pretty def and all

[GoodTaste]

I came across a new word today: def.

def (informal): excellent. A truly def tattoo.
‘I had to admit that ‘Fight for Your Right ‘was pretty def and all, but c'mon, this wasn't serious music.’ (Oxford Dictionaries)
def: (slang): very good. They're one of the most def bands around. (Cambridge Dictionary)
def: excellent: That hip-hop record is def! (Random House Dictionary)


Have you, as a native English speaker,heard of someone saying "def" and understood it in the right context?
Or are you helped by the definitions from dictionaries to understand the word "def"?

 

[Rover_KE]

I've only seen (and used) 'def' as an abbreviation for 'definitely' in text messages.

 

[GoesStation]

Your post is the first I've seen of it. Slang words come and go. They rarely last long enough for a learner to bother with.

 

[SoothingDave]

I don't know if it is still used or not, but this word was associated with African American rap/hip hop music. I would not use it, as I am not part of that culture.

 

[tzfujimino]

I've found this:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/def#etymonline_v_895

 

[Tarheel]

Its slang, and you'll probably never use it.

 

[jutfrank]

As SoothingDave points out, the word def was used specifically in the US hip hop scene of the 80s and 90s. It's not so frequently used any more (apart from by old school rappers and ageing rap fans, of course). I always thought it was derived from definitive.

 

[Skrej]

Ah, so that's where the title of the Def Comedy Jam series came from. I don't remember ever hearing it outside of the show's name.

 

[jutfrank]

Ah, so that's where the title of the Def Comedy Jam series came from. I don't remember ever hearing it outside of the show's name.

Not a lot of hip hop fans in the Using English house tonight, I gather. :-D

Def Jam Records is a legendary New York record label.

 

[probus]

There was also, of course, the band Def Leppard, back in the day. I agree with Soothing Dave that def has come and gone.

 

[jutfrank]

There was also, of course, the band Def Leppard, back in the day.

Actually, that has nothing to do with the word def in the sense we're talking of here.

I agree with Soothing Dave thay def has come and gone.

This from the brilliant Online Slang Dictionary:

def

• hip hop (including graffiti) slang for 'great'. Taken from the root word 'definitive'. Def Jam records took their name from this term. The term originated in New York in the early 1980s. It made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1993, whereby Rick Rubin (president of Def American Records) and members of the rap community subsequently had a mock funeral for the word, with a eulogy performed by Al Sharpton.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yeah, "Def Leppard" is just an intentional misspelling.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, that's another one that's passed me by. That's no surprise as I was never into hip-hop. I'm sure it has its place but it won't bother me if the word goes the same way as "sick" and the inexplicable "dench" (both meaning "great/excellent").

 

[jutfrank]

it won't bother me if the word goes the same way as "sick" and the inexplicable "dench" (both meaning "great/excellent").

You might not be glad to know that unlike dench, sick is going as strong as ever on both sides of the Atlantic, and I assume in the southern hemisphere too. I'm confident it's here to stay for many years to come.

 

[Skrej]

There was also, of course, the band Def Leppard, back in the day. I agree with Soothing Dave that def has come and gone.

As far as we can trust Wikipedia,supposedly that's an intentional modification of 'Deaf Leopard' "to make it seem less like a punk band" - whatever that's supposed to mean. It does cite a source, though, so it may be true and have no connection to the rap/hip-hop slang.

 

[jutfrank]

As far as we can trust Wikipedia,supposedly that's an intentional modification of 'Deaf Leopard' "to make it seem less like a punk band" - whatever that's supposed to mean. It does cite a source, though, so it may be true and have no connection to the rap/hip-hop slang.

It is def-initely true (heh heh). I've heard lead singer Joe Elliot say as much.

 

[probus]

As far as we can trust Wikipedia,supposedly ...

Wikipedia always puts me in mind of C. Northcote Parkinson's wonderful essay on negative infallibility. He points out that corporations spend millions trying to hire executives who are always right, while failing to exploit the large group of people who are always wrong.

 

[Tarheel]

Wikipedia always puts me in mind of C. Northcote Parkinson's wonderful essay on negative infallibility. He points out that corporations spend millions trying to hire executives who are always right, while failing to exploit the large group of people who are always wrong.

That's a discriminatory policy, isn't it?
;-)