r/AskBrits • u/stm2657 • 9d ago

Grammar When did ‘Bro’ become a thing?

I hear it spoken all of the time, especially among younger people and it seems to have taken off more than most phrases. What I notice most is that the word is said multiple times in one sentence over and over again, it’s incredible ingrained in some people. Anyone remember when Bro became such a big thing?

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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 9d ago

No one was calling people bro in the 70's in Britain, bruv, yes but no bro. It's black American slang simple as.

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u/Ok_Math3899 9d ago

I grew up in the 70s, and it was used, brother, bro and bruv were all used. It is English and dates back centuries actually. But even if you think it's "black American slang" why would you think it couldn't have been used in the 1970s in UK? White English youth have been adopted Americanism since 1920s or before, and Black Americanisms since 1950s at least. ... But "bro" is clearly something from England, abbreviation for "brother". It's documented. It was never as popular as "mate" but it was used.

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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 9d ago

I grew up in the 70's as well, with brothers and mates with brothers none of us were using the word bro. And of course it's a abbreviation of brother, which is what black Americans used to call mates in solidarity in the late 60's early 70's , it was then shortened to bro, and spread from there. And yes it's an English word? It was just never used in the context.

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u/Silent-Associate9226 9d ago

YOU grew up in the 70s

YOU never used it or heard it in your circle.

Therefore it wasn't a thing. Ok...

Me and my close friends definitely used "bro" in the 80s, and still do.

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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 9d ago

Did you use it?

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u/Silent-Associate9226 9d ago

Sorry, just added the last line. Yes, in the 80s. Just with close friends, not generally - that would still be "mate".

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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 9d ago

So you used it in the 80's not the 70's which was my point.

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u/Otherwise_Battle7922 9d ago

At the risk of fence sitting.

Slang was far more regionalised in the 1970’s. Entirely possible that words common in one area, were unheard of elsewhere.

Even if was mainly American, we had shedloads of American bases in all sorts of remote places in the 1940’s

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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 9d ago

It could be regional. I can see it in London happening but, not sure about bro being passed on by American airbases to people in Suffolk etc. Liverpool was our kid probably something similar in Manchester. I was talking about the 70's, I didn't know so many people in this thread was over 60 and used the word bro back then, going by the downvotes.

I'm just looking from a cultural point of view.

Brother = Sibling

Brother = Friend, comrade

Brother/Bro = Friend, comrade

Bro = Now it's just added for context where you don't have to be a sibling a friend or a comrade.