Use of "ghetto" in NYC (New York, Bedford: neighborhoods, university)

[terranova69]

Can someone please tell me when the use of the word "ghetto" first came into COMMON usage to describe a neighborhood in NYC? Thanks.

[Andysocks]

....probably came whenever Eastern Europeans did? since the original meaning of ghetto was a Jewish neighborhood in Europe...

[King0fthehill]

It's a term people use to describe any neighborhood that has

1.pj's (public housing)
2.isn't gentrified and doesn't have a billion ridiculously overpriced wine bistros/delis/coffee shops
3.has no white people/has alot of people of color
4.it's used loosely;stable working class minority neighborhoods get labeled ghetto, while the same white neighborhood may be considered "up and coming" (this applies to hipsters moving to Bushwick, Red Hook, etc)

This areas are usually considered ghetto:

Manhattan: East Harlem, Central Harlem, West Harlem, Inwood, Washington Heights, LES projects.

BK: Brownsville, East NY, Flastbush, East Flatbush, Bushwick, Crown Heights Bedford Stuyvesant.

Queens: Far Rockaway, Southside Jamaica, Queensbridge projects.

Bronx: Mott Haven, Melrose, Morrisania, Hunts Point, Soundview, Highbridge, Tremont, East Tremont, Morris Heights, University Heights, Fordham, Fordham-Bedford, Wakefield, North Bronx projects, Castle Hill Projects.

Siya!

[SuperMario]

I agree with the above.

[terranova69]

Thank you both. However what I need to know is WHEN people/TV/newspapers etc. began to use this word to describe areas of NYC. Was it in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries, and if anyone can narrow down the decade in which it became common to use the word. Thanks again.

[Joe Bama!]

Also ghetto can be used as an adjective. Like "my car is ghetto."

[nyctc7]

"The first published reference that I can find is from the Chicago Defender, an influential black newspaper. An Oct. 31, 1925, article says..." "Within a couple of decades, the term was being used by the mainstream press. An Aug. 8, 1943, article in the New York Times..."

The Grammarphobia Blog: Grammar, Usage, Etymology, and More: Ghetto talk

[bmwguydc]

In modern vernacular, it is definitely the later years of the Twentieth Century for the use of the term ghetto as it's understood today as both the noun and adjective as in "ghetto fabulous." It does date to an earlier usage as a noun, referring to the place, but has evolved.

[Moderate Guy]

Originally Posted by Andysocks

....probably came whenever Eastern Europeans did? since the original meaning of ghetto was a Jewish neighborhood in Europe...

I believe Warsaw, Poland, typified that term then.

[Gardier]

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

It's a term people use to describe any neighborhood that has

1.pj's (public housing)
2.isn't gentrified and doesn't have a billion ridiculously overpriced wine bistros/delis/coffee shops
3.has no white people/has alot of people of color
4.it's used loosely;stable working class minority neighborhoods get labeled ghetto, while the same white neighborhood may be considered "up and coming" (this applies to hipsters moving to Bushwick, Red Hook, etc)

This areas are usually considered ghetto:

Manhattan: East Harlem, Central Harlem, West Harlem, Inwood, Washington Heights, LES projects.

BK: Brownsville, East NY, Flastbush, East Flatbush, Bushwick, Crown Heights Bedford Stuyvesant.

Queens: Far Rockaway, Southside Jamaica, Queensbridge projects.

Bronx: Mott Haven, Melrose, Morrisania, Hunts Point, Soundview, Highbridge, Tremont, East Tremont, Morris Heights, University Heights, Fordham, Fordham-Bedford, Wakefield, North Bronx projects, Castle Hill Projects.

Siya!

You're right, just about every black and hispanic community in NYC is considered the ghetto!