Learn English – Is the word ‘hussler’ appropriate

offensive-languageword-choice

Is wassup hussla? (also gangsta, killa etc.) appropriate to say to a friend or a colleague?
I mean, I know that it's not any sort of an official phrase I'd say to my boss. What I mean to ask is whether this word may be taken offensively, like nigger in the US.

Best Answer

The word is hustler, and it can be very appropriate depending on the situation. At it's broadest, it means nothing more than "somebody who will put in the effort necessary to get things done". In the darker corners of the streets, it carries a different connotation ("one who will do anything to make a deal"), but the word lives a respectable life in the suburbs as well.

Killer may be an appropriate nickname as well -- it doesn't necessarily mean, well, a killer. It could mean nothing more than, say, a reliable closer in a sales department.

Gangster (or any street-spelling variation thereof) is probably not appropriate for the workplace -- even if your are working for, um, "legitimate businessmen" whose legitimate businesses seem to do very little actual business. They have their own preferred vocabulary, and it doesn't involve interesting any outside parties who ought to stay disinterested.