![]() The expression comes from stories about the signifying monkey, a trickster figure said to have originated during slavery in the United States. Signifyin' directs attention to the connotative, context-bound significance of words, which is accessible only to those who share the cultural values of a given speech community. ![]() Other names for signifyin' include: "Dropping lugs, joaning, sounding, capping, snapping, dissing, busting, bagging, janking, ranking, toasting, woofing, roasting, putting on, or cracking." A simple example would be insulting someone to show them affection. It is a practice in African-American culture involving a verbal strategy of indirection that exploits the gap between the denotative and figurative meanings of words. Signifyin' (sometimes written " signifyin(g)") (vernacular), is a wordplay. ![]() Wordplay in Black American communities emphasizes connotation over literal meaning ![]()
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