Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 22:17:33 -0700

From: Mary Bucholtz bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GARNET.BERKELEY.EDU

Subject: Re: Teen Slang Terms (Gank and Gaffle)



My students (mostly Southern California transplants) have been reporting

"gank" on slang surveys for 4 years. Most of them have no idea where it

comes from but a few have suggested, rightly, I think, that it derives

from "gangster/a" (those aren't gender markings, just dialect variation).



Mary Bucholtz



Department of Linguistics

University of California, Berkeley

bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]garnet.berkeley.edu