park): The best way to explain who the
groups were: on Happy Days - Richie Cunningham was a Dooper, Fronzy was
a Greaser, and Potsy was a nerd.
Harlem Gang Slang
From the movie The Young Savages: "I heard the Horsemen were bustin out, bobbin
the gang on the next block so I had myself a look. It was a rumble for real with zip
guns jackhammers the works."
Brooklyn Gang Slang
From the movie The Warriors: "We're going to have to bop our way back!" "What are
we waiting for?" "The train would help. Unless you want to get japped on an open
platform!"
Fifties Boppin Slang
It all started in the fifties: gang lingo, gang jargon, greaser slang. The words from the
list were used from the 1950’s through today. Some of the words have been modified
to fit the times, but their roots are the 1950’s.
Rising Up Angry
Throughout the 1950s until the early 1980s, Chicago's youth were divided into two
cultures: the Greasers and the Hippies. Greasers tried to hold on, or imitate the
Greasers of the 1950s. The Hippies imitated the Hippies, or Freaks that most people
remember from the 1970s before the disco era. Hippies were known for their parties;
Greasers were known for fixing up old fast cars, drag racing, motorcycles, and joining
gangs, though being in a gang wasn't a greaser requirement.
Greasers Verses Hippie
They say that the Greaser era died when Doo Wop and President John F. Kennedy
was killed in 1963, but there was an underground Greaser culture that existed in big
cities around the country like Chicago, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island,
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Philadelphia, and the New Jersey Shore (Jersey City, Newark, and Perth Amboy). It
wasn't uncommon to find Chicago Greaser gang members in the mid 1970s Doo
Woping on their corners. Some of the Greasers evolved into the motorcycle clubs of
the 60s and the Punk scene in the 1980s. The Greaser era never really died out.
Today, the garage group Rockabilly crews on the East Coast have brought the
Greaser style back to the shore, though Greasers have alway existed in New Jersey.
In Susan E. Hinton's novel/Movie "The Outsiders", she covered the period of the late
sixties where there was a rivalry between the Greasers and Soc's in Tulsa Oklahoma.
It has been reported that there were many Greasers still around at Tulsa's Will
Rogers High School into the early 1970s. The movie did a great job of showing the
two different groups fighting for position in society at a time when most of the country
still had a large population of greasers still around. Susan E. Hinton's followup
novel/movie "Rumble Fish", did a fantastic job of showing the transition period where
the Greasers lifestyle was being replaced with the drug culture or the hippie/freak
culture. Rumble Fish showed how the Greaser, or Greaser gang member, lost all
loyalty for his friends and culture replacing it with drugs. The remaining Greasers in
this period, were considered out of style or a throw back to the fifties. To be accurate,
the Greaser Culture disappeared at different times in different parts of the country,
and in some areas never disappeared at all.
Sixties Greaser Clothing and Colors
During the 1960s a lot of greasers from the Southside would go to Maxwell Street on
the weekends and find good bargains on leather& suede jackets, Italian knit shirts,
and baggie work pants. Back then Maxwell Street was called Jew Town and the
rumor was if you were the first customer of the day in their store you could get just
about anything for a great price because as the rumor went it was bad luck for them if
they didn’t make a sale to their first customer of the day. In Jew Town there were also
good prices on shoes the most popular were Stacy Adams & wing tips. After awhile
the hottest item became the baggie work pants. On the Southside, the style started in
Bridgeport with the Italian greasers. You would see them wearing green work pants
cuffed up and quilted work jackets and combat boots. The style caught on in other
neighborhoods and soon would see white greasers everywhere wearing baggies. In
the early 60s, on the Southside none of the white gangs wore club sweaters. You
would see a few gangs wearing jackets with their gang names on the back. In the
latter part of the 60s, some white gangs started wearing club sweaters such as
Centurians, LAs, Aristocrats, Cornell Dukes, and the Brothers of Brighton.
