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I'd like to know more about how 'ends' came to mean 'hometown' in current London slang. I have heard it used to mean money, which is an extension of mainstream use - means to an end, for one's own ends etc. Can anyone enlighten me?
Also, is there are decent source of general etymological information on current slang words? I know a lot come from Caribbean words and American hip-hop but a central source would be great.
The London slang ends probably came from Jamaican slang, where it seems to have been more generic or local.
The London Slang Dictionary Project ("written by teenagers for their peers and for their teachers") includes:
Ends - Area, neighbourhood
From ends — one who is “from the streets” and so knows what’s going on.
The second highest definition in Urban Dictionary is the London one:
your 'ends' is your area
"what ends you from?"
by §håÐðw May 21, 2004
A similar meaning can be found in this Jamaican Slang Glossary:
Ends- A place. Mi a go pon one ends still.
(I am going to one place).
And in Backayard Magazine's patois guide:
ends, colloq. home, familiar place.
Another Urban Dictionary definition includes both London and Jamaican meanings:
Jamaican word for street corner
London word for dodgy areaMi pon di ends (Quote from Dwayne of the Verne)
Rah, SE22? You on the ends bruv (quote from Andrew of SE5)
West Norwood? Wha yah wanna move there to, thats verging on the ends man (quoute from Philly of SW16)
Related words: hood ghetto yard briccie peckz
by bombskwad - detonating warfare wiv lyrics Sep 22, 2006
The W?Dictionary of Jamaican Dialect i.e. Patois says:
Ends: (n.) Hang out spot/area, place to chill,
(v.) ends out: the act of hanging out
Finally, Talk Jamaican says:
ends : destination, home (pon de ends = at home)
Some of these Jamaican definitions say ends is a destination, so the place at the end of a journey.
I’ve not heard it, but ‘Chambers Slang Dictionary’ (recommended) gives singular end, in the sense of ‘an area of a city’ as a UK black/teen term, dating from the 1990s. I suppose it may have come from references to the end of a town (‘Which end of town are you from?’), or it may be associated in some way with the area behind the goals of a football pitch reserved for supporters of the home and away teams.
