New York Times The New York Times breaks down Jersey Shore language

You decide if it’s offensive or not. (And yes, we realize this is strangely, sickly similar to the UPenn blog that broke down the Na’vi language from Avatar a few days ago.):

• The Jersey Shore n. 1. A 130-mile stretch of New Jersey coastline from Sandy Hook in the north to Cape May in the south. 2. A meeting ground where “Guidettes” [see entry] encounter tanned and muscular “Guidos” [see entry] at nightclubs for dancing and making out before returning to the Jacuzzi [see entry]. Also: The Shore.

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• Hair, Men Hair is usually worn short (buzzer attachment No. 2 on the sides and No. 3 on top) with the edges well defined along the hairline. For slightly longer hair (cf Pauly D. and Ronnie), a regimen of hair care involving a brush, a blow-dryer, two hours and a strong hair gel is needed. Styles include the duck-spined faux hawk, sported by Ronnie, and the Malignaggi, a style in which the hair lies like a mesa above the brow, made popular by the boxer Paulie Malignaggi.

• Hair, Women During the day, hair is usually worn long and straightened, often dyed black or highlighted. At night, a high “pouf” is obligatory.

• Guido [m], Guidette [f], n. Originally an ethnic slur against Italian immigrants to America, since Guido was a common Italian Christian name (cf the Florentine poet Guido Cavalcanti, the Benedictine music theorist Guido d’Arezzo, the graphic artist Guido Silvestri), the term has been reappropriated, Judith Butler-style, by some Italian-Americans along the Jersey Shore [see entry] and now refers to a complex of aesthetic and moral choices made by young Italian-Americans. Among the values espoused by the self-described “Guidos” of “Jersey Shore”: heavy tanning, muscular definition, a labor-intensive toiletry regimen, family and hooking up.