it was big in certain places in the 80s and the equilivent today would be "you’ve been dissed "
OMG that is too specific to be coincidence and NOT be regional. SCRATCH was a particularly uncommon reference, and that may be the first time anyone has noted it in that context since elementary school (late 70’s early 80’s). You didn’t happen to go to Parent school in Ladera, or maybe LaTijiera? I have never heard those terms in remote relation to each other since 6th or 7th grades! Being told to “Scratch that neck” was also accompanied by miming the gesture in exaggerated fashion, too, which somehow added to the humiliation effect, and also made it a taunt which could be used silently from a distance by that act alone, which came to use in classroom situations behind teacher’s backs for goading someone without bringing attention to the person taunting…
I always wondered at the spelling of MODED, too (potentially MOTED, or MOADED perhaps) and was never sure if it was a made up thing or not, But we didn’t have Google then, and the only people I would have been able to ask would have been my parents. That didn’t seem like a productive avenue, so I just lived with the mystery until high school when no one used that where I went.
It may well have been a thing that started with the black community, as there was a much more diverse mix of students at my public elementary vs my private high school. I did hear it once again in the most unexpected place after that, though, in popular music. Prince, or rather when he was going by the symbol of the Artist Formerly Known As Prince, uses the line “All y’all’s moded!” in the early verses of the Gold album on the first track “Pussy Control” while telling how Pussy triumphs over schoolyard bullies by studying hard and becoming successful and making the tormentors work for her for a pittance. Caught me off guard when I heard it, and had to re-listen several times to be sure that was indeed what he was saying since I hadn’t heard it outside of that initial circle at school ever… Prince was someone who might well have crossed paths with someone tangentially enough to hear it, or maybe was part of the creation of the slang in the first place in making it popular then.
In fact, my recent listen of that song today is exactly what made me decide to Google the term now since I was never able to do that before when I was so curious back then… LOL. And it allows me to vote and reply to a conversation that is already a couple of years old!
(I probably wouldn’t have registered to do so, and it is somewhat miraculous that I took a stab at logging in and actually had an account with a password I remembered, and so participation was possible. Had I gotten an error page thanks to a bad password or no account, I’d have probably just moved on to the next trivial distraction but I just figured I’d give it a shot…) The internet is a terrible and wonderful thing both at once…
I missed this poll the first time around. Zombie or not, I’m answering.
I went to Van Ness elementary in the early seventies in Central LA, and we used it then. I always thought it was “moaded”.
I missed this comment the first time around, but as I read this, with your emphasis on the second “syllable,” I can recall a very specific classmate of mine from elementary/junior high, and I’m hearing it in his voice.
I still can’t work my head around spelling the original word as “moaded,” though, even though it makes sense from a pronunciation perspective. STOP TRYING TO REVISE MY CHILDHOOD!
Heck, I’m just glad to find other people who remember this. Later in life when I tried this out as a flashback type of joke, no one ever got it. 
I was a teen in the 80’s in suburban Los Angeles. We used the term in the way the OP described. In my later years, I learned of the word “outmoded”.
Agreed.
Right. It derives from the mid-80’s McLaughlin Group craze that gripped Southern Californian teenagers.
My Mort Zuckerman costume was a big hit on Halloween back in the day.
Lived from '87-90 in Palmdale, CA, and yes, have heard the word ‘moded’ used as described.
I put “never heard of it” rather than “alternate definition” because I doubt that “term meaning having applied the modulus operation to two numbers” was what you’re looking for.
haven’t heard it.
'course, I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around “woke” either.
SoCal native here. Never heard it.
Of course there is the tiny fact that we moved East when I was 4. But I can’t see why that would make any difference 
I just used moded in a text to a friend , and checked to see if i spelled it right, found this thread, I said “ha, i think he blocked my number, moded” I’m from so cal, went to high school in 1988-92, 8th grade started high school then , and I remember using it in elementary school. I always use old words as if my brain couldn’t process new words after a certain point, I’ve told people I saw that at price club, instead of Costco , and referred to Ticketmaster as ticketron.
I am going to do my darndest to bring this term back. Only I’ll spell it" 'moted" and the (fake) origin shall be that it’s short for “demoted”.
I think that that is the real origin.
No kidding!? I swear that didn’t occur to me until just now:smack: