What was the most popular phrase when you were a teenager?
I am interested to see how the answers will vary depending on the decade you were a teen, and where you live. Here in the US I spent the majority of my teen years in California. I would have to say the most popular phrase in my area as a teen was, "Far out!"
I forgot to mention that my teen years were in the 70's
When I moved to souththern Cal in the mid-fifties from Texas, the hot approval of things in general word was "bitchin'."
Growing up outside of Boston,MA in the 70s and 80s, the terms heard most were:
-Wicked Cool-Approval
-Wicked Pissa (pisser with a Boston accent)-Approval
-Total Bulls%$t- Lies ( Ive been in parts of the country where they looked at me like I had 2 heads if I used the term B.S. I didn't shorten it for politeness either...
Nice idea for a thread....now I'll be thinking about this all day.
Lol. My daughters live in Maine and I work with some guys from up north so I've heard the, wicked cool. Its interesting to know that that's been around since the 70s.
I became a teen in the second half of the 1950s, growing up in the Deep South. My generation debuted the word "cool", which has survived the decades even though the way it's said evolved a bit. Other slang I recall includes: "split" (get out of here); "made in the shade" (sure to be successful); "boss" (great); "Later, 'gator" ('bye); "dig" (understand); "flip out" (get real excited); "on cloud 9" (super happy); "drag" (someone or something boring); "go ape" (get very mad); "D.A." (the ducktail haircut); and, of course, "square" (someone who was not "hip" or "with it").
As a major bookworm, I'm afraid I wasn't very hip, but I made an effort to pretend I was because it seemed so important to fit in at that age. I was never part of the top "in" group in high school, except in glee club, where I was popular (with the other glee club students, anyway) as one of two sopranos who got most of the solos.
Ah....these trips down memory lane are fun. I'll be humming '50s songs all afternoon!
Jaye
Its interesting how some of those have become household phrases while others are outdated. Thanks, Jay.
Some of these are real "survivors, " like "cool" which, I guess, came out of the Beats or jazz musicians.
Excellent choice for the win, Wayne! I forgot about all those sayings! Touche, Jaye!
I was a teen in the late 60's and groovy was in and also bitchin' which parents hated!! Oh yes, and also Far Out but that came a little later for me, early 70's I think when John Denver was popular.
I caught a little tail end of the, "groovy" usage. And yes, "Far out" was the most popular term in the 70's that I can remember as a teen.
Gag me with a spoon. I grew up in the 80's, as if you couldn't tell. There was also "dweeb", "totally", and "cool" seemed to be coming around just at that time as well. Now it's an every day word but back then it was new and upcoming.
Thank you, miss j. those were definitely popular in California. Where were you hearing these in the eighties?
Not to imply I participated, but there was a lot of "talk to the hand"... often followed by "'cause the face don't give a damn".
Upstate, New York during the 90's (probably a product of the media).
Oh and the thugs in the area used words like fat (phat) and stupid to show praise!
Thanks, cat. The "stupid" to show praise is a new one to me.
Here let me give it a try...something like... "Yo that shirt is bleepin stupid". Then the homeboy would reply; "Yea dawg, it's slammin'"
I think that's about how it would go. :-)
Well, you're making me date myself, but " Make love, not war!" was really big in the Vietnam/ Woodstock days.
Yes, that one a carry over into my generation as well. It was a popular logo on t-shirts, posters, etc.
I just recently graduated high school in Indiana, and all I heard throughout my years there were "swag," "no homo," then "YOLO" during my senior year.
I hate my generation.
I was hoping I would hear from the newest generation, and sure enough, you've got me with some I've never heard or have no idea what they mean!
If I remember right, I was told that "swag" is an acronym for "secretly we are gay." "YOLO" means "you only live once," and the morons in my generation use it as an excuse to make terrible or ridiculous decisions..
I'm also in this generation and I also hate it.
I'd add:
Sick - same as "cool"
Dope - same as "cool" and "sick"
Nasty - being good at something
Dude
Boss
Sup - "What's Up"
Far out! Right on! Guess we're pretty much on the same page, Wayne. In fact, I still bring those phrases to life. They just feel good!
Your right! "Right on" was probably just as popular as "far out"
Gross me out
Gag me with a spoon
Awesome
Groovy
That's Rad
Rad Man
Dude!
Psychodelic
Funkadelic
Bad to the Bone
Ha ha! That was fun! Betcha can't guess what generation I'm from! ;-)
I'm guessing 80s ? Some of those terms are carry overs from earlier generations.
by albertovich 11 years ago
What to do with a troubled teen who doesn't want to be home?Has anybody gone thru this situation?
by sassysexybossy 12 years ago
I have one teen and one about to be a teen. I love my kids but it is a challege when they become a teenager.
by Caribqueen 12 years ago
Why is there such a large communication gap between parents and teenagers?
by Ann Carr 11 years ago
Where does the expression 'to boot' come from?For example: 'He was a brilliant mathematician and a good artist to boot.' Probably an old-fashioned phrase now but interesting nonetheless.
by Gin G 15 years ago
Methods for Teens to Prevent Teen Suicide -- what would you suggest to remove the 'mental blinders' off a suicidal person? You can change this title too. Thanks.
by Seet 10 years ago
Hello all, I will be conducting an experiment of trying to get one of my hubs to the first page of a rather competitive keyword. All updates will be on here.The keyword is "Best Facebook Games"Now, I am giving myself 30 days to do this. Starting today June 24, 2013. Experiment ends July...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |