Maybe a shiftless tenant won't pay his rent, a dishonest contractor is ripping off your Grandmother or a meth-addicted actress murdered your boyfriend.

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In retrospect, I was a sad little boy and a standard-issue, shiftless, egotistical, dejected teen-ager.

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Now it may not mean anything to most Americans but to those of us who are African-Americans, the second word is shiftless and then there's a third word that goes along with it.

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