Tagged: A Glossary of Graffiti Terms

Ynot detailing a burner.This week's feature, "Tagged," is the story of Jonathan "Ynot" Corso -- one of the most prolific members of Miami's longest-running graffiti crew, MSG, recently killed in a fight in a strip club parking lot. We tried to write the story in the language of Ynot and...

By Devin Desjarlais

September 23, 2010

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Ynot detailing a burner.

This week's feature, "Tagged," is the story of Jonathan "Ynot" Corso -- one of the most prolific members of Miami's longest-running graffiti crew, MSG, recently killed in a fight in a strip club parking lot.

We tried to write the story in the language of Ynot and his fellow crew-members. For starters, graffiti artists call themselves "writers" or "bombers". Here's an explanation of some more commonly-used graffiti terms:

Tag: The simplest form of graffiti -- besides maybe the self-explanatory "sticker"-- it's just the writer's scrawled moniker.

MSGCartel.com

Throwie: A quickly-done bubble letter outline.

Fill-in: A throwie, but filled in with a second color.

MSGCartel.com

Straight-Letter: As MSG member Quake explains it: "A clean and readable lettering style using 2 or more colors."

MSGCartel.com

Blockie/Blockbuster: Large, readable block-style letters, often created using bucket paint.

MSGCartel.com

Piece: Quake: "A more stylized version of the writer's name."

MSGCartel.com

Burner: "The most stylized version of a writer's name, using many colors, characters, etc. -- 'pulling out all the stops.'"

MSGCartel.com

Heaven: "One of the green highway signs, writers consider these to be high risk but also high reward, due to the high visibility. The front as well as the back is utilized." Last year, Kendall graffiti artist Merk fell to his death from a heaven.

MSGCartel.com

Penit: "Abandoned building or structure used by writers to paint high quality straight letters, pieces or productions. The name 'penit' is unique to Miami. The outside as well as inside are often painted and repainted."

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