poor/urban person, place, or thing;
originated from German language not the blacks
so if another race than blacks says ghetto
doesn't mean their trying to be black,

in fact, no ones trying to be black they are just under the gangsta influence of their own race (ex.AZN, chicos, whites, pros)
Krakow Ghetto Liquidation where many Jews were killed by Nazi soldiers

President: I have lived in the ghettos of USAmerica and am also knowledgable of their ghetto houses and supplies.
("hmm hmm-hmm hmmmm hmmm hmmm hhmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmmh hmmmh mhmmmh mm mhhhmm")(President's beat)
by Drahcir Srah March 17, 2005
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It's a place that people act like is such a bad crime infested place with a hobo on each corner like all these suburban kids like to discribe the ghetto when in fact it's not THAT bad! Not everyone does drugs and kills people! I'm not saying ghetto is the best place to raise a family but no one picks on other kids in the ghetto because everyone can understand why someone's clothes arent always brand fucking new. It is a wonderful place to live as long as you dont fuck with the gangbangers. keep in mind though not every kid with baggy clothes and a durag on is a gangbanger that just means he probly just likes rap...
I live in the innercity(ghetto said in a positive way) of Columbus, Ohio and i don't think its bad at all...
by Loganisdbomb July 11, 2006
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The origin of the word ghetto comes from the dialect spoken in Venezia, aka Venice for english-spoken people, and probably was created during 1400-1500. It was used to define the place where jewish people live and have their bussinesses,
separated from the oligarchy that ruled Venezia in that period , that was mainly connected with commerce on the Mediterranean
Sea.I think people in Venezia could haven't believed that this word would have such a fortune. Of course this word can mean all the other entries are in this this useful slang dictionary.
Nowadays if u go 2 Venezia in Northern Italy u'll find the real first ghetto in history
by Dj Pierfa April 8, 2006
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Building on the previous entry, in an urban American United States) context, "the ghetto" refers to areas, neighborhoods, wards, or districts of a city where, due to often racist and/or discriminatory municipal planning policy, certain groups have been intentionally confined and isolated because of their race or ethnicity.
The U.S. example of "the ghetto" is compelling because like the Jewish example cited in the previous entry from which the term originates, the racially homogenous African American ghetto neighborhood was created largely by racist land developers and planning policymakers who bowed to the whims of cruel prejudice named under the facade of "market forces."
In layman's terms, here's how it breaks down: African Americans move from the South en mass in the Depression years to Northern cities (Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, NYC, etc); White people don't like having to share their living space with people with more melanin in their skin. So they enact municipal policy to establish racially and ethnically homogenous neighborhoods; when school bussing comes around in the 60's trying to integrate the races, whites simply abandon the central city and move out to the good ol' sprawling suburbia; what you end up with is entire core city neighborhoods that are entirely African American and their tax base is too low to provide decent services, and we sit back in our lawn chairs in suburbia and wonder why they rap about "the ghetto" and about "hustlin" and about "keeping it real..." Keeping this in mind, "the ghetto" to African Americans seems to imply not just a location or domicile, but a racial solidarity unified in place in fierce opposition to the racial injustices that placed them there in the first place

So to those of you who are insensitive to African American culture, hopefully this little lesson on the racist policy behind creating "the ghetto" will inspire you to look upon hip-hop culture with a bit more benevolence and sensitivity.
So when someone says "Yo, we from the ghetto," it implies a separate culture and a separate frame of mind, which ties in nicely to keepin it real
by American Socialist November 17, 2006
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Urban Redneck

The urban counterpart to the rural. Both underclasses possess a culture, values, language, and dress code characterized by identification with ignorance, substance abuse, objectification of women, crime, poverty and geographic, social and economic isolation.
You might be ghetto if your car has rims which cost more than the car itself.
by Becky August 30, 2006
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some who acts like they grew up poor and in the hood. usaully this type of person can never let the streets and hood go.
by lancenishimoto August 18, 2007
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1. A state of mind

2. People, who may not always be of the black or lower class, that act unnecessarily uncivilized
1. Just because you live in the projects don't mean you have to be ghetto.

2. "No she didn't just walk into this grocery store in her pajamas and hair scarf!"
by simplydabest82 December 1, 2007
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