‘G’ is slang, widely used in texts and conversations, with different meanings. It is used to: identify one’s close friend or pal, e.g., “Hey g! What’s up?”, connote a gram of illegal drugs like cocaine, e.g., “Can I have a g?”, or as a code for money ($1000), e.g., “Could you lend me a g, please? Although while texting, g can be used as an abbreviation for ‘grin’ or ‘gay.’
INTRODUCTION
What does g mean to you?
‘G’ as a slang dates back to the early 20th century, used in hip-hop communities to connote solidarity. In the US, the hip-hop society mainly made up of Afro-Americans, Latino-Americans, and Caribbean-Americans is a cultural and artistic movement formed by this minority, which has a huge influence on other black communities led to the birth of a voice. First used in New York, ‘g’ is an abbreviation for the word ‘gangster’ ( a member of an organized crime), which happens to be where it was originally derived from owing to the fact that crime is regarded as synonymous to this minor communities due to their poor standard of living at that time. Later, it was spawned as a term of affection while greeting a friend who is part of one’s clique. As a salutation code, ‘g’ evolved to mean one’s tight/best/close or cool friend, one’s personal buddy, paddy, pal, or homie. Amongst drug users, ‘g’ is used as slang to refer to a gram of hard drugs like cocaine, heroin, marijuana, etc., as a mark of secrecy for in-group members, although it is the correct symbol of the S.I unit gram. In religion, ‘G’(upper case) is a symbol used by the FreeMasonry Fraternity to identify and relate to fellow brotherhood members. The fraternity uses this letter as the 7th letter of the alphabet (the number 7 symbolizing perfection) due to its numeric symbolism. Their referring to each other as ‘G,’ meaning god-like, results from their high social status either financially or in society. As this slang/abbreviation keeps evolving, most people, if not all, now use ‘g’ synonymously for a huge sum of money. It’s an abbreviation for ‘grand’ or a thousand dollars($1000). This term evolved from the old French word ‘grant” in the 15th century, stemming from the Latin word ‘Grandis,’ meaning large, huge, big, enormous, great. The word ‘grand’ was adopted into the English Language with the same meaning in French but without gender. In the early 20th century, a thousand dollars was considered a ‘grand’ sum of money, being the largest denomination in the US currency. Thus it was adopted as a code word for one thousand dollars (abbreviated as g). We can keep on spawning on ‘g’ with different meanings because obviously, it means different things to so many people. And who knows? There might even be other meanings that are not yet recorded or maybe not widely known. Now, having explored the different meanings of ‘g’ on a general note, what does it really mean when used in texts?
g in texts.
The world has evolved, hence the birth of modern technologies. Text messages (SMS) are gradually being replaced by texting via social media. We may have received a text with ‘g’ on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, or maybe saw ‘g‘ in one of the social media sites and probably have been wondering what for goodness’s sake is g? G is an abbreviation for grin (a broad smile or, as a negative connotation, a smirk, which is an offensive smile). This means that g can be used as a replacement for this emoji-???? since they both have the same contextual meaning. Just as abbreviations are mostly used on social media while texting, g portrays a grin or a smirk. This abbreviation is mostly used by adults and teenagers or those who know what it means. On dating sites, such as Craigslist, Tinder, Zoosk, and Match.com, as well as in text messages and on adult chat platforms, g is an abbreviation for ‘Gay’. Apart from these two major meanings, g is also used together with other words or letters in Internet slang, chat texting, and subcultures e.g. gangsters. Examples: G’nite – good night G’day Mate – hi! hello! G L – good luck C’G – cho’gall (a two-headed ogre in a fictional fantasy; name derived from the two heads – one named cho and the other gall). G’day – good day, hello. ROY G BIV – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (the seven 7 colors of the rainbow) G – games played (sports slang, especially baseball) G – ginoo (In Filipino, a title of respect or honor, a respectful form of address, e.g., Mr/Sir). Also, the Lord – God, master, monsieur- a title of respect for a man with royal blood, one who has power or control over others. G – Gilbert G – giggle (used in texting) G – guard (also used as sports slang, especially football) G – goalie (another name for the goalkeeper). G – gold (as in colors) G – galactic (used in chats- galactic love- a free online dating site) G – goals scored (an abbreviation) G – Guilford Gravure or GMD. (An acronym/slang belonging to the government and Military. A division of the US Bureau of Printing and engraving where postage stamps for the government are produced). G – Insured letter (an acronym) G – guesses. And the list keeps going on and on. So, depending on the context of the text, g can mean a whole lot of things. How then can we use it correctly?
Correct use of g with examples.
Just like grammar, rules govern the use of slang, acronyms, and abbreviations, whether in texts or speech. Using g as a case study, let’s look at these two examples:
Example 1
A- Yo! What’s up g?
B- Not bad.
A- I saw you arguing with Doug the other day. Any problems?
B- Yo! That g owes me 5g. And worse, he spends my bucks on some g, you know what I mean?
A- Men! That nigger’s a shitty asshole g.
Example 2
C- Good morning Mr. Rowland.
D- Good morning sir.
C- I saw your report this morning. Bravo!
D- Thanks G.
In example 1, it’s clear that two friends (probable gangsters) are having a conversation. So, the use of g in their sentences is proper, but in example 2, the conversation has a formal setting, which makes the use of g improper.
Whether as an acronym, slang, or an abbreviation, there are correct ways to use g in texts. Let’s look at the rules.
Rule 1:
G can only be used for close pals or associates in an informal setting and never in a formal setting or conversation.
E.g., what’s up g? (Informal). Never use it for your business associate, colleague, or boss in a formal setting, just like in example 2 above, even if s/he is your close friend.
In business, never use g before an audience. It can distract and annoy your audience. More importantly, it can erode your audience’s confidence in what you have to offer. Imagine a presenter before greeting his audience with Good morning gs. How are you this morning? It sounds bizarre and unprofessional. Same as in professional or academic writings. Avoid the slang g.
Rule 2:
Never use it carelessly and if you are not an in-group member (drug users). It can land you in a whole lot of trouble. We often slang on TV, and we use them openly because we think it’s cool. Teenagers are usually the worst hit. Not all slangs are cool; in fact, some slang can land you in jail because you are mistaken for who you are not.
Imagine traveling to a country where the use of drugs is banned. You carelessly use g because it sounds cool. Well! You may soon be feeling ‘cool’ in your cell because you would be mistaken for a drug user.
Rule 3:
G can only be used for large amounts of money.
E.g: He bought his car for 6g! (Meaning 6 thousand dollars).
Never use for denominations less than a thousand dollars. It will lead to misunderstanding. It’s wrong to say: he owes me 2g when he owes you 2 dollars since g means a thousand dollars.
Rule 4:
The idea of wealth is appealing, so are the slangs used by these top notches. Our teenagers are the most affected here because they tend to indulge in things that appeal to them. As we have previously seen, G is also used by the FreeMasonry Fraternity to identify each other. If you are not a part of this fraternity, please don’t use it, either the slang or the symbol. It looks stupid when you are not a part of an organization, but you use their symbols, and probably, without even knowing what it means.
Rule 5:
In texting, grammatical rules are also applicable. In this age of non-stop online chatter, slangs save typing time and energy but be careful how and where you use them. The use of g, just like other social media slang, e.g., brb, lol, liked, etc., people use while texting may look so unprofessional on business sites like LinkedIn.
If you are a professional seeking to bring yourself to the limelight, hoping to be hired, trying to grow your business, certain words shouldn’t appear in your vocabularies, slang included. It can make them look cool for kids, but for you, as a professional, it’s a NO! Imagine someone sharing a promoting his product with this comment:
The message was well understood, but there is an offensive grammatical component- Gs. The brand manager would be seen as unserious and unprofessional. Hence his advertisement would be taken as a child’s play. He may be trying to sound cool, but his language has been seen as offensive to his audience.
If you must use g/
