wankster

English

Etymology

Blend of wannabe +‎ gangster, and simultaneously also evocative of wanker.

Pronunciation

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Noun

wankster (plural wanksters)

1. (slang, derogatory) A person who pretends to be a member of an urban gang or affects hip-hop styles and attitudes; a gangster poseur.

   Synonym: wanksta

   Hypernym: wanker

   • 2004, Rajen Persaud, Why Black Men Love White Women: Going Beyond Sexual Politics to the Heart of the Matter, Pocket Books, published 2009, →ISBN, page 82:

     He becomes a real-life version of the synthesized, ghetto-head wanksters that MTV parades as black males in their Real World shows.

   • 2005, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Volumes 56-57, 48:

     […] that whiteboy wannabe wankster waste is so far behind he can't even dream of catching up.

   • 2008, Kathleen Tracy, Sacha Baron Cohen: The Unauthorized Biography: From Cambridge to Kazakhstan, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 47:

     The first prototype of what would eventually morph into Ali G was called MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume, whom Sacha describes as “a hip-hop journalist, a wankster reporter.”