Bling/blingy

Ostentatious, showy and generally poor taste, US black origin from the late 1990s and was popularised by the black American rapper BG, Baby Gangsta. Its origin is debatable but centres on the idea that bling is imitative or echoic in origin. Some say that bling was originally the sound that cheap, ostentatious jewellery makes, others that it derives from the sound of a cash register ringing up a sale. There is even the suggestion that it derives from cartoon drawings, where it describes the reflection from cheap jewellery. Whatever the origin, the connection with the cheap, showy jewellery worn by American rap artists is well established.