If there’s any point to gathering a list of slang of a particular generation, we must pay attention to the extent to which terms are actually unique to the generation. That teenagers still say `Tight’ in reference to a close relationship may be data worth noting, but given that those teens’ grandparents proabably still use that term in exactly the same sense, it behooves us to strike it from the list of Gen-Y slang.
What do you mean that the term “betty” means “a skater’s girlfriend”? How many times would you have a chance to use a term like that? Or are you saying that you’re using it in a figurative sense to describe any woman who don’t seem to have anything better to do than to gaze in awe at anything her boyfriend does?
Quite a bit, if you are a skater. Most slang stats out as the group-speech of a fairly specialized group and then spreads, or is spread by the media, to the larger culture. Another example of this is the way spcialized computer terms have become common (although these days “computer users” are less of a distinct group than they were ten years ago).
Here’s some terms I use. I think i’m gen Y, i guess.
tight - in this sense it means cool. “Yo, that car was tight!”
ugly - something stupid, or dumb. I think it’s a better alternative to “that’s so gay”: “dude, that show was UGLY!”
chickenhead - usually used in reference to women, but i’ve seen it used for guys
herb - in reference to someone who smokes so much weed that’s all they care about. Or just a general idiot.
pigeon - the alternate term for scrub. I havent heard this one very much at all
ghetto mobile - a car that needs so much repairs, or has broken parts. Like mine (the back right window doesnt roll up. I call it my ghetto mobile.
rice rocket - modified japanese import cars. Usually anything by Honda. Often covred in decals like "NESUsually driven by asian american teens. The drivers of these cars are usually male and i’ve seen them referred to as “Rice Boys” (there’s a page on the net that mocks these cars).
grub - food. As in “i’m about to get my grub on”
Doobieous wrote:
I have always heard this to refer quite specifically to Japanese motorcycles. If it now applies to cars, I believe that’s new.
Obviously, grub goes way back (earliest citation 1659, ala Partridge). What’s more interesting in a thread about youth slang is the construction “to get one’s {meta} on.” It is fairly new to me, but I wonder how far back it dates, and from what in-group.
Wow, a lot of this slang is stuff I have never heard…must not be popular in Baltimore.
I collected some more from my friends:
Cracked out = high and acting stupid
Kaopectate = really plain and yucky (I don’t get this, isn’t Kaopectate a diarrhetic?)
Hella = very
By the way, my friends and I started saying “classic” again after an all night Brat Pack-fest, and it spread like wildfire. I’d like some personal props for that one =) JK.
Nobody says dope or fly anymore. Anyone who does is probably white and would earn the title of “vanilla” meaning white boy acting black. Also “Chocalate on the inside” is popular for that term.
It might just be a Baltimore thing, but “ghetto” has become a compliment, I guess because it’s ironic. “Ebonic” means inner-city/welfare - what ghetto used to mean.