MetaChat - MechaSurvey: Suburban Slang, Circa 1989.

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06 November 2006

MechaSurvey: Suburban Slang, Circa 1989. For those of you who lived through it, what choice phrases do you recall? →[More:]I'm not so much looking for Valley Speak, because we didn't all take that route. But I'm sure there are some choice late 80s words that I'm failing to recall.

(Is this for NaNoWriMo? Of course it is.)

post by: grabbingsand at: 13:27 | 26 comments

I recall that if you didn't like somebody, you called 'em "scrub" as in sh'up, scrub!

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 November | 13:31

Hella?
Spaz?
Dweeb?
Choice?

posted by Specklet 06 November | 13:32

Gnarly!

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 November | 13:37

couch potato
airhead
gag me with a spoon
awesome
gnarly
rad
homeboy

That kind of thing?

posted by iconomy 06 November | 13:38

Go rent Sixteen Candles -- that should cover a lot of it.

posted by JanetLand 06 November | 13:49

Monty (as in that's so Monty - as in Monty Hall, or cheesy!)

Sphincter-boy!

As if!

Poindexter

posted by Lipstick Thespian 06 November | 13:59

Oh how could I have forgetten As If! That was HUGE.

posted by iconomy 06 November | 14:08

Fresh
Dope
Ill
Hoark (to steal)

posted by fuzzygrables 06 November | 14:12

gross out
psyche!
chill
word up
killer
bomb
stoked
penis-breath
hoser
cool beans (I still say this)
major
boss
bogus
bad

posted by Specklet 06 November | 14:18

Solid!

"Ciao!" for goodbye

Fuckin' A (still a fave of mine)

Smooth move, Ex-Lax (after a klutzy maneuver)

Bitchin'

Moolah, ducats, and bank (money)

posted by Miko 06 November | 14:19

There are some fun links out there, like this one, which reminded me of bogus, chill, and dipstick.

posted by Miko 06 November | 14:25

grody to the max

posted by cmonkey 06 November | 14:33

Fuckin' A! Yeah!

posted by Specklet 06 November | 14:38

cmonkey, possible SFU night?

posted by Specklet 06 November | 14:39

Psyche was pretty big. 1989 was also the first year I heard the term "hook up."

It was also the year the Simpsons premiered, so the latter part of the year probably saw the beginning of all that "Don't have a cow man" and "Cowabunga, dudes!" nonsense.

posted by jrossi4r 06 November | 15:04

"Ciao!" for goodbye
Uh oh. This is how I usually end calls now.

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 November | 15:19

gleaming the cube.

posted by loquacious 06 November | 15:21

Specklet, Hoser

posted by pieisexactlythree 06 November | 15:21

Oh how could I have forgetten As If! That was HUGE.

I thought that came from the movie Clueless, which was in '95?

Anyway, I nth "rad" and the Simpsons lines.

posted by mullacc 06 November | 15:39

Nah, "as if" has been around forever...

pie, you're a hoser!

posted by Specklet 06 November | 16:03

Dude was on the upswing in Chicagoland around then (and dorks were fond of interjecting "did you know that a 'dude' is the word for an elephant's ingrown butt hair?")

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is another good source for these.

posted by me3dia 06 November | 16:09

Nah, "as if" has been around forever...

Yeah right, Specklet. As if.

posted by mullacc 06 November | 16:12

No one has mentioned "def" yet, which was probably on its way out by that point, but I still think my cohort was using at that time.

posted by Rock Steady 06 November | 22:50

What's up? Chickenbutt.
What's that? Chickenbat.

Wicked. Gibby. Unco (that's older though).

Second the idea to rent Sixteen Candles and maybe Breakfast Club.

posted by fenriq 07 November | 00:14

Kick-Ass
WHAT-Everrrrr
Go Figure
Get OUT
Stoked
Rad/Radical

posted by Feisty 07 November | 03:32

Preppies
Yuppies
OhMiGawd!!!

*and specklet, I still say "cool beans" too!*

posted by redvixen 07 November | 20:53

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