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Stone Greasers
Tulsa Greasers
Two Will Roger's Greasers Speakout
Galvin, a Tulsa greaser had this to say: ​I was/ am/will always be a greaser. My sister
and Susan were friends, she and Ms. Parker who is still a teacher at Rogers all hung
out at the roller skate ring, the Rose Bowl, and the Admiral twin drive in together. We
were the guys at Will Rogers who had cars, smoked, and in my case had a leather
jacket. Started back in 1947, and lasted until 1980. At that time the schools ended
driving to school, smoking required you to be over 18, and with busing, the rich kids
quit public schools and moved to private, making all the public schools here equally
poor, wiped out the social. Leather jackets, long hair, and rebellion were overtaken by
gangs of mostly African Americans, and the white kids seemed to not hang out in
groups anymore. Now it's CRIPS, and bloods, Preppies, and Goths, Jocs, and
Dweebs. None of which would dare to cross into another group.
..Gone are the days of loyalty
Gone are the days where you might not know a kid, but if he was like you both of you
had the others back. Pony-boy, soda-pop, and the others have all grown-up, and
moved on. Tex married Cherry his sweetheart from Edison (the rich kid school), and
went on to be of all things a cop. Pony-boy died in 1968 in Vietnam, and soda-pop
has his own Cycle shop just down the street from Rogers. They are grandpas, and
grandmas now. Susan still works with kids who want to be writers, and is still seen
hanging out by the park, but the fountain is gone now, like everthing change is
forever, and the moments in time we share, are best left to the writers to document.
Patrica, a Will Rogers greaser had this to say: ​If you lived north of Admiral you were a
"greaser". South of admiral you were a soc! I graduated in 1972. I lived south of Pine
Street and we were definitely a mixed crowd. The people living down the street from
me were "Soc's) at Rogers i.e. cheerleaders, etc. Myself I was a Roper Doper in the
junior and senior year. We used to go to a drive in at 18 and Sheridan to open up a
big can of whoop azz on the Soc's at Hale....We partied at the boat house at Mohawk
park and got drunk every Friday night at the "library" restaurant on 11th street. I have
not been back to Tulsa for years now so I am sure things have changed but I am still
a "greaser" at heart. They can take those snotty "antisocial" (Soc's) and keep them on
the south side. But Rogers had PLENTY of "Soc's" believe me. My parents live near
the Dairy Queen and middle school where the Outsiders was filmed in Owasso.
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Bill 1970 Graduate: I graduated in 1970 from Rogers. There were Greasers, Socises,
Hippies and of course the Jocks! The smoke hole was the place to go, if you were a
sophmore they would make you climb the pole and I believe it was greased or you
would get thrown out of the window in Art Class (faced East) into a sticker bush! They
had just started segretion of schools. I went to school with Susan Hintons sister
Beverly. Went to Burbank and Bell Junior High.Those were great years. The smoke
for Greasers at Bell Junior High was at Sheridan Village underneath the ramp going
to the second level.
Stone Greaser Defined
A Greaser from the 1960s/70s had this to say about "Stone Grease":
"The term 'Stone Greaser' didn't originate with any one club, or even in a club at all,
and was never used to identify someone exclusively as a club member.
Back in the sixties and seventies, 'stone' was a common ghettoism meaning
'extremely', or 'absolutely', something on those lines. 'Stone to the bone' was the
common full version of the saying. To say 'StoneGreaser', or the more common
'Stone Grease', simply meant that you were a hardcore Greaser."
Greaser Demographics
In the late 1940's through the early 1960's, the majority of Greaser gangs and clubs
tended to be made up of Italian, Irish and youth of European decent. After the
Immigration and Nationality Act amendments of 1965​, immigration from European
countries was greatly limited while immigration from third world countries increased.
Demographics of inner city working class neighborhoods changed dramatically during
the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. At the same time poverty stricken families
from the coal mining region - appalachia - began to move north seeking a better life;
therefore, in cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit Greaser gangs began to recruit
more Appalachians as well as Polish, Russian and American Indian youth. In the late
seventies through the nineties, it wasn't uncommon to find entire gangs or sections
made up of American Indian and Appalachian greasers buried in pockets of the large
cities.
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