Entry · catalog no. 4418
lor
/ /lɔr/ /LOHR
adjective; name prefix · Baltimore, Maryland · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
The word 'little' as Baltimore Black speech actually says it — the medial consonants and final syllable smoothed into one r-colored syllable — and as the city now writes it. Prefixed to a name, it works exactly like 'Lil' elsewhere: Lor Scoota, Lor Choc, a way of marking someone as the younger one, the junior, the neighborhood kid grown into the name.
“Everybody still calls him Lor Man even though he's six-two now.”
Origin & Attribution
'Lor' is a pronunciation spelling from Black Baltimore. In the city's Black vernacular, 'little' compresses to a single syllable closing on an r-colored vowel; when texting and social media required the sound to be written, Baltimore spelled what it said. The Baltimore Sun's 2017 reporting on the city's Black vernacular — the youthful, dynamic speech it noted gets far less recognition than the white 'Bawlmerese' of 'hon' — documented 'lor' as the local form of 'little,' cemented through texting, social media, and nicknames. The most visible carrier of the form was West Baltimore rapper Lor Scoota (Tyriece Watson), whose 2014 anthem 'Bird Flu' and its dance swept the city, crossing over into an Orioles playoff soundtrack that fall. His shooting death in June 2016, at 23, was mourned citywide and fixed his name — and its prefix — in the national record. The spoken pronunciation is older than any of this and cannot be dated; the written form belongs to the texting era. 'Lor' remains a shibboleth: using it correctly marks you as Baltimore.
2014
Lor Scoota's 'Bird Flu' becomes a Baltimore anthem, carrying the prefix into wide print
2016
Lor Scoota is shot and killed at 23; citywide mourning puts his name in national coverage
2017
Baltimore Sun documents 'lor' in its report on the city's Black vernacular
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Baltimore, Maryland · 2010s
Spoken by
Black Baltimoreans; carried nationally by Baltimore rappers using it as a name prefix
$LORThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady12 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
45/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2014
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.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Baltimore Sun, "Hold up, 'Hon': Baltimore's black vernacular youthful, dynamic if less recognized than 'Bawlmerese'" — article · 2017
published
■
Baltimore Sun, "Lor Scoota, beloved Baltimore rapper best known for 'Bird Flu,' shot and killed" — article · 2016
published
■
+ Cite a sourceVice/Noisey, "Baltimore's New Wave of Rap Is Like Nothing You've Seen from the City Before" — article · 2015
published
See also