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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!

Wrinkled Wisdom – Profanity: Do We Give a Damn?

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We all remember watching a rerun of Gone with the Wind in which Rhett Butler’s last words to Scarlett O’Hara are: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”  Historians say the filmmakers had to fight very hard to keep that line in the 1939 movie.  Wow!  Damn.  How daring! 

Fifty years ago, the comedian George Carlin was arrested for disorderly conduct after he performed his classic bit, “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television,” at a festival.  Charges were dropped and his popularity popped! 

Heck, swearing has been around for centuries.  Just check out the bible’s Colossians 3:8: “Cast off and throw away all these rotten garments of anger, hatred, cursing, and dirty language.” 

Today, cursing is just coursing through our society.  Words once too blue to be uttered publicly have become increasingly commonplace.  Okay, not some of Carlin’s seven words.  Researchers say it’s part of a shift to a more casual lifestyle and the way people communicate on social media.  About one in every 10 words on Twitter, now known as X, is a swear word. 

And, there’s a significant increase in explicit and unfiltered language in movies, streaming services, and TV shows.  Some dirty words do get bleeped on TV.

No more euphemisms or coy acrobatics like freaking, frigging, and fricking!  Really?  “Damn” and “hell” are now in newspaper comic strips. 

News organizations started relaxing their style guides on profanity about 10 years ago.  We’re entertained by changes to one style manual on cursing.  It spells out the proper style for f—up as a noun and a verb and f—ed-up as an adjective.  It has spellings for s— list, s—storm, s—show, and s—hole.  In case you are curious, s— talk has a space when used as a noun, but a hyphen when used as a verb.  Last month, Vanity Fair published a headline including the phrase: “Such a F—king Nerdy Film Geek,” quoting how the director of the movie Parasite describes himself.   That’s another adjectival form as grammar freaks well know.

And, contemporary music?  Hip-hop and rap feature more explicit language than country or pop.   We wouldn’t know.  We play our old CDs.  Love that numbers of studies show that today’s music is inferior to the tunes we sang along with and danced to.  

Not surprisingly, kids are swearing more today and at very early ages.  Profanity is pretty ubiquitous on Netflix’s Teen programming.  There’s a clear disconnect between what Netflix and parents consider appropriate.  Remember when your mom threatened to wash your mouth out with soap if you used that dirty word again?


Cursing has led to a remarkably large body of academic research.  It’s a useful indicator of emotion states.  It can improve strength when exercising.  It increases the number of pushups we can do!   Swearing when we’re angry or frustrated makes us feel better.  Hell, yes!  And, a fun fact.  Chimpanzees, raised by humans and trained in sign language, have taught themselves to swear, using the sign for “dirty” when they are aggravated. 

The 2000 book “Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing” theorizes that the widespread use of foul language has contributed to the decline of civility and good manners.  Hmmm.  It’s out of print.  Guess no one gives a damn.

So, our Wrinkled Wisdom for today:  Learn a bit of sign language so you can swear like a chimpanzee in front of the grandkids.  If kids are in the room, we do give a damn about profanity!  With adults, show off your intellect!  People with higher intellects are more likely to swear.  But, oops, they are also more likely to eat spicy breakfasts and walk around the house naked.  Dagnamit!  Drat!  Gadzooks!  Cripes!  You can always charm those around you with these old-timey oaths…if you don’t mind showing your age.

Wrinkled Wisdom:  2023 Deaths: Plaudits and Scuttlebutt

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It’s 2024 and numbers of articles have discussed prominent individuals who died last year.  Our response to their obituaries was often—huh…they were still alive??  Obits often leave the “interesting” stuff unsaid.

Let’s start with politics.  Lost some special women:  Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who raised eyebrows for attending cabinet meetings and White House briefings.  Go, girls!

Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida was often described as the most beautiful woman in the world.  Americans were first introduced to her when she starred in the English-language film, Beat the Devil, in1953.  Two years ago, at 95, she ran for a Senate seat in Italy’s parliament for a second time and lost again.  Hmmm…does that put age and politics in a new perspective? 

Oscar-winning actress Glenda Jackson left acting to enter British politics.  After serving as an MP for more than 20 years, she retired in 2015 at age 79 and returned to acting, playing a 104-year-old in a BBC Radio production of Emile Zola’s Blood Sex and Money.  On radio.  She only had to sound old.

Needless to say, obits for President Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger did not describe him as the “ultimate starf*cker,” sex symbol, and ladies’ man as did the Hollywood Reporter.  Kissinger???  The list of stars with whom he reportedly had been romantically linked is amazing.  Guess he was right when he said “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”  Honestly, it sure wasn’t his looks.

Daniel Ellsberg changed the world when he leaked the Pentagon Papers that laid out how the government was misleading the public about the Vietnam War.  President Nixon attempted to destroy him.  Things didn’t go well for Nixon.  He resigned after his Watergate antics were uncovered.  Ellsberg died a hero.  He was eulogized in the 2003 TV movie The Pentagon Papers.  Actor Alan Arkin, who also died last year, played Ellsberg’s boss in the movie. 

And, now, let’s look at the individuals who were advocates for important causes.

In her book, I, Tina, the “Queen of Rock and Roll” Tina Turner wrote about the abuse she suffered while married to her husband and singing partner Ike at a time when domestic abuse wasn’t talked about openly.  She was hailed for ending the shame associated with abusive relationships and motivating other survivors to share their stories and leave their spouses.  There is some irony to her story.

After she divorced Ike, her careen spiraled downward.  Then a British band invited her to cut a new take on Al Green’s classic hit “Let’s Stay Together.”  A line in the song is: “Why, oh tell me, why do people break up?”  Huh???  She knew that answer!  Happily, the song captured the attention of Capital Records and boosted her career.

Harry Belafonte death last year ended the life of one of the most influential Black figures of the 1950s.  He used his star power to fight for civil rights. 

The Price is Right host, Bob Barker, was an avid animal rights advocate.  His concern was the millions of pets being euthanized because of a lack of homes for them.  He founded an organization that provided free or inexpensive sterilization of cats and dogs and poured $25 million into the charity.  We do especially like one of his fun lines: “I can tell you that I’d rather be kissed by my dogs than by some people I’ve known.” 

Can’t resist adding a few entertaining stories.  A publicity shot of Raquel Welch in a fur hide bikini for the movie One Million Years, B.C. turned her into a sex symbol.  However, she lamented that being a sex symbol was “rather like being a convict.”  She got even.  She kicked men in the groin in 15 of her films. 

Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, died serving a life sentence for sending bombs through the mail for 18 years.  He was concerned about the environment and the effects of technology and wanted to destroy modern life.  Ironically, when he was arrested, officers found trash everywhere in and around his Montana cabin where he was hiding.  So much for the environment!  Fun fact.  His cabin is on display at FBI headquarters.  Not the trash.

So, our Wrinkled Wisdom for today?  Enjoy Turner’s take on aging.  “Fifty is the new 30.  Seventy is the new 50.  There are no rules that say you have to dress a certain way, or be a certain way.  If you look good and you can still do it, then go and do it.”  Tony Bennett obviously got that message.  He celebrated his 95th birthday performing in New York City’s Radio City Music Hall followed by a TV special with Lady Gaga.  It’s never too late to add to that bucket list.