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talk trash

Date: Dec 21 2000

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“In the old days, when we used to talk trash, it was never a situation where you walked off the court and hated someone.”

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

say mean things, make fun of someone

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

Trash talking is most often done in sports. Athletes like to use trash talk to distract players from the opposing team. By making other players angry, trash talkers think they can distract the other players from thinking about the game. Some of the most notorious trash talkers in sports are Gary Payton of the Seattle Supersonics (NBA) and Deion Sanders of the Washington Redskins (NFL). Both of them are very good players, and they like to make opposing players feel bad about themselves in order to gain an advantage.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“The players were talking trash before the game.”

“Travis is so competitive, he even talks trash when he’s playing Monopoly with his little brother.”

“Spike Lee likes to sit on the sidelines at basketball games and talk trash to the players.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

I think it means to make fun of someone; to make them feel bad or to just joke around with them.
by Sonia (Evora, Portugal)
“Talk trash” is sometimes a strategy between players in a very competitive game. They use the strategy to keep up their own spirit and challenge opponent’s ability to compete. It basically means to talk about trivial and irrelevant things sometimes in a competitive manner. Talk trash doesn’t necessarily mean the players are hostile to each other. What they talk about does not really matter. What matters is that they need to “fight” back when they are challenged by trash talk from the opponent.
by Kuo (Milwaukie, Wisconsin, USA)
I think “talk trash ” means saying harsh words or rude, impolite words to others. However, a good player shouldn’t bring any resentment off the court, right:)?
by Lynn (Siping, Jalin, China)
It’s something like trying to get opponents in game angry by telling them something offensive. People from one team use bad language to make their “enemies” from other team lose their temper, because when people hit the roof and lose control they usually start playing worse. I suppose, Michael Jordan just wants to say that people have become more angry and hate each other more than in “old days” and now when they do trash talk they really mean it, they seem to really hate other team’s players.
by Nataly (Chelyabinsk, Urals, Russia)
I think talk trash means trading words or insulting somebody
by Ammar (Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia)
I think it’s kind of a combination of bragging about yourself, and intimidating and putting down your opponent. It;s not only sports related, but the name evolved from basketball or football.
by Todd (Stockholm, Sweden)
I guess it means swear at or say some kind of bad words.
by Grace (Tianjin, China)

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