Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fun 1970s Slang

If you've been following along, you may remember my posts on 1980s slang and 1990s slang.  My buddy John suggested I do one for the 1970s. I'll soon cover slang from the 1950s and 1960s just to be fair.

Fun & Funky Slang Words From The '70s


Bad: You don't often hear the term "bad" meaning "good" or "too cool" much anymore. If you use it, cool! It's fun to recycle fun old slang. I take pride in it. 

The Boob Tube: I grew up hearing nuns use Boob Tube and always giggled thinking of, well, never mind. The phrase means television or TV as in a silly person watches the boob tube because back int eh 70s TVs had tubes in them. The Boob Tube was also the name of a 1975 movie.

Cat: A cat is just a fun way of referring to a dude, a person, a bro, etc. For example: "That cat better not be checking out my woman."

Cut The Cheese or Lay A Gasser: I'm sure you can figure out what these silly slang phrases mean. I take it tooting or farting in public was popular for a laugh in the 1970s. 



Dynamite!: The slang term Dynamite! was made popular by J.J. Evans (Jimmie Walker) on the 1970s sitcom Good Times and means "GREAT" or "Awesome!"

Fox or Foxy: This was used to describe a fine looking guy or girl. One might think 70s teen idol Andy Gibb is a fox!

"Gimme Some Skin" or "Gimme Five": Slapping people “five” was a very popular way to greet your friend back in the 60s and 70s. Giving someone some skin or giving them five basically meant to open slap the palm of their hand in a friendly manner.

Keep on truckin':  The encouraging phrase, "Keep on truckin'" is sometimes still heard now and again and means "hang in there", "stay on track" or "stay focused" ...  The phrase most likely comes from the 1973 song recorded by Eddie Kendricks and  a 60s comic Keep on Truckin'.

Spaz from Meatballs

Spaz: A spaz is clumsy, awkward and basically a hot mess.  I personally love this word and many of my friends call me Spaz, not just because of my last name, but well, because I am the perfect spaz. You may recall the nerdy character from the 1979 classic Bill Murray comedy Meatballs pictured above.

Threads: Just a fun way of saying clothes. For example, a young fox might say, “Hey, dig my new threads?”

What it is?: When someone asked "What it is?" they were simply asking "What's up?”


25 comments:

  1. My Dad still says boob tube...

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  2. haha these are great!
    DYNO-MITE!

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  3. The memory banks are processing at full capacity after reading this. Some of them are still used a little bit. I'd forgotten about most of these.

    good one!!!

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  4. Let's not forget groovy. I love that one.

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  5. Ah the 70's, the begining of disco. So many great memories....

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  6. How about "far out" as used by all cast of the Brady Bunch.

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  7. I never heard - lay a gasser - that's great! Fart jokes are still funny to me here in 2010.

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  8. I still use "spaz". It's timeless lol

    :::waves@Ally:::

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  9. I thought "bad" was a late 80's thing. I guess I was well off on that.

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  10. Well crap.
    This just shows that my language is DECADES behind.

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  11. I still say all of those. But then I'm hyper-lame.

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  12. Heh. What goes around comes around I guess. I totally use this slang more than the 80s or 90s slang!

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  13. My fourth grade teacher was an ex-nun turned hippie and her favorite saying was far out! Good times! T

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  14. Some of those words are totally gnarly.

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  15. Love it! It sure took me back. Uhhhh..waaaaaaayyyy back.

    Oh well, I love the title of your blog. I teach Fourth Grade!
    Helen

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  16. Again, I was too little to pick up on this...but funny all the same :)

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  17. *laughs at Margie and her