The Woes Conundrum According to My Friends
I just really started noticing everyone talmbout how they’re running with their “woes” and I was like Wait. What did this happen? When did everyone start hanging with “woes” and why? I posed this question to my Facebook friends and below is the thread that ensues. I’m so glad to hang out with fellow Youngold people who will be amazing cranky old people one day.
Kris: It’s probably a good thing that I have no idea what you are talking about
Jessica: What the heck is a woe?
Keila: Blame Drake for everything.
Heidi: Where I’m from, it’s short for whodie which is slang for your friend or whatever
Kela: Drake was running through the six (Toronto) with them, now everybody else thinks they are.
Baby Drake running with his woes. In place.
Khalilah: Yeah. I asked Twitter the other day, “what the hell is a woe and why does everyone have one?”
Karisa: Oh…I saw that earlier today and thought it was a misprint.
Dupe: One does not simply hang with a woe. You must run thru with them…. I think it’s short for wodie (however it’s spelled)
Fisayo: I swear your generation gets on my nerves.
Dupe: My generation keeps you entertained….are you not entertained?!
Eboni: A friend posted it and I was like “woe is ME?? why would someone want woes, they’re horrible!” lol
Bianca: I legit thought for a LONG time that he was runnin’ through the 6 feelin’ real sorry for himself.
Miranda: I have a woe. It’s called I’m up here in the bedroom and the wine is downstairs in the fridge. #woeisme
Stephanie: See, now ^THIS is a woe!
Candice: I had to look it up because my soul was disturbed and wants to be at rest so… Someone said “woes” mean “Working on Excellence.” I guess his crew is trying to better themselves. A self-help group of pahtnas. I can’t with Drake.
Luvvie: 5 of my least favorite woes:
* When the remote is across the room and I already saw this episode of House hunters 5 times.
* When I travel before eating all my mangos so they’re all spoiled by the time I get back
* When my UBER says it’s 5 minutes away but it takes 10 minutes to get to me
* When I drop my phone it somehow flies across the room and I have to hold my breath that it didn’t crack
* When I have to call a customer service line and go thru all those damb prompts. JUST GET ME A HUMAN! Shit.
Brittany: More importantly why is it spelled woe if it’s a diminutive of whodie?!
Eboni: Ya’ll remember when Black Rob was like #whoa. I guess thats not the same thing, huh?
Kim: Wait that wasn’t an autocorrect error!? *Fights air*
Candice: There should be a rule that when rappers try to introduce a new word or phrase into the culture they should be required to submit 3 references (not related), a copy of their transcripts from all schools attended, and their last paycheck stub. They should be qualified and approved to influence culture. Foolishness.
Marci: Oh. I though this was some sort of joke or play on words that I just didn’t get since I’m the mother of 3 young ones and my brain in fried. So woe means something other than “woe is me” huh?
Nicole: In New Orleans, the city’s divided into wards. Therefore, one has “wardees”, or, colloquially, “whoadies”, shortened sometimes to “whoas”. I’m not sure about municipal division in Toronto, his hometown, but Drake obviously has a major connection to New Orleans. Perhaps he picked it up.
Luvvie: Maybe he went for some beignets and picked it up. lol
Nicole: He signed with Baby and Lil’ Wayne, of the Third Ward, here in New Orleans. Presumably, there’s the hook. And the start of his “woes”.
Melissa: Ohhhh. Woadies. Haven’t heard that in a long ass while lol.
Nicole: Looked into it. Toronto has 44 wards. Mystery solved.
Nekia: So where is the six and why did he run through it??
Monique: The six is Toronto (according to Drake), which comes from its two main area codes of 416 and 647.
Kenyatta: Welp. I’m officially old. I thought hanging with my woes meant you were having a very sad day:( This use of the word makes zero sense!
Mela: For running through the six. Duh. Who else would I run through the six with? My woos? My wees? My whys?
Sacha: <—– Middle aged curmudgeon with no time or patience for all this whippersnapper talk.
Chris: I can’t take Drake serious. When I see him I think Degrassi High. He’s the Steve Urkel of Hip-Hop. #Nickelodeon #Whoa
Tamika: Oh Lord, save me from this untoward generation!
Luvvie: First time I saw “Running thru the 6 with your woes.” I was like “You probably shouldn’t run thru the subway with your troubles. That sounds dangerous.”
Muriel: I’m just so behind in my inner “woe” studies.
