- “Did you see what they were wearing?” “It was so ratchet!”
Ratchet
adjective; other word formation type Dialect Spelling of wretched as ratchet
A new way to refer to something that would come from the ghetto, or anything that would be stereotyped as coming from the ghetto.
Etymology : It is mostly attributed to coming from Shreveport where the song “Do the Ratchet” was released. (the root) It was originally meant as a kind of dance to accompany the song, but has undergone metonymy to now represent anyone who would do the dance. Using the word ratchet in the song likely comes from the dialectic pronunciation of wretched.
Source : Heard from a friend August 2012
Last modified: 25 November 2013