Bourgie
Why Bougie? Where I come from, bougie is an insult, as in “Quit actin’ bougie.” Derived from the French, it’s a colloquialism of bourgeoisie. The word itself means an inhabitant of a town, and went on to mean a member of a class who obtained their goods as merchants rather than the inherited wealth of aristocracy. In America, the equivalent would be middle-class.
It’s amazing to me how this very old French word came to be something poor folks in the ghetto use to insult one another. Marx used the word as an “objective description of a social class and of a lifestyle based on ownership of private capital.”
Where I come from, we really like private capital. But some of us want to hold on to the nobility of poverty. Trying too hard to “keep it real,” thinking that means “keeping it broke.” Someone who we call bougie is a snob. They live in the suburbs, they talk white, they wouldn’t be caught dead in a hooptie. Acting bougie usually means the person is acting as if they’re too good for something.
But doesn’t it make sense? Aren’t we all too good for ‘jects and roaches and unequal jail time? Aren’t we all too good for broke-down cars and cheap clothes and overprocessed, fattening foods? Aren’t we better than malt liquor and too-high drop out rates and high fees at check cashing places and giving all our money to stay in cities that don’t protect and serve us?
I know I am. My name is Toni and you can call me bougie.
