Learning to Spell “Hoe” (or “Ho”)

This subject came up last week when a colleague and I were discussing the spelling of various slang terms. She and I are both suburban white women, but we’ve done our share of editing urban black slang. Actually that might be a better title for this post: “Suburban White Woman Edits Urban Black Slang.” I know you don’t know me, so trust me when I tell you this situation is slightly ridiculous. I’m not the least bit “hip” or “with it,” or whatever they call it these days; to hear a slang or curse word escape my lips would be almost scandalous—almost. And yet I’ve gotten pretty good at this type of editing, proving that you don’t have to be a member of any particular group to edit work by and about that group.

Last week’s discussion began with the correct spelling of “I’ma,” as in “I’ma gon’ mess you up, hoe.” Some authors spell this “Imma,” which looks obviously wrong, or “Ima,” which I have actually let slip by a few times. The correct spelling, however, is “I’ma.” (I know this thanks to The Online Slang Dictionary, an invaluable resource and one of several such online resources.)

The next obvious question was “How does one spell ‘hoe’?” Thanks again to the OSD, I know that this word can be spelled either “hoe” or “ho.” Do I prefer one spelling over the other? No, I think they both look equally silly. To my mind, “ho” either has something to do with Santa Claus (Ho, ho, ho!) or with those chocolate-coated chocolate cakes with creamy filling (Ho Hos), and “hoe” is a useful garden tool. Anyway, I tend to go along with whichever spelling the author prefers.

Other examples come to mind, but that isn’t really what this post is about (fooled you, didn’t I?). My point is that slang is like any other specialized language. If you can learn to edit medical or technical text you can learn to edit slang. Your temperament will determine which one you like best; I like a healthy mix of both. And that is the great thing about editing; you never know what you’re going to read next. And that is why this blog as called Adventures in Editing.