Click here get this free weekly newsletter delivered to your e-mailbox! Want to see more? Go back to All the Words main page.

Slang of the Week: budonkadunk (noun)
a woman’s buttocks, especially large, attractive ones

Example:
Marcel tried to focus on his history test, but his mind kept wandering to an image of Jennifer Lopez’s budonkadunk.

Celebrity quote:
“I think my booty could be bigger. Just a little more budonkadunk, and then I would be good.”
-Singer Brandy

Not everyone agrees on how this word should be pronounced or written. In her song hit Work It, Missy Elliot asks her date if he can handle her “gadonk-a-donk-donk.” This song, more than any other, was responsible for bringing the word to mainstream America. And there are many other variations, including gadonkadonk, ga-donk ga-donk donk and just budunk, but according to Google, badonkadonk is the most common version.

The truth is that there isn’t always a “right” spelling in slang as there is in Standard English. Sometimes words come into the spoken language in several forms and one becomes the standard. But just as often, slang words that have a regular spelling (like cool) get new spellings (kewl).

Likewise, the o in for sure (certainly) often becomes an e in the synonym fer shizzle, though the pronunciation is the same. While those changes are just for fun, sometimes the new forms can make a word more or less polite. For example, the swear word bitch (hateful woman) is made less offensive by the newer version beeyatch, which unlike the original is “polite” enough to be said on television.

What’s new at Slang City?
"Are you trying to tell me that there's a party in your pants and that I'm invited?" Translated quotes from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.