"Gangway"Ī sidewalk running through a narrow space between two houses. The family’s best furniture is in the front room, but it’s only used to entertain company or open Christmas presents. The front room of a bungalow or flat, overlooking the street. Technically, that made the buildings four-stories high, allowing developers to save money by building with masonry exteriors and wood-frame interiors. Proliferated in Lake View and Lincoln Park in the 1960s, taking advantage of a zoning loophole that allowed a parking lot to be categorized as a basement. "Four Plus One"Ĭheaply constructed, architecturally unloved five-story apartment houses in which the first floor is a combination lobby/parking lot. Coined by Pac Man, a rapper who was shot to death in 2010. Lyrics are frequently about street life, and include disses of rival gang members that have led to retaliatory shootings. ![]() Prominent drill artists include Chief Keef, Lil Durk, Lil Reese, and King Louie. ![]() Photo: Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune "Drill"Ī dark, hardcore iteration of hip-hop that developed in Englewood. Related: Should You Use Dibs? A jolly good dibs. Drivers who violate dibs are likely to find key tracks on their paint jobs – or worse. Became an accepted practice after the 1967 blizzard, which hit the city with 23 inches of snow. If you shovel out a space on your block, you call “dibs” by blocking it with lawn chairs, crates, sawhorses, or other cast-off possessions. ![]() In Chicago, competition for street parking is fierce, especially in the winter. Satirized by Saturday Night Live’s Superfans, whose favorite team was "Da Bears." Mainly heard in speakers over 50, as younger people are consciously rejecting such distinctive markers of geography and class. Speakers are sometimes called "dese, dem, and dose guys." Probably originates from the fact that most immigrants from Europe spoke languages without "th," and passed on this difficulty with the sound to their children. Stereotypical pronunciations of "these, them, and those," associated with white ethnic Chicagoans. I’ve never worked an eight-hour week before." Dese, Dem, and Dose Who’s clouting for you?" Or, "Ever since my clout died, they’ve been making me work a full eight hours. A political sponsor is a clout (formerly known by the politically incorrect term “Chinaman”). Royko provided proper uses of the term in a 1973 column: "Hey, Charlie, I see you made foreman. Possessors can obtain no-bid contracts, police department promotions, admissions to selective high schools, and other favors. Political influence used to evade rules that must be followed by the less well-connected. "Bungalow Belt" is a politico-sociological term for the socially conservative, racially segregated white neighborhoods of the Northwest and Southwest sides, which in the 1980s united in opposition to Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor. The brick bungalow is the prototypical working-class Chicago dwelling, especially common in areas far from the lake that were developed during the city’s rapid expansion in the first two decades of the 20th century. Each summer, Chicago emergency rooms see a spike in walk-in patients with jammed or broken fingers, most of them still wearing their softball jerseys. And, it could be caught barehanded, by fielders who couldn’t afford gloves. Uniquely Chicago brand of slow-pitch softball that caught on during the Great Depression for two very practical reasons: a bigger, softer ball didn’t travel as far as the standard 12-incher, so it couldn’t be hit out of tiny urban parks. But don’t read it on your phone while you’re driving down the Edens: you might cause an accident, and rubbernecking drivers would cause gapers' block as they slowed down to look at your wrecked car. So settle down and read this in the frunchroom of your three-flat. A few years ago, I compiled many of these into How to Speak Midwestern, a regional dictionary of sorts that I researched in various taverns around the city. But there are also terms and phrases we've kept for ourselves - sayings you'll hear only in Chicago. ![]() In 2010, Chicago published a list of words this city had introduced to the world, including Ferris wheel, egghead, yuppie, and jazz. “Chicagoese,” wrote the late newspaper columnist Mike Royko, is "one of the world’s most beautiful languages.” And, I would add, it has one of the most colorful vocabularies.
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