bootleg

adj. inferior, unappealing, worthless. Subjects: English, Slang

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Citations: 2001 [Libby] Musselman Library (Gettysburg College, Pa.) (Jan. 25): “You guys need to get new headphones. Most of them are so bootleg! They don’t work and kill my ears. Please."…"Libby admits that until hearing from you, she’d never used a pair of headphones in the library. Yuck. We’ll replace them. Libby was also puzzled by your choice of words, and had to ask for help with the phrase ‘so bootleg.’ Libby, being a tad on the old-fashioned side, associates bootleg with illegal liquor or Chinese knock-off CDs. She never considered bootleg headphones. So for all of you really un-hip readers, Libby asked a very with-it librarian for help. She defined bootleg as ‘totally skanky.‘“ 2001 [Rajan] Blag Job (July 29) “I’m In Control, Just”: I need to figure out what I want, achieve it, and be satisfied with it—for once. If it happens before the end of August, I won’t end this chapter thinking this was one bootleg summer. 2003 [Jonathan] Wonder Jonathan (June 17) “Major Bitch”: I just checked out that Friendster website that Oz makes reference to, and I thoroughly don’t understand it. To be able to actually see other’s profiles, you have to invite people who in turn invite other people. Then to actually see anyone else other than yourself, people you invite have to acutally join the site themselves. Sorry Oz….that’s bootleg. 2003 [kozmo] Kardoi (Sept. 18): Erik the winner of the Go Cart racing. and ummmm i forgot who had the slowest car…i think it was Ivan haha the birthdeay boy got the bootleg car. 2004 [Gangstah_giggles (Giana)] Xanga (Mar. 16) “The Perfect Guy. (not really)”: what kind of car does he drive?—whatever just as long as we not rollin in some jacked up ugly ass “bootleg car.” y’enoe it gotta have the sound system and the wheels and errrythang. 2004 [Grady] Grady Rocks (Sept. 20) “Yup, I’m still Lazy”: The whole joke is the yin-yang twins and the fact that they’re 100% bootleg. For those of you who don’t know, bootleg is the new word that the cool kids use to describe some that is ghetto in a bad way. For example, a 1986 ford tempo with three rims and a homemade spoiler is bootleg.

Posted 21 Sep 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

What about bootleg recordings of concerts and jam sessions that are highly prized by fans? Those are considered priceless.

by Marilyn 05 Sep 07, 0448 GMT

That’s a different, far more common meaning that’s well-covered in dozens of other dictionaries and so is not within the purview of this site.

by Grant Barrett 05 Sep 07, 0505 GMT

When my daughter started saying it I thought it sounded stupid because I had never heard it used that way. But then again it’s like saying “bogus” in sort of the same way. Stupid, lame, etc. I’m sick of everything being “ghetto”, most of these kids have never seen a ghetto in their lives.

by chris 10 May 08, 0132 GMT