Entry · catalog no. 7358
bull skating
/ /ˈbʊl ˌskeɪtɪŋ/ /BUL-skay-ting
noun · Harlem, New York · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
Bragging; loud, showy self-advertisement. Documented in Harlem as the word for carrying on about yourself.
“He was bull skating about that new suit before he even finished paying for it.”
Origin & Attribution
Black Harlem of the early 1940s, recorded by Zora Neale Hurston in the glossary accompanying her Story in Harlem Slang (The American Mercury, July 1942), drawn from her field research in Black American speech.
1942
Zora Neale Hurston defines bull skating — bragging — in the glossary to Story in Harlem Slang, The American Mercury
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem, New York · 1940s
Spoken by
Harlem speakers of the 1940s
$BULLSKThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Historical84 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
12/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1942
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceZora Neale Hurston, Story in Harlem Slang, with Glossary of Harlem Slang, The American Mercury
1942
See also