Investigating the general hypothesis that word connotations differ between black and white youth peer groups, the author solicited personal reactions among black and white eleventh- and twelfth-graders to a list of twelve current complimentary and "fighting" jargon words. This hypothesis was accepted, and three others were suggested and developed; (1) Interpretations of word meaning by members of one racial community are often partially modified or completely changed by another racial community; (2) Where a clear experience of separate language socialization characterizes each racial community, conflict is likely to be derived from, if not exacerbated by, language differentiation; and (3) Lack of recognition of different word meanings in various racial groups by controlling groups strengthens the inter-racial communications barrier as well as the communication barrier between the total black and white community and the controlling groups. (Author/DB)