What's a glack?

Dear AC,

In the song, "Youth of the Nation", I swear they make a reference to someone getting shot with a "glack"? I've heard of a glock, but what's a glack? Or do I have the words wrong?
-Confused in Grand Rapids

Dear Confused,
I think what you heard was gat, which also means handgun. The lyrics of the P.O.D. song are:

No matter how hard he tried
Often thought of suicide
It's kind of hard when you ain't got no friends
He put his life to an end
They might remember him then
You cross the line and there's no turning back
Told the world how he felt
With the sound of a gat

Glock handguns are still produced, but the word gat comes from Gatling gun, a kind of machine gun used during the Civil War. There must be something in the air - this is the second gun related question I've gotten in the last week! Read on for another one.

What's a fo?

Dear AC,

I really want to know what's up in Nelly's song Hott in Herr, cause I get it up until he says
'I got a friend with a 'fo in the basement'. What is a FO? The only thing I can think of is a four poster bed but I think that's kinda tame, don't you? It would be great to know what he's talking about. Please include it on your web page… which is hilarious by the way.

Thanks,

Wendy

Hi Wendy.
Thanks for writing and I'm glad you like the site. To answer your question, the lyrics before he mentions the fo are pretty sexy, which might be confusing, because if he's talking about a fo, there's nothing sexy or romantic about the words that follow. He tells the woman, "I am gettin so hot, I wanna take my clothes off…" But when she doesn't take hers off fast enough, he gets impatient.

Stop placin, time wastin
I gotta friend with a fo' in the basement (What?)
I'm just kiddin like Jason (Oh)

A fo is a 44 Magnum handgun, which ought to convince her Nelly is right. On the other hand, given the preceding lyrics, it seems as likely that Nelly is saying "with a pole in the basement" - like a stripper's pole.

The more difficult question is about "Jason." Jason Epperson is Nelly's frequent producer. However, since he's talking about someone hiding in the basement, it could be a reference to the character Jason in the horror movie series Friday the 13th. In at least one of those movies, the evil Jason waits in the basement for his victims to arrive.

Your pal,

A. C. Kemp

Note: Since originally answering this question a few months ago, I've gotten a lot of mail about it, primarily concerned with the identity of "Jason." One reader suggested that "kidding like Jason" is a reference to basketball player Jason Kidd. However, an important fact that I learned later is that producer Jason Epperson has a massive recording studio in his basement, called Basement Beats (where there may or may not be a stripper's pole). Nelly doesn't have lyrics available on his site, but more internet users think he's saying pole by about two to one.

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