Rhome: Everybody on this thread is Team #GetOffMyLawn. My cane shaking game on fleek doe.
Yup. We are all the Uncoolest. We’ve officially reached the point in our lives where kids will roll their eyes at our cluelessness on what’s popular.
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38 Comments
omg ya’ll are hilarious! This killed me “There should be a rule that when rappers try to introduce a new word or phrase into the culture they should be required to submit 3 references (not related), a copy of their transcripts from all schools attended, and their last paycheck stub. They should be qualified and approved to influence culture. Foolishness.”
as the resident canadian (lol) – this thread killed me.
also we the (toronto) people, refuse to acknowledge this “six”
and the only area code we acknowledge is 416. MAYBE 647. NEVER 289.
#yourwelcome lol.
YES! it will always be TDot to me…what is this Six garbage? #tdot4ever #DrakeIsAWoe
Why do I ever try to multitask and eat lunch while reading this site. I’m bout to make a mess and spit my lunch everywhere. I am so Team #GetOffMyLawn It ain’t e’em funny. Now I’ve got to go seek out this song so I can be angry. On top of being middle aged I live in the whitest state in the union and didn’t even know this song existed. Ughh, it’s probably for the best.
I do thank you for this PSA, as I am in that awkward life phase where my children are too young to explain and my friends are too old to care. #thirties
I’m so with you…*fights air*
That Drake gif gave me LIFE!!!!!
Imma just ask for my Team #GetOffMyLawn membership card right now….runnin’ through the six with your woes makes me want to hug someone while rockin’ back & forth singin’ a Negro spiritual & humming “baby give your burdens to the Good Lord ’cause He got it covered”
I’m too old for this s— (in my Danny Glover voice)
I was reminded about Juvenile’s use of whodie and my son that. He said that wasn’t him name….
Luvvie, may I request Team #GetOffMyLawn t-shirts? I’m basically a 65 year-old black woman caught in a 30-something year-old’s body (with smooth skin cuz black don’t crack at any age!). I would so like to have that t-shirt in my closet.
Also, this one slayed me. Because duh! “Mela: For running through the six. Duh. Who else would I run through the six with? My woos? My wees? My whys?”
Definitely buying one of those t-shirts. And one that says, “You probably shouldn’t run thru the subway with your troubles. That sounds dangerous.”
Dupe is hilarious and I am so #TeamGetOffMyLawn I don’t eem know what half this hip hop slang, of which you speak, is much less means! Most of these kids speak like they have marbles in their mouth and rocks for brains.
THIS!!! Yeeesssss!!!!! LawdHamMercy!!! Can’t eem have a conversation w/one of ’em w/o needing a freakin translator!!! Funny thing is, I’ll be 48 in a month or so. My 70 yr old Mother talks to my nephews on the regular and will have the nerve to understand what the hell they’re talking about!!!!
She called me one evening and I was like wait – hold up – what in the entire hell are you saying!!??? She commenced to trying to articulate what all of that foolishment, meant and I had to stop her and say ENGLISH , please!!???
I swear I thought it was “wolves” this whooooooolllleeeeeee time.
Lolololol!!!
That day Drake was at Jazz Fest with his friends. The festival is located at the Fair grounds racetrack in the 6th ward in New Orleans. Hence, running in the six withs my wo’s. I like how he shouted us out and y’all didn’t get it. LOL! #neworleansbabay
And “…this untoward generation.” made me hafta go lay down. HA!
I’m all in on the Team #GetOffMyLawn shirt! Love it! Glad to know there are lots of other middle-aged snarky women out there!!
Woe – How it happen? Why it happen? That makes no sense at all, people clearly be sitting around (I’m guessing smoking) thinking up dumb ish. The ones using “woe” are the same ones running around talking ’bout “my hair is on fleek!”. Tha heck does that e’eem mean? Listening to this generation is enough for me to apply for that AARP card early. iCant never.
I am definitely on Team #GetOffMyLawn! Being on the low side of 40, everything thing these youngins say and do irritates me. These songs make no sense at all!
And ” whippersnapper talk” made me snort, I laughed so hard lol! Love my LuvvNation peeps so murch!
Yes Hun-ty!!! Irks my very last nerve to even hear them open their mouths! I’m like do any of you even HAVE library cards!!?? Do ya even know what the card catalog is???? And forget ever even trying to decipher a text message from one of ’em….*smh*
Only for the Snarky
Team #GetOffMyLawn
I’m on this team too! I want the shirt and the card AND the old school Saturday’s party that comes with it every six months.
