Bifurcations of humanity: Part II

Closely related to my last post on a bifurcation of humanity on a particular usage of the word “fly,” is the word “dope.” Dope has a few meanings. The one I am interested in is the following from an urban dictionary app I use:

dope - a word that describes something that is extremely cool, such as music, clothes, people, etc.

I have started to hear this usage in more common conversation. Startling. That said, it highlights for me same branching question as “fly”. Once again, I think there is a portion of the population for whom the above use of “dope” is, in fact, dope. However, for the other side of this branch the above usage makes them sound like A dope. As it regards my own self, I say nope to dope. So, in a personal summary, my verdict on “fly” and “dope” is I should abstain.

I found it notable in the the urban dictionary I used that the usage example was lyrics from an Outkast song,

“Ain’t nobody dope as me, I’m dressed so fresh so clean…”

Well, it seems to me, while not particularly humble, the members of Outkast are better suited to use “dope” than most. Case in point, check out their sartorial choices:

Just this one time, I got special dispensation to say that the blue suit is completely “dope” and those yellow pants are the very definition of “fly.” I fear, perhaps, that dope unlike “fly” has a higher proportion of inappropriate users. So, do you do “dope” or not? Oops, that means something else doesn’t it. Well, in either case it’s up to you, but I encourage caution.