# Forgotten slang from your childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784 "2012-12-12T02:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/121 "2019-06-16T03:24:09Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > In the 1970s a “hood” had these characteristics: > > - white male > - 17 to 25 years old > - had long, straight hair > - wore a jean jacket > - drove a Trans-Am or something similar > - high school dropout > - sold drugs on the side Pretty much the same description in 1950’s slang, Midwest Division. Quite similar to a Fonzie, but not in a nice way. ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/122 "2019-06-16T18:05:44Z")
70’s: Neat or neato =really great, cool Cool beans = that’s good Hold the bus = wait a minute Let one, cut the cheese = fart Doy or No Doy = Duh Doy Ralph = same as above, no idea where ralph came from Spazz - be uncool, hyper. 2 for flinching - excuse to hit someone Kipe ETA: various groups of kids at school - Socs = rich kids Hoods = tough kids, drove hot rods, wore shitkickers, started fights Freaks/Heads = Druggies Geeks = nerds. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/123 "2019-06-17T02:06:52Z")
65-67= 5th and 6th grade for me. Boss was a good thing. That skateboard is really boss. Jr Hi. “Fish” = jerk or not cool “Greasers” wore black leather jackets and generally came from just 1 of the 4/5 elementary schools that fed our Jr High. “Psych” was good! It was short for psychedelic. Inna Gadda Da Vida was psych! “Cool” made a comeback after I heard my buddy’s older brother use it. The brother was home on leave from Vietnam and before he went into the army he had opened the FIRST head shop in our city. His joining the Army had something to do with selling Marine Dress Blue uniform jackets in his head shop (the age of Sergeant Pepper), a municipal judge, and a choice being offered. “Plastic” was an insult among Mothers Of Invention fans. “Fag it up” = what our older brothers would try during their draft physicals to get out of going to Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/124 "2019-06-17T03:53:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > “Cool” made a comeback after I heard my buddy’s older brother use it… No comeback needed. I work with a bona fide Beat Poet who played bongos and recited haikus in Greenwich Village basement clubs back in the 50s. We had the same discussion we’re having here, and he said "The cool thing about _‘cool’_ is that it’s always been cool, and still is. None of our other slang survived. Except _cool."_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/125 "2019-06-17T16:07:28Z")
This is more from college, but there was “Take a bag/take the bag” for losing badly. From the Firesign Theater, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/126 "2019-06-18T16:51:53Z")
Not exactly from my childhood, but during my HS and college years a common expression was “to rag on somebody”. Now it seems to have been mostly replaced by “to bag on somebody”, which makes even less sense. How do you bag on people? Place small burlap sacks of something on top of their heads? Hang paper lunch bags around their necks? Not that the earlier version is any more rational in that regard. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/127 "2019-06-20T01:07:42Z")
Fruit. This was a universal pejorative used for anybody, anything or any situation you found distasteful, weird, unfair or in any way uncool. “That shirt Joe is wearing is really fruit.” “Mrs. Smith gave us homework over the weekend. That’s really fruit.” I believe it was originally used as a term for a homosexual, but we were only very marginally aware of homosexuality or what it even meant (early 60s). Anything and everything could be called “fruit.” I have not used this term or heard it used in over 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/128 "2019-06-20T01:42:18Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Not exactly from my childhood, but during my HS and college years a common expression was “to rag on somebody”. Now it seems to have been mostly replaced by “to bag on somebody”, which makes even less sense. How do you bag on people? Place small burlap sacks of something on top of their heads? Hang paper lunch bags around their necks? > > Not that the earlier version is any more rational in that regard. > > Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk I still use it. “Quit ragging on me.” I never really understood “bag” either, but nor do I know the etymology of “ragging on someone” ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/129 "2019-06-20T01:48:41Z")
If something was bad it didn’t just “suck”, it “sucked shit” “How’s that Robin Hood movie with Kevin Costner?” “Sucks shit” “Do you like your TRS-80?” “Sucks shit” “How was Simon & Simon last night?” “Sucked shit” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/130 "2019-07-07T00:29:27Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > 65-67= 5th and 6th grade for me. > Boss was a good thing. That skateboard is really boss. ‘Boss’ goes WAY back. I’ve seen a shoe store ad from the 1890s that announces it’s the “Boss Place” for shoes. At least it did in L.A., where the ad originated. ‘Out of sight’ is another one. A character in the novel _McTeague_ (1899) says it frequently to mean excellent or fun. I hope I didn’t already say this here. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/131 "2019-07-07T01:57:07Z")
I’m not just saying this because this is one but --------------- back in the late 60s after Night of the Living Dead came out anything “old news” or just flat-out tired became “living dead” or “zombie”. “Yeah – I heard about Lencofsky and Zanotti breaking up; living dead.” “Steve’s car is running but its seriously zombie”. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/132 "2019-07-07T02:21:17Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > “Face!” While spreading your palm in front of your face. It meant “burned,” “gotcha’,” etc. LOL…I was coming here to post that one. Short for “In your face!”. “Gay wad” was a big one when I was in elementary school and jr high. It has obvious homophobic origins, but I’m not sure what the “wad” part meant. “Clam” was a common one from high school, but it seemed local to my school. Basically it meant “shut the fuck up”. The proper way to so it was to look straight at the speaker and get their attention, extend your arm, close your hand like a clam-shell clamping shut and quietly say “clam” like you are shushing them. “Random” was a popular one when I was in college. Usually in the context of uninvited people at a party. But specifically people who look like they wouldn’t be invited. Typical usage something like "We went to that party at the Beta house, but the only people there were a bunch of freshmen, a couple of girls from Alpha Gamma and some randoms. > [@Ranger Jeff](#): > > “Psych” was good! It was short for psychedelic. Inna Gadda Da Vida was psych! We had “psych” but it was used as a synonym for “just kidding, you idiot!”. As in, “Sure I’ll go out with you…psych!” “Groady” (I think I spelled that correctly) meant “gross”. Only girls really said that as it came from 80s Valley Girl speak IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/133 "2019-07-07T11:44:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I remember _kipe_. I may have to reintroduce that one. Hell i still use it from time to time Hummm gnarly, not really sure it had a defined er definition, hmmmmm meant cool awesome extraordinary unusual tough difficult etc. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/134 "2019-07-07T15:26:48Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The only one I can remember was sped - alluding to kids in the Special Ed classes. So if you wanted to tell a friend to stop acting like an idiot, you’d say “Don’t be such a sped!” One of my sisters still says that - apart from her, I haven’t heard anyone use the term in over 40 years… That was never an issue in my middle and high school. You see, that town had a rivalry with the next town over, and the way to tell someone that they were being an idiot was named after an infamous, allegedly inbred (speculated due to some hereditary birth defects), family in that town. So, if you were acting like an idiot people would either say you were “pulling a Hartford” or tell you “don’t be such a Hartford.” Least you think it was only the kids who made fun of the Hartfords, there’s actually a road in that rival town nicknamed Tippytoe lane and used by all the adults _in both towns_ after their hereditary foot deformity. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784/135 "2019-07-21T02:38:40Z")
Does anyone recall the word _tough_ used to mean “cool”, “exciting”, or “excellent”? In my personal experience popular among kids in mid to late 1960s California. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgotten-slang-from-your-childhood/643784.md?page=6)