# Right on! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962 "2006-08-23T23:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/1 "2006-08-23T23:17:45Z")
Back when I was a card carrying member of the counter-culture, we used to use the expression “Right on” to indicate agreement with a particular philosophical or political position: _We need to get out of Vietnam!_ Right on! Now, it seems that expression has morphed into meaning something like “that’s cool”: _We went to the beach today._ Right on! Is this really the same expression that has morphed over time or did it arise independently to have this other meaning? I’m always taken aback when someone says “Right on” to me over the most banal of topics. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/2 "2006-08-23T23:55:10Z")
Hmmm … counterculture card … err, did my 2S student deferment count? … ah yes, I’ll give you some countercultural papers … how about these Zig Zag wheat straws? Anyhow, it seems to me that the phrase was never freighted with all that much philisophical significance. More often than not, it was used with joking alterations, often paired with “far out” - “far on and right out”, “right arm and farm out”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/3 "2006-08-23T23:58:03Z")
I always thought it was short for “right on that” which just means approval of something and could cover a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/4 "2006-08-24T00:08:49Z")
I often, but not always, heard it in much the way you describe. More like an “Amen” or a “Hallelujah” might be used elswhere. I _still_ use groovy. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/5 "2006-08-24T02:31:44Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] “right arm and farm out” … [/QUOTE] Don’t forget “outta state”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/6 "2006-08-24T02:33:27Z")
‘Right on’ is a popular expression in NoWA. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/7 "2006-08-24T02:53:33Z")
[QUOTE=Nic2004] I _still_ use groovy. [/QUOTE] So do I, but I say it dripping with sarcasm, usually indicating something decidedly not groovy. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/8 "2006-08-24T02:59:41Z")
I’m a current counter-culture (if there is such a thing anymore) hanger-outer, and it’s still used both ways. A really appreciated suggestion or diatribe will be met with a hearty “Right on!” OTOH, a suggestion to start dinner might be met with a mid-level, “right on.” In the first case, it’s synonomous with “Amen!”, in the second, “okay.” There’s one friend of mine, however, who uses it to mean, “If I agree with you now, will you stop talking so I can say something much funnier/wiser/more profound?” “Wow, I saw the most amazing thing outside on the street!” “Right on. Did I tell you about the book I’m working on?” Makes me want to kill him. On second thought, I guess “friend” is overstating our relationship. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/9 "2006-08-24T04:48:45Z")
Oh my god. I know that guy too. Seriously (unless we really do know the same person) I think we’ve just discovered a third usage for the term. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-on/369962/10 "2006-08-24T14:07:07Z")
Right On - Apply directly to right; Right On - Apply directly to right… oh wait…