I don’t accept that woe is short for whodie. Drake is trying to tell us he is sad. We need to listen. #woeisDrake #prayforDrake #hugDrake #tellDrakeitsgoingtobeok
Yes ma’am, the devil is in the details.
“Tap ya neighbor on da shoulder” game proper…bwaaaaaaa!
Yes! I made the list!
See, I read this whole post and I’m still confused. I DON’T WANT to have to turn in my hip-hop membership card and resign myself to being the WAHM (work-at-home-mom) in her 40’s, whose kids thinks she is so out of touch! I’m “on fleek” dammit!
I’m convinced that these people are playing craps with Alpha-Bits and whatever lands on the pass line becomes the new word du jour! Cut it out!
Maybe that can be a consulting business; Interpret new slang for #TeamGetOffMyLawn members and provide geriatric hip-hop survival classes. There is a market for anything.
I’m on #TeamGetOffMyLawn and want the t-shirt. I’ve got my AARP application ready to go. Who in tarnation is Drake? Lol. I’m ready!
“Woes”, bought to you by the same man who blessed us with the dynamic word/acronym “Yolo”.You’re welcome world, you’re welcome.
“You probably shouldn’t run thru the subway with your troubles. That sounds dangerous.”
Sage advice, friend.
*raises glass*
I’ve been youngOld ever since I emerged from sheltered Christian homeschooling at age 14 and tried to navigate the cesspool of whoredom and idolatry that is public high school, ha ha. I didn’t understand what those young people were talking about when I was their same age, sitting in class with them. At the well seasoned age of somewhere past my 20s, I’ve accepted my fate that I will be forever old.
Ooh! My students hate when I get all etymological on them in my Language and Lit class, but here goes:
“woes” is short for “wodies” which is derived from the Louisiana moniker “wardies”, which is the moniker used for young male residents of the 7th and 9th wards. So, there you have it. “Runnin’ through the six with my woes…” But, honestly, I like to read it as “troubles”…Then we can feel sad for Drake. #nerdherd4life
One of these days, somebody’s gonna come around and revoke my ’90s baby’ card; I thought ‘runnin’ wit my woes’ was just a nice way of saying ‘hanging out with somebody I lowkey can’t stand’…
This comment made me guffaw…
“Fisayo: I swear your generation gets on my nerves.”
Then there’s this nugget…
“Kim: Wait that wasn’t an autocorrect error!? *Fights air*”
I went to school in New Orleans for 4.5 years. I am familiar with the term “Whoadie” but never knew the origin of it until this comment…
“Nicole: In New Orleans, the city’s divided into wards. Therefore, one has “wardees”, or, colloquially, “whoadies”, shortened sometimes to “whoas”.”
I mean, I also knew that the city of N O is split into wards, but I NEVER would’a guessed that “whoadie” came from “ward”…. Lol!
I’m late to these woe (is me) shenanigans, my bad. My invite got held up at the CPPO (CP Post Office) b/c Tyrone was on lunch break.
Anyway, “running through the six with my woes” sounds like a young person’s version of looking all haggardly and strung out while rocking back and forth in the corner mumbling “752” over and over.
My 45 year old mind translates the six to “666” which seems like it’d be a bad place to be a rest stop, hence “RUNNING THROUGH” it. So, homie would be an overcomer…cuz he didn’t hang out there in his woes. He/She pushed through. See where I’m going?? No? Me neither.
Dang, this is why I don’t listen to new school rap. This sh&t is crazy! Bring back Digital Underground. The Humpty Dance made much more sense!!!
I mean! Did we just randomly invent new words back in the 80s when I was a teenager? I think not!
The children are NOT our future!
Pass my Geritol!
I have a local #Teamgetoffmylawn group started.We currently have 7 members, we meet weekly to discuss current slang and youth trends…. will skinny jeans ever go tf away? We need to expand our reach, whos down?
Seriously, I was reading this so hard I could take a quiz on it right now. This needs to be a segment on NPR. Lol!
I love your friends. I am with Candice on the three references. There need to be standards.
Not only do these rappers need to provide references if they’d like to introduce a new word, they need to also provide a definition, correct pronunciation, and use the word in three sentences (because the song lyrics aren’t always clear) before we can accept it into our lexicon.