# The '70s: Were they "groovy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783 "2005-04-23T18:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/21 "2005-04-24T02:56:24Z")
The word was pretty much passé by 1972, but that fact didn’t prevent the theme for the [_Brady Kids_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068051/) cartoon from including the lyrics > [@](#): > > _First there’s Marcia with her eyes of sparkling blue > Then there’s Jan, the middle one, who’s really groovy > And sister Cindy too_ I remember a newspaper comic strip called _Go Go Gruver_ and long assumed the “hip” main character’s last name was a play on the word “groovy”, but the only Google hit on the title says the feature debuted in 1959 (the year I was born, and about ten years before the late lamented _Cleveland Press_ ran the strip). There was a 1970 cartoon called [_Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065342/), later syndicated as _The Groovy Ghoulies and Friends_. Apparently the original “creative” spelling had a short shelf life… ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/22 "2005-04-24T03:19:45Z")
> [@imthjckaz](#): > > Yes, that’s how I remember it. > > Things were cool, man. Same here. And never _intended_ to last. It was used with a certain deliberate insouciance even then. Most of the leaden, prescriptive 60s ‘truisms’–which actually happened in the 70s, btw–lost all their charm, pith and punch by being coopted by the media, which never remotely ‘got’ what they reported. Actually, it was playful, subversive _self-aware_ irony way before irony became a nearly universally misunderstood catchphrase. Say something that, if it doesn’t mean the direct opposite, at least carries deliberately freighted overtones. ‘Groovy’ was…a deliberately disposable phrase for an ineffable, transitory grasp of moments. It was a joke inside a joke–that wasn’t quite, _entirely_ a joke. Most of the joke was tossing ‘groovy’ out there, to be adapted, spun and fermented into…something else. Verbal ping pong, speed chess, a precursor to rap. Very organic–and hilarious, not to mention creative–no matter the dreary, portentious THING made of it then and now. Bah. Rappers are sociopathic gangsters, rapist and animalistic losers. Goths are suicidal nihilists–vegetarian vampire wannabes–looking for a reason to become mass murderers. Very stupid, all of it, and time–not to mention assorted pundits and academics and media hacks on _any_ side–rarely, VERY rarely, delve below the surface, much less appreciate and celebrate deliberately transitory, quirky human commentary for what it is. Which was pretty much what **imthjckaz** said–I think–but with a lot more blithering and grumping. Veb ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/23 "2005-04-24T03:33:29Z")
Groovy was pretty much a word used by someone that wasn’t cool that was trying to act cool. But “far-out” was actually the cool word that cool people used to describe something that was groovy. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/24 "2005-04-24T03:46:18Z")
I always knew I wasn’t cool. Groovy has always been one of my favourite words. I have used it consistently for the last 30 years. I just like the way it sounds. I quite liked being the only one using it too. 🙂 I’m such a dork ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/25 "2005-04-24T04:46:46Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Which was pretty much what **imthjckaz** said–I think–but with a lot more blithering and grumping. > > Veb Hey, it’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/26 "2005-04-24T04:50:44Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > I always knew I wasn’t cool. Groovy has always been one of my favourite words. I have used it consistently for the last 30 years. I just like the way it sounds. I quite liked being the only one using it too. 🙂 > > I’m such a dork Sorry, kiddo, you’re not the only one. I always have, and probably always will. And now I’ve got my poor daughter and her friends saying it too. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/27 "2005-04-24T06:14:00Z")
Even in the '60s, I don’t remember anyone actually using the word ‘groovy’, unless they were daggy DJs trying to sound cool. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/28 "2005-04-24T11:25:22Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Sorry, kiddo, you’re not the only one. I always have, and probably always will. > > And now I’ve got my poor daughter and her friends saying it too. It’s always good to have company 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/29 "2005-04-24T12:11:50Z")
I recall it was more of 60’s word before the eight track tape deck overtook the grooved vinyl discs as the primary mode of delivering rock music to the masses. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/30 "2005-04-24T12:17:17Z")
For me it seemed that the sincerely-feel-good-patchouli part of the 60’s thing began towards the end of the decade and was over around '71 or '72. I heard “groovy” used maybe a couple times, still have my 59th Street Bridge record, but I myself never used the word. Naive hipster-wannabe that I was (and am?) I did not note any ironic self-awareness with ‘groovy.’ All I knew was that at age 13 or 14, to me, the word felt a bit cultivated, or perhaps synthetic , and I knew I wasn’t going to use it. But yeah, like \*\*ccwaterback,\*\*we said “far-out” all the time, with no hint of irony. There was also the phrase “out of sight” which sort of became one word, “outasite,” but it seemed a bit on the ‘groovy’ side. We had our own words, too–that was the most fun of all. The 70’s were good times for me. Funny how the media picks up on some catchphrases, but leaves other things alone. Suppose it all depends on marketability. :rolleyes: Haven’t seen anyone enthusing about the ‘sick’ new line of Abercrombie and Fitch clothing, nor any gossip columnists snickering about some ‘crunk’ behavior at a recent party in the Hamptons. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/31 "2005-04-24T14:30:20Z")
Of late, that word has crept back into my vocabulary. I was a child of the 60’s-early 70’s, and I remember it being used. I still use it and don’t know how it got lodged up there again. Still use “far-out”, too… :wally I can trace that to my love of Tommy Chong’s read on the line…" FAR-OUT, Man!". For some reason, tho, I find the use of “Right-ON” to be annoying when I hear it. And lately I hear it more frequaintly ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/32 "2005-04-24T15:13:32Z")
Yeah, everyone knows the 70s weren’t “groovy.” They were “far out!” In addition to Cheech and Chong, you had such hepcats as John Denver popularizing the phrase. (And **FaerieBeth** , Scooby Doo debuted in the 1969, when some lame TV writer might have though “groovy” was still current.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/33 "2005-04-24T16:05:57Z")
**Confusing the '70s with the '60s.** That’s what this is. I started noticing this circa 1990, when the band **Dee-Lite** had video hits on MTV. The buzz about Dee-Lite was their retro “Seventies” style. What malarkey! Anyone could see that their style was Sixties! It was reminiscent of _Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In_ circa 1968 or '69. At the time, I wondered how anyone could confuse the Seventies, the decade of leisure suits and _Saturday Night Fever_, with the Sixties, the decade of psychedelia and tie-dye. The two are nothing like each other. Looks like the confusion continues. Darling, I’m actually old enough to remember the Sixties. I was a kid then. “Groovy” was already passé by 1969 at the latest. I remember hearing it mocked on the radio in '68 or '69. **R. Crumb** made a cartoon autobiography of the Sixties. I read it in 1984. His comment on the year 1970: “I felt during the whole year of 1970 like I was riding a down elevator.” There was a definite, sharp change in the Zeitgeist in the year 1970, making Seventies culture sharply different from the Sixties. No way could anyone confuse them! I remember how much people complained during the Seventies how boring everything was. On New Year’s Eve 1979, my friend advertised the party he was throwing with the theme “ESCAPE FROM THE SEVENTIES.” ---
**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:** [April 24, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/34 "2005-04-24T18:13:30Z")
I was 12 - 22 in the Seventies. I’d say that, in my little world at least, slang was fairly understated. I don’t remember us using any real slang at all, except college-party type expressions such “-age”–that is, adding -age to anything to make it a noun. For example: “spillage”, the act of spilling or the liquid spilled, usually in the context of beer. Or “spliffage”, meaning pot. Another big one was “mega”, an adverb or adjective meaning very much or to a great extent. However, these terms were usually used with a touch of irony or humor. I always attributed the understated nature of the time as a reaction to the high-flying Sixties. Kind of boring, if you want to know the truth. Musically, it seemed to me that the rock bands of the time were trying so hard not to be affected or gimmicky that they went too far in the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/35 "2005-04-24T18:42:20Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Musically, it seemed to me that the rock bands of the time were trying so hard not to be affected or gimmicky that they went too far in the other direction. [What](http://www.alicecooper.com/images/photos/036.jpg) [the](http://www.allposters.com/IMAGES/MMPH/231349.jpg) [hell](http://www.kuz.de/KUZ%20Media/Bild-Kiss-Forever1.jpg) [are](http://www.daveseeley.com/portfolio_folder/images/sexpistols.jpg) [you](http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~alan-silva/Ramones%20Gabba.jpg) [talking](http://www.irocknroll.com/images/Lynyrd_Skynyrd_Pass_2.jpg) [about](http://www.mic.gr/%5CdbImages%5C6936_2.jpg)??? 😉 Just giving you a hard time. Mostly, you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/36 "2005-04-24T19:45:20Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Sorry, kiddo, you’re not the only one. I always have, and probably always will. > > And now I’ve got my poor daughter and her friends saying it too. Smashing baby, yeah! [/Austin Powers] go go gadget slang! ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/37 "2005-04-24T21:29:03Z")
Groovy was used by the overaged hippies of the sixties in the seventies, e.g. Sonny and Cher. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/38 "2005-04-25T00:18:57Z")
Oh wow, groovy was, like, plastic. But, man, far-out was outtasight. You dig? ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/39 "2005-04-25T02:00:25Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Funny how the media picks up on some catchphrases, but leaves other things alone. Suppose it all depends on marketability. :rolleyes: > Haven’t seen anyone enthusing about the ‘sick’ new line of Abercrombie and Fitch clothing, nor any gossip columnists snickering about some ‘crunk’ behavior at a recent party in the Hamptons. Give them 20 or 30 years. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783/40 "2005-04-25T03:13:48Z")
I started college in 1970; by that point “groovy” was only used sarcastically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-70s-were-they-groovy/300783.md?page=3)