August 5, 2004
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Okay, it’s time for another installment of…
Explain It to the Old/Out-of-Touch Guy
In previous episodes of Explain It to the Old/Out-of-Touch Guy, I’ve been explained the meaning of “oppa” and the meaning of “Fubu”. Now, it’s time for the people of Xanga to enlighten me on yet another puzzling topic.
Around the corner from my shop is the following billboard:
Okay… who the heck is that guy? Is he famous? Cuz if he’s not, what genius decided that a guy looking like that is gonna sell cell phones? I mean, are people going to look at that billboard and say, “Wow, I’d LOVE to get a call from THAT guy!”?
Now, I’m not the most in-tune person to what’s “hip” or “rad” or whatever you kids say today. But I’m guessin’ that the majority of white America has no clue who this guy is. Heck, they might even freak out or something. I’m no marketing expert, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that’s not exactly conducive to cell phone sales.
Seriously, who would you rather get a phone call from?
T-Mobile’s Catherine Zeta Jones or Boost Mobile’s “whoever that is”?
See what I mean!?! Geez, I might even want to get a call from THIS guy!
Hmmm… okay, maybe that’s taking things a little too far.
Anyway, here are my guesses as to who it is… well, I only have one guess:
- Is it Flava Flav? And if it is, then where’s his clock? Has he forsaken his quest to let everyone know “what time it is”? And would you really want Flava Flav to call you? I mean, I’ve seen him on VH-1′s I Love the ’80′s show and he seems like the kind of guy that would wake you up at 3am to yell unintelligible drunken rap lyrics at you. And you can’t hang up on him cuz… well, he’s Flava Flav.
AND WHAT THE HECK IS “CHIRP’N”!?!
I await your answers.
Comments (35)
as do I…..(await, that is)
Yeah I was wondering if he was someone famous also…
i might be able to help you out…
i believe he is a professional athlete and a member of Boost Mobile’s action sports team.
i’ve never heard of Boost Mobile before in my life though…
oh, i can only guess what “chirp’n means, but i think the bulk of the ad is “where you at?” just Boost trying to be “hip” and appealing to a particular audience.
now, earlier i was going to speak in slang, but decided against it.
cheers!
p.s. the more verizon commericals i come across…the more appealing that guy becomes to me…you know how they say that people can grow fond of someone if they spend a lot of time with them…that man has been invading my living room for awhile now…and gosh darn it…now i think he’s cute! i think it’s the glasses and his little smirky quirky smile.
wow, I never thought I’d be like the “old/out of touch” guy but apparently I am… or maybe youz ‘mericans is just f*cked up lol
my stupid bf sign up for t-mobile because he really thinks catherine zeta jones would call him. yeah, like that’s gonna happen
no clue what chirp’n means. let me go to ghetto area this afternoon. alright?
he is one of the wayan’s brother look-a-like. they are trying to appeal to the people who cant afford the high priced mobile plans and phones so by using someone “ghetto” looking, they wish to attract those that are similiar to him…haha..yes, i do realize that was a bunch of BS but watevers! =)
That billboard confounds me as well. To me, instead of Flava Flav it looks like a young Ol’ Dirty Bastard… or Baby Jesus… or Jesus… or whatever that man calls himself these days as he picks up his welfare checks.
lol ey dog ey… anyways yea that guy is freaky to the max and chirp’n means talking… at least it does to scary losers liek him who, according to assassassain29 is a welfare check quicker picker upper or sumthin.
Remix Y’all!
hmmmm…maybe chirpin’ means ringin….like how it used it be when your cell rang that you were blowin’ up…maybe now its your chirpin’
I’m not hip, so I have no clue.
chirpin is the “ghetto” slang of urban neighborhoods which describes the chirps from the nextel cell phone cb models, which when used like a walkie talkie, makes a chirpin noise.
granted its not a very good ad. i mean, straight chirpin? jeez. shit id even rather have carrot top call me up on collect from AT&T.
but i own a boost mobile, and it really aint that bad. cept for the crazy ads with the old people doing not so old things. dont know what i speak of? http://www.boostmobile.com and youll see.
anyways that was a fun entry.
-FLiP-
I have no idea who he is either, and I’m a 19 year old, who pays heavy attention to the entertainment field. so…. you’re fine, don’t worry about it, in fact you had a much better guess than I would’ve.
I did like their commercials with the old people though, when they’re like…. dancing…. and talking our slang…. hilarious. that is all I can say.
oh, I think he is right about the whole chirpin’ thing. umm… FLlP, that is.
OH my god. Is that billboard a joke?
Straight chirp’n……um…right. I think I’d rather buy William Hung’s album than get a phone call from that dude. 
PS. I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THESE SMILEYS!! Nyargh.
i’m a t-mobile gal because catherine zeta jones is welsh and tom jones is the ultimate welshman, so there you go. it’s all about tom jones.
what was your question again, dawg?
Chirpin’ looks like it is a normal word that is being turned into a slang term for awesome/ great/ fantastic. Whatevs. screw it. I would rather bring back old terms like “fly” or “dope” than come up with/ use these new ones.
His name is Nathanial (“Nate”) Waterman, and he used to be the singer in the band Straight Six sometime in the seventies. “Chirp’n” is singing, hence the tie-in with his old band’s name. I guess Boost are hopin’ … I mean hoping that there are still some old fans out there.
Straight Six never had a hit. They were a sort of cross-over reggae/pop band. From memory their only single to receive any sort of success was a track called Six Guns Smokin’, which quickly sank into obscurity along with the band.
