Article

This is an original article as printed in the Guardian Weekly which is suitable for advanced comprehension groups. It was written by Ed Pilkington in New York.

Ex-crack dealer trades in words on the street

Are you someone who "gives a loose doo-doo" (a limp handshake) with a "frozen wrist"(covered in diamond jewellery)? Have you ever visited "Chocolate City" (Washington DC)? Are you a "hog" (boss) who likes to game with "Fred, Bob and Isaac" (the FBI)?

Everything is made clear in a book on sale in the US called Street Talk. It is a686-page dictionary of what its author, Randy Kearse, calls slanguage: the argot of young people - mainly men and mainly African-American - on the streets from New York to Los Angeles. The book bristles with phrases such as "hoochie wear" (clothing revealing excessive cleavage).

Kearse supplements shop sales of the book by hawking it from a stall on the pavement outside Macy's store in Brooklyn, New York. "Come and join my book signing, don't be shy!" he exhorts passers-by. On a good day his charm will shift 10 copies.

Kearse was born and raised in Brroklyn. After leaving school at 17 he got caught up in the epidemic of crack cocaine that swept New York and all big US cities in the 1980s.

"I wasn't dumb - I just made dumb choices," he says.

In a few years he and his business partner had built an operation spanning three cities. At his peak Kearse ran a gang of 25 members and he and his partner were making up to $100,000 a month. The good times lasted five years, but in 1992, aged 27, Kearse was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in jail. That made him reappraise his life. "I decided I was going to do something constructive with my life."

The idea for the dictionary was sparked by a fellow inmate who had a book of 1,001 jokes that he loved. That gave Kearse the idea for a book of 1,001 street expressions. Although the other inmates were wary at first, they soon began to feed him material and 1,001 phrases became more than 10,001.

Prison was the perfect place to compile a compendium of street slang. There were inmates from all over the country to teach him gang slang. There were all ages, giving historic depth to his lexicon. The book took seven years to complete and soon afterwards, in 2005, he came out of prison.

He has since written a second book How to use Incarceration as a Stepping Stone for Success and is working on his third - a book of uplifting thoughts.

Glossary

crack

(noun) an illegal drug that is a form of cocaine

dealer

(noun) a person whose business is buying and selling a specific product (eg drugs)

slang

(noun) very informal words and expressions used by a particular group of people (eg teenagers, criminals etc.)

argot

(noun) a French word for slang

Questions

The questions below are divided into three groups - before, during and after reading the above article.

Before reading

In the past Randy Kearse used to be a ___

1. street cleaner
2. share dealer
3. drug pusher
4. market trader

Randy Kearse has now created a ___

1. novel written in slang
2. novel about drug crime
3. collection of street poetry
4. slang dictionary

Randy Kearse sells and promotes his own book ___ of New York

1. in the bookshops
2. on the streets
3. on the doorsteps
4. in the parks

While reading

Read the first three paragraphs. Complete the sentences below.

1. A person who wears a large diamond bracelet is said to have a ...
2. The title of Kearse's slang dictionary is ...
3. Slanguage is mostly spoken by ...
4. You can buy the book from shops or from Kearse's ...
5. If Kearse has a good day, he sells ...

Read the rest of the article from paragraph four onwards. Then read the summary of Kearse's life story below. Find and correct eight mistakes in the text.

After reading

Find words from the article to match the definitions. Paragraph numbers are in brackets. Put the verbs in the base form. Find the word from the article that runs down through all the words in the pale grey column

1. The point when someone is at his or her most successful (6)
2. To bring together different items to produce a book, CD etc. (8)
3. To sell a product (informal) (3)
4. To give someone information or ideas over a period of time (7)
5. To spread quickly over an area (4)
6. A person who is in prison (7)
7. When something isn't strong or firm (1)
8. A collection of words in a particular language in alphabetical order (8)

Look back at exercise 1 (above). Choose a word from the grid to complete each of the following sentences.

1. The shop manager hopes to ___ most of his stock by cutting prices.
2. When Andre Agassi was at his ___ he won all the major tennis tournaments.
3. He was the only ___ who wrote a book during his stay in prison.
4. They are going to ___ a CD of the composer's finest pieces.
5. These new-look trainers are the latest fashion to ___ America.

Activities

Discussion Which five adjectives below do you think best describes Randy Kearse now? Check unknown words with a dictionary. Compare your ideas with a partner. Give reasons for your opinions.

Developing an idea for a book Imagine you have been sent to prison for a long time. What book would you write?

1. Make notes about your book, with details of: the type of book, the length and the type of reader that it is aimed at.
2. Work in groups of five. Present your book idea to the others. As a group, choose the most interesting proposal.
3. Each group then presents its book idea to the whole group.