I drove to South Boston the other day and was wondering if I was in the ghetto. I tried to compare it to past experiences being in ghetto areas and was thinking about what signs there are in an environment to know if you are in the ghetto. Here is what I came up with so far:
1. At the corner store they sell loosies. (For those who don’t know, loosies are cigarettes that are sold on an individual basis and not in a pack). I think this made its way into the ghetto because people in the ghetto can’t afford to buy a whole pack at a time, thus the owner of the store, opens the pack, and sells cigarettes on an individual basis.
2. Chris Rock said it best (paraphrased) “If you’re on a Martin Luther King Boulevard you’re in the ghetto!” Having worked in some ghetto areas in Jersey, I would expand the street names from Martin Luther King to include Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, or any other name that includes a civil rights activist.
3. A lot of fried chicken places, that are not KFC. Whenever I’m in a ghetto area there is always an abundance of places like “King Fried Chicken” or “Chicken Palace” you know establishments that sell nothing but fried food.
4. People using the fire hydrant as a public sprinkler system. You will see this in the summertime in ghetto areas as a means of cooling down.
5. There are guys who sell random shit in the street. Usually the items sold will be flowers but this can also include produce, jewelry, or any such random item.
6. There is an abundance of graffiti or murals painted on the wall. Don’t get me wrong, I like some graffiti and murals, however, you don’t see this is none ghetto areas.
7. Bars on people’s windows. The bars being on the windows of their home residence.
8. Crazy people talking to themselves on the street. These people usually suffer from mental health disorders and are usually in the middle of a street somewhere. You usually see them yelling at themselves or no one in particular in the street. Everybody who lives in the neighborhood either walks by the person or says hi like they are engaging in normal behavior.
I know there are more sings of a ghetto, but these are just some that come to mind.
1. At the corner store they sell loosies. (For those who don’t know, loosies are cigarettes that are sold on an individual basis and not in a pack). I think this made its way into the ghetto because people in the ghetto can’t afford to buy a whole pack at a time, thus the owner of the store, opens the pack, and sells cigarettes on an individual basis.
2. Chris Rock said it best (paraphrased) “If you’re on a Martin Luther King Boulevard you’re in the ghetto!” Having worked in some ghetto areas in Jersey, I would expand the street names from Martin Luther King to include Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, or any other name that includes a civil rights activist.
3. A lot of fried chicken places, that are not KFC. Whenever I’m in a ghetto area there is always an abundance of places like “King Fried Chicken” or “Chicken Palace” you know establishments that sell nothing but fried food.
4. People using the fire hydrant as a public sprinkler system. You will see this in the summertime in ghetto areas as a means of cooling down.
5. There are guys who sell random shit in the street. Usually the items sold will be flowers but this can also include produce, jewelry, or any such random item.
6. There is an abundance of graffiti or murals painted on the wall. Don’t get me wrong, I like some graffiti and murals, however, you don’t see this is none ghetto areas.
7. Bars on people’s windows. The bars being on the windows of their home residence.
8. Crazy people talking to themselves on the street. These people usually suffer from mental health disorders and are usually in the middle of a street somewhere. You usually see them yelling at themselves or no one in particular in the street. Everybody who lives in the neighborhood either walks by the person or says hi like they are engaging in normal behavior.
I know there are more sings of a ghetto, but these are just some that come to mind.
7 comments:
Another sure sign: people sitting outside (usually on the a stoop; usually in the middle of a workday) when it's over 90 degrees outside. C'mon, son! You really telling me it's hotter INside your crib??? Now, that's ghetto.
So, was South Boston ghetto?
Awesome pic.
I find that, at least in the ghettos of NYC, all the fried chicken places are not only not KFCs, but they are fried chicken places trying to evoke the idea of KFC by using the old KFC font, and picking another first name starting with 'K', like Kennnedy Fried Chicken and Kansas Fried Chicken.
Also, you know you are in the ghetto if the bodega is selling quarter water.
And that dress is beyond comprehension.
Heather, LOL. Very true about the "K" in Jersey as well.
Max, South Boston wasn't ghetto. But other neighborhoods in Boston that I've seen are, like Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
Chinese food restaurants that also serve chicken, pizza and fish.
Indoor furniture, such as kitchen chairs and couches, now being used on the front porch.
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