One of Shaquille O'Neal's numerous nicknames is "Extra-Tallems".
It's mentioned in a text I've been asked to translate and I'm trying to be somewhat creative.
Any sort of informative background would be greatly appreciated.
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It seems to appear solely in (I know I got) Skillz. Do you have any wider usage examples you can include to demonstrate that it is a suffix with a currency within the culture and not just something created to maintain the flow in a particular set of lyrics?– SpagirlApr 10, 2017 at 14:55
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1 Answer
The suffix seems to appear solely in (I know I got) Skillz. Geoffrey Golden at Crave suggests that there is no reason for the addition of ems other than making the lines scan.
“I dribble rhymes like Basketball-ems / people call me E.T. / (what's that Shaq man?)/ Extra-Tallems” – Why did he add the “ems” to Basketball and tall? Those words both rhyme and they’re real words. Adding the “ems” makes everything nonsense. There was no better way to make those lines scan, Def Jef?
