TransWikia.com

As a shortening of "bourgeois", is "bougie" or "bourgie" correct?

English Language & Usage Asked on December 9, 2020

Bougie or bourgie is used as a shortened, informal version of bourgeois used in African American Vernacular English. For example:

The car he drives is indicative of his [bougie | bourgie] lifestyle.

A look at Google ngrams

ngram of bougie/bourgie
reveals that bougie is used much more often
than bourgie.

But Merriam-Webster has a definition only for bourgie,
listing bougie as a less common variant — which directly contradicts
the Google Ngrams results.

The only other useful info I can find the site verysmartbrothas.com, which doesn’t seem like a great source.

But which spelling is more correct?

3 Answers

From this ngram, both bougie and bourgie are so rare in comparison to bourgeois, that I'd suggest avoid using them and stick to the full word.

Even if they are not "wrong", they're far from idiomatic.

enter image description here

Answered by k1eran on December 9, 2020

According to Urban Dictionary, Bougie is:

"Aspiring to be a higher class than one is. Derived from bourgeois - meaning middle/upper class, traditionally despised by communists."

Example in Urban Dictionary:

"When my friend Miya wears a blazer or Lucy gets a massage I call them bougie cause we're unemployed college students."

Answered by HLuc on December 9, 2020

I would say bourgie is more accurate. But that's my opinion, mostly because of the 'r'. Bougie is used more as a slang than anything else, bourgie is only known to and consciously used by people aware of the fact that they're referring to the shortened form of the word bourgeoise. Half of the people who say bougie and actually think of it spelled as bougie are likely not to be aware that it was derived from the word bourgeoise.

Answered by Biko on December 9, 2020

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP