a very common situation when 2 hostile groups,gangs come against each other to fight and dominate?
It could be a slang word, what is the occurrence of this situation?
I can think of gang fight, but I want to hear more 'slang' word.
May be rumble, shootout, hassle, showdowns? What else?
Thanks
The word "rumble" specifically refers to a confrontation between two rival gangs. It could be a spontaneous event, or it could be planned in advance. The goal of the fight was to settle a dispute, demonstrate the gangs' fighting skills, or establish territories. Gang rumbles were often planned in advance by leaders, sometimes even negotiating times and locations.
While the word may have some quaint connotations today due to its popularization in the musical West Side Story and later street gang fiction, it's still commonly used when referring to a planned fight or brawl though more often in a sporting context, such as in professional wrestling, boxing, MMA fighting, and video games.
The key point is that a rumble is not merely a competition or a fight, but a fight between rival groups.
A word that describes a fight involving multiple people can also be called a melee, but this does not specifically suggest that the participants are gang members.
Two terms I think applicable have been mentioned already:
• face-off, “to be in or come into opposition or competition” [merriam-webster.com] as a verb, or as a noun, the competition itself
• showdown, “The final battle between two nemeses, in which there can be but one victor” [wiktionary]
Also consider the following.
• dogfight, “a fierce fight or struggle between people or groups” [merriam-webster.com]
• confrontation, in its sense “A conflict between armed forces” [wiktionary]
• battle, “A struggle; a contest” [wiktionary]
• gang war, “feuding between gangs; especially : feuding between groups of gangsters” [merriam-webster.com]
A term very often used for this is a turf war, defined by the free dictionary as
- a dispute between criminals or gangs over the right to operate within a particular area
It is very commonly used to describe wars between rival gangs.
Another term you could use is pissing contest. While this does not directly imply gangs, it describes the idiocy of the conflict quite well. It is defined by the online MW as:
a competition between rivals to determine superiority, predominance, or leadership —called also pissing match
Note that the term implies that you consider the people involved and their rivalry childish and silly. It is a term often used by women to describe the petty rivalries of men for example. It comes from the child's game of attempting to produce the longest stream of urine you can.
I do not recommend you ever use it if actually speaking to a member of a gang. You are likely to be sent looking for your teeth. However, seeing as gang rivalries—despite their sadly high casualty rate—are essentially sophomoric nonsense and adolescent posturing, I feel the term is a good fit.
Note that the term itself does not in any way imply gangs as such. You would need to specify that that's what you're referring to by saying something like
There was a pissing match between rival gangs.
Brawl might apply here:
a rough or noisy fight or quarrel.
Feud can be used between gangs - over a longer period of time:
a prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute.
I would say that the most slang term in urban america is "bang". An example would be: "lil chippy got got by some slobs so we gon bang on 'em 2nite, U down?"
In Hip Hop culture, it's always called a battle, but it's non-violent in that context, like a rap battle. There's an event called Battle of the Year that's essentially the BBoy world cup. There's also, sadly, a really cheesy Hollywood movie by the same name.
The best word that I can think of is used commonly in hip-hop culture and that is "to get to scrapping." "Why'd they have to get to scrappin' with him?"
