Noun/Verb - Signifyin' is a form of street poetry used in the African-American community. Using a rhyme structure, it often contains a series of taunts or boasts. Soemtimes called "playin' the dozens".
As spoken by Rudy Ray Moore (aka Dolemite):
The Signifyin' Monkey
Way down in the jungle deep,
The bad ass lion stepped on the signifyin monkey's feet.
The monkey said, "Muthafucka, can't you see?
Why, you standin on my goddamn feet!"
Story of the Signifyin' Monkey who tells the lion (King of the jungle, that in a nearby well, there is a potent adversary. The lion looks down into the well, sees his reflection and growls. When he takes the echo of his own roar to be a challenge he jumps into the well to attack the supposed adversary.
This defuses his power at no cost to the monkey.
The root of the word is "sign", as in pronouncing or interpreting "signs" of the future or important spiritual symbols. This must be related to African or Afro-American religious and spiritual practices involving the serious disucssion of divine signs and their meanings.
In a more general sense, if someone is said to be "signifyin"", it may mean that they are taking themselves to seriously by holding forth on deep portentious subjects in a self-important manner.
One might be describing pretentious intellectualizing or over-bearing preaching about matters which should make ushumble by their mystery.
When asked to sign a timesheet at work, the manager said, "Sure.. in Heberew or English ?"
On which a passing co-worker commented, "There he goes signifyin' again."
Since I happen to be Jewish, I know exactly what he meant.
A sunburn or suntan focused on the left arm. It is caused by the left side of the body being the only half that gets exposed to sunlight while driving. Presumably, it would be located on the right side of the body in countries where they drive on the left side of the road.
British slang for a scientist or technical expert, esp . when the speaker is not certain of the expert’s specific field of study. Not necessarily derogatory, but typically used by persons without a technical background. In the US, the equivalent would be “egghead”, “squint”, or “geek.”
Origin of the word is unknown. Started sometime in World War 2. Given the typical evolution of British slang, could easily have started because what these experts did was confusing or “baffling” to the common person.
When you have to pee in a movie but don’t want to miss anything, and must do the following mental equation: will the amount I have to pee cause enough discomfort to diminish my attention capacity for the remainder of the movie to an extent which is greater than the amount of the movie I would miss by making a mad dash to the restroom.
I saw Satantango last night, wonderful film but by the 5th hour I had to start doing peecalculus.