slang

Wrinkled Wisdom – Oldies but Goodies

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Image of bees hovering around a sign that reads "Bee Nice or Buzz Off"

A Los Angeles disc jockey coined that phrase in 1958 to describe past rock ‘n’ roll hits that remained popular.  Today, it broadly characterizes anything old that is still cherished, valued, and enjoyable.  Think antique stores and consignment shops.  And, grandparents!  LOL

Recently, we focused on Gen Z slang to help us translate what the kids today are saying.  Then we thought: what about our Boomer/Silent Generation slang??  Lots of oldies but goodies!

The Silent Generation’s slang included keen… appealing…mentally sharp…a keen mind.  Scram…leave now!  Gam…a woman’s leg, especially in reference to its shapeliness.  If you were cruising for a bruising, you were looking for trouble.  And, square.  You know, someone who isn’t hip. 

The Silent Generation is also credited with popularizing the term “trick-or-treat,” although the tradition hit a major roadblock during World War II when sugar rationing made handing out candy nearly impossible.  

Don’t flip your wig, but Boomers also generated some great slang.  Televisions were called boob tubes, because many thought they were a mindless activity.  If we include all screens, that slang term couldn’t be more relevant today.  My bad continues to hang.  Mellow will never be outdated.  Listen to the Beatles while you chill out.  

Buzz off is a great way to ask someone who is always a drag to get lost.  Too bad if they are ticked off.  And can you remember the last time you got decked out in your best threads?  Maybe we’re not using the Boomer slang term groovy anymore, but everyone knows what you mean when you say far out, catch some Zs, bummer, or share that you are on cloud nine.  

Dictionaries add slang words to reflect how people are actually speaking at the time, usually slang that newly describes technology, pop culture, or social changes.  They ungraciously bump old, rarely-used slang and other words.  Our slang has had staying power!

We’ll give Gen Xers, now 45 to 60, credit for some creativity.  They used wicked to describe something awesome and impressive—not a movie or a musical.  They introduced as if as an expression of sarcasm, bite me, a retort expressing contempt or annoyance and dude.  One of our favorites from Gen X?  Gag me with a spoon!  

Millennials come next.  They coined bae as a term of endearment, now found   constantly in crossword puzzles.  They also popularized FOMO, an acronym for fear of missing out, and YOLO, which is short for you only live once.  Delete!

Got a kick out of the National Gallery of Art’s Instagram page featuring its 77-year-old deputy head of sculpture using Gen Z slang she recently learned to attract young viewers.  She stepped behind a 16th-century urn on camera and said, “Chat, I’m about to buss it down Roman Empire style.  Haters will say this urn is mid, but they don’t know we’ve clocked its tea.”  It worked.  One of her reels garnered over 2.1 million views in just three days.  Go, girl!  We, of course, have no idea what she was talking about.

Generation Alphas, now 16 at the oldest, have years to go to create their own slang.  However, they, along with younger Gen Zs, are responsible for 6 7.  The kids tell us it is already on the way out, thankfully.  However, you’re delulu if you think any Gen Z slang will last long in dictionaries.  Well, maybe doomscrolling?  

So, our Wrinkled Wisdom for today?  Take pride that loads of our slang has been adopted into mainstream language.  Keep a list on your phone of your favorite fun slang.  Need that list since we all suffer at times from lethologica.  Huh?  You know… when you just can’t remember that particular word or name.  Add flair and humor to your daily conversations.  Keep our oldies but goodies alive.  Neato!  Right on!


PS: We’d like to give a shout out to the Australian Boomers who first introduced us to no worries.

Wrinkled Wisdom:  A Lesson in Slang

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Walt Whitman described slang as “…imagination and humor, breathing into its nostrils the breath of life.”  Guardians of standard English roll their eyes and bemoan slang’s degrading impact.  They are ignored.  Slang has long permeated everyday speech.  Heck, there is even an Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang that includes over 6,000 slang words and expressions from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Each generation creates its own unique slang.  This informal language conveys meaning quickly and expressively.   It establishes a sense of community among its speakers and listeners.   As someone once said, “Slang is like a secret handshake.  If you understand it, you’re in the club.” 

Remember saying we “dig it” to describe something we really liked.  You never wanted to be a square, our term for someone uncool.  That would be a bummer!  A fink was a snitch and we called the television the boob tube. 

In our youthful 1960s and 1970s, hippie slang was in.  Groovy.  Far out.  Cool.  Flower power.   “Cool” has had staying power.   Cool!

Cannabis was a symbol of hippie rebellion.  Yikes, remember Woodstock?  Our slang for marijuana was dope—one syllable not four.  We were recently politely critiqued by a young man for using the word dope.  Showing our age, apparently.   The kids refer to it as weed.  Who cares.  If we oldies are using cannabis products, it’s probably for medical reasons!  Oh, and the word dope in slang now means cool or awesome. 

Giggled reading AARP’s article titled: A Guide to Understanding Today’s Slang: We deciphered some key phrases to help you understand your grandkids.

We’ve got a few down.  OMG often conveys our feelings very effectively.  We type LOL in response to a fun text from a friend.  We really are often laughing out loud.  But, LOL, we are not going to buy that tee shirt sporting the catchy phrase: “I’m a TMI Enjoyer…You Can Never Tell Me Too Much.”  Though, admit it.  Some TMI can be very entertaining!   Didn’t know that in the 1960s a San Francisco Chronicle columnist popularized LOL as an acronym for “little old lady.”  Don’t tell the grandkids!

But, that’s about it.   Other acronyms?  IYKYK stands for “if you know, you know.”  FOMO?  Fear of missing out.  GOAT?  Greatest of all time.  Then there is fit— short for outfit.  Lit?  Something that is amazing or exciting.  Gucci reportedly means cool or going well.  That one surprised us.  Do kids even know it’s a luxury brand that’s hard on the pocketbook?  Wait.  Maybe the slang originated with the rapper Gucci Mane??  Yes.  We know.  Never heard of him either.

Knowing today’s slang doesn’t just facilitate communicating with the grandkids.  Better pay attention if you want to finish a crossword puzzle these days!  Puzzles are skewing younger.  Phat?  It will be clued as something that is very attractive or appealing.  Bae is your main squeeze in modern lingo and the answer in many recent puzzles.  We got ticked when a recent puzzle clued an answer as meaning agreement or relatable in slang.  Mood??  Huh??  We were in no mood for that.   

Surprised to learn that the word “mother” today doesn’t always mean…well, mother.  Gen Z, 13-28-year-olds, use it as slang to describe someone they admire or respect.  A positive!  Maybe its source is the drag culture, where “mother” has long been used to affectionately refer to the people who inspired them and/or their personas.  Remember RuPaul, an American drag queen, television host, singer, and actor, wrote the hit dance song “Call Me Mother”??

So, our Wrinkled Wisdom for today?  Quiz the grandkids about any slang you should be up on.  Doubt you’ll want to add any of it to your vocabulary, but knowledge is power!  When the grandkids use slang around you, just laugh and say “you really slay me!”  It’s common slang today as it was in the 70s and 80s.  So, you should feel comfortable spouting the phrase.  We’re still with it!