American ABer's - some assistance please

[andy hughes]

i really love the Rodney Crowell song 'Fate's Right Hand', but some of the Americanisms leave me baffled. Could you please explain the meaning of the following - 'Bill Blass combo', 'D.K.N.Y.', 'Ken Starr word man', 'A 187 on the 405' 'Freddy's got his dogs in the trunk'. Thanks.

[sft42]

DKNY stands for Donna Karan New York she's a ashion designer.........Ken Starr was the Independent Counsel who prosecuted Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton over the whitewater real estate and Moncia Lewinsky scandals......Bill Blass again is a designer label.....don't know about the other two though.

[kags]

Bit of a guess here - the interstate highway 405 runs from Oregon down through Los Angles - I wonder if a "187" is US police speak for a crime, maybe murder or car jacking, or maybe it means a pile up.

[kags]

And I think "Freddy's got his dogs in the trunk" might be something to do with Reservoir Dogs - I've seen it in about 12 different instalments but the main character is called Freddy.

[Greedyfly]

And they funny thing here is, your answers came from scottish/brits not Americans.

[Tinker]

Indeed, 187 is California penal code for a homicide. This code differs in other states. In Oregon the code for homicide is 163.005. "Try to set me up for a 211, f*ck around and get caught up in a 187" (Dr Dre - Let Me Ride, 1992) A 211 is the US police code for an armed robbery.

[Tinker]

I got all that information from this site, where there's load more number slang terms explained. Hope I've helped a little!: http://www.rapdict.org/terms/0