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Thursday, August 7, 2008
Slang, then and now
Posted by Eric Snider on Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Sometimes I lie in bed and think about words (sometimes I think of other stuff as well). Happened just the other day. I was rummaging through my memories to come up with some of our favorite slang phrases during my adolescence in the early-to-mid-’70s.
I grew up in suburban New York, and having subsequently met folks in my age group from all around the States, it’s clear that we did not all share the same vernacular.
When I first came to Florida after finishing college in upstate New York, I didn’t fit in too well with the social cliques in St. Pete. Some of it was a language barrier. I couldn’t stand to hear someone say “y’all,” let alone say it myself. “Y’all” was pretty common down here at the time; I don’t hear it as much anymore.
One word I brought down from up north was “pisser,” or, more accurately, “pissa.”
“Did you go to Alvo’s party? It was a pissa, man.” “That Alvo, he’s a pissa.” For us, pissa = good, fun.
But it wasn’t a good word to use in Tampa Bay in the mid 1970s. “A what?” I’d hear when “pissa” slipped from my mouth (by the way, I had very little New York accent, so it really was the word and not the way I said it, which was more like “pissuh.”)
I found out that saying pissuh was an immediate deal-breaker with chicks, and just about anybody else, so I quickly vanquished it from my lexicon. In the decades since, I’ve never missed using the word pissuh.
I do, however, miss “ball” as a verb for the sex act. “I was ballin’ this chick.” D’ju ball ’er?” These were very common sayings among our group of male friends.
To ball was strictly a male act. A chick could not ball a guy; she let him ball her (although it was doubtful that most of the girls we knew would put it that way; they seemed to prefer euphemisms like “sleep with” or [yech] “make love.” ) I’ll never forget when, a few years after college, I was scolded by a young lady for using “make love.” Sheesh, she said, we’re not making love.” Thanks for curing me of that, whoever you were.
Lastly, “dude” is not just a post-Spicoli construct or a 19th Century term that meant a city-slicker in the country. We used it in high school, but not in the multi-faceted way it evolved post-Valleyspeak. “Duuuuuude.” “Dude?!” (like in the beer commercial) and many other iterations.
Our “dude” was said almost strictly as another noun for guy, without a lot of inflection. “He’s a good dude.” “That dude drives like a maniac.” But never “Dude, you comin’ over tonight?” or “Dude can really run his mouth.”
I try not to use “dude” anymore. It doesn’t seem to befit my age, plus don’t you think the term is tired?
Comments (209)
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"Thanks for curing me of that, whoever you were." You cad, Eric. When I lived in Rhode Island, one of the common slang terms I heard was "wicked." In elementary school in Pawtucket, I had a teacher who, on at least one occasion, described something as "wicked good." I never picked up on the term, though. Years later, I incorporated "cool beans" into my lexicon after hearing it ad nauseum from the supervisor of the media center at New College. I think he was from the Midwest. And there was a brief time when I used to casually utter, "Boy, howdy," as a way of saying, "well, wouldja look at that." My personal fave: "Fuckin' A right!" As for "dude," I can't stand it. Especially when it's used as a substitute for "hey you" or as an expression of emotion: "Dude!" I think I hate the term because of the obvious affectation of coolness by those who drop it so casually and frequently. "Ballin'," since you mentioned it, is a mite bit crude. While collecting crab traps in Sarasota Bay with my roommate many moons ago, we got on the subject of a girl I was interested in, and he said something like, "You should bring her out on that boat and ball her." And, having never heard the term, but picking up on its sexual context, I thought, "I should stick my balls her in mouth?" Glad I didn't take it that literally, lest I'd have had a George Costanza moment: "Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?"
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I grew up in LA in the early seventies, where proto-Val-speak was already firmly entrenched, itself a spin-off from 50's surfer slang. Hippie lingo was already passe at that point, the province of bad television and drug-scare documentaries.
I moved here from Indiana in 97' and I still say "y'all," and occasionally, "fixin' to" -- which I'm trying to stop doing. The FL slang lexicon was hard to get used to but the one that was hardest to get used to was "yeah right." In Indiana "yeah right" means bullshit -- meaning the speaker is inferring the speekee is full of shit. Here, it is an agreement. My new FL friends used to say "yeah right" when they agreed with me but I couldn't help but feel that they really thought I was full of shit...which I only was half the time.
Thanks for the input. We were very big on "Fuckin' A." But I don't think I've uttered it in at least a couple of decades. I'm fond of using certain beatnik slang — "dig," "cat" — with just a touch of irony but not too much. Caleb, we should compare notes on L.A. vs. N.Y.
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When I lived in Rhode Island, one of the common slang terms I heard was “wicked.” In elementary school in Pawtucket, I had a teacher who, on at least one occasion, described something as “wicked good.”
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