I’m actually too scared to answer that question. That dude freaked me out.
THIS POST MADE MY DAY!!!
I think it IS Flava Flav. He’s trying to get as much work as he can since Public Enemy isn’t getting too much lately…
Anyway I’ve been thinking about that billboard too. Its freaking scary!!
And I think its like “Strait Trippin” but chirpin cause I guess cell phones chirp? I could be wrong…
hmm, interesting. I think they’re just trying to get our attention. ANY attention. If it was a good looking guy, would you have noticed it? You wouldn’t have thought to post it here, right? I had never even heard of Boost wireless before you posted that. I guess they achieved their purpose, they got their name out.
CHIRP’N be talking, y0! hahaha, i have that billboard everywhere around here. my brother loves the damn thing.
I believe “chirp’n” is the new ghetto way of saying “trippin”. It’s kinda like how they say “thur” instead of “there”.
Thur dissin their own style, yo. That is whack! Holla back, b.
- Jeff
He kinda looks like Orlando Jones to me But I don’t know I think Orlando might not want to have a picture of himself looking like that posted that huge. but you never know he’s fond of “making 7 Up Yours” That’s the only I guess I have.
Y’know … you’ve got a point there! I think that’s why I have Cingular – the lil’ orange dude is much hotter than this guy boost has. I mean, at least it leaves something to your imagination!
Anyway, I wanted to say hi again, since I’m not sure if you read comments after you’ve answered them.
Hmmm, despite being a tad miffed about people commenting on “them” and “their ghetto” which I can only assume means black people:
I think it’s supposed to be a play on “straight pimpin’” except “straight chirp’n” would be like “straight talk’n” or something to that extent. And it plays on the ad guy’s old singing profession and whatever sound the phone ringer can make…see, in theory it is witty. And yet very sad at the same time.
I enjoy you.
well…….black ppl like chicken, and little chickens go “chirp chirp”, so they’re saying black ppl should use boost mobile when they wanna order some fried chicken.
Here’s the irony. People start writing weird things using bad grammar. Then they start to wonder why the kids’ test scores are so bad.
Chirp’ns off the heezy fo shizzle a’ight?
Wait. What in the world did I just say? I am either down with the hippity-hop or I am having a kindergarten lisping relapse. Either way, it makes no sense.
grisaleen - Come on, you’re young! You’re supposed to know these things!
IMaFoBmaGneT - Alas, it seems like it’s just a guy who was told, “Okay, look weird… perfect!”
nosarp - The first time I saw the Verizon guy, he made me laugh. But he “jumped the shark” for me when he showed up at the Super Bowl a couple years ago.
Or, maybe I’m just jealous that a nerdy guy with glasses that’s not me is getting TV time.
emmses - A young person that’s just like me!?! SEEK HELP NOW! IT’S NOT TOO LATE!
petitekiu - Nyahahahaha… another one falls to the power of Catherine Zeta Jones!
In_Paradisum - Well, most of the stuff on this Xanga is BS too!
AssAssAssain29 - Jesus changed his name to ODB? I musta been asleep at church when they announced that.
Juls2587 - Okay… then what does “Straight Talk’n” mean? Darn, I shoulda asked that question, too!
CrazyGB - Oooooo… sounds like a good explanation to me. You get a cookie!
Lizka - Well, I’m not either, but I’m old, so I have an excuse.
FLlP - Whoa, a well-informed answer! After reading your post, I feel so much more… hip? Rad? Cool?
Carrot Top… hahahahaha!
caroline_23 - Yeah, I’ve seen the commercials, which are pretty good. And yeah, I gotta go with FLiP’s explanation, too.
CindyWang - Well, I can’t think of anything better than listening to the melodic voice of Mr. Hung, cuz he’sHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… darn, I thought I could say that with a straight face.
tjthunderball - My question is, why isn’t Tom Jones on that billboard instead?
dieselboy_1206 - Hahaha… I might have to start using “fly” all the time until other people start using it.
arnie_flangehead - Hahahaha… I think Straight Six opened for Parliament back in the 70′s.
glorycato - I know… his lip defies all known laws of anatomy.
SaltedLemons - Man, the things an old-school rap star has to do to make a living these days!
StealthPotato - I fell for the old “make up a silly billboard so people will post about it on their Xanga” ploy… DOGGONE IT!
tHeGirLiNtHecOrnEr - Hey wait a minute, I thought it was the sound of the phones? Darn it, you young people gotta get together and agree on one answer!
LPMagic - WHAT IN THE HECK DID YOU JUST SAY!?!
astrohooker - That’s just as good of a guess as mine!
tkat - Hi! Yeah, sometimes I miss comments and stumble across them later… then I feel bad for missing them.
Sapphires - Yeah, but I think part of the problem is with the ad. I don’t know what audience these cell phone people were tryin’ to target, but regardless, I’d have to say that it ruffled a few feathers as well.
urinal - Good lord, just another example of the cell phone company tryin’ to keep the black man down!
Golfer_Hater - When the President uses “heezy” in a speech, then I’ll know that the end of the world is near.
Dear_Amy04 - I’m sure somebody out there understood it.
Well I wave my private parts at your aunties!
Not to be a nerd, but according to urbandictionary, chirping is “Using the push-to-talk (2-way radio) function of Nextel phones. Commonly used slang in Brooklyn….where every1 has a Nextel.”
I am just askign random people this question.
What would you ask if you had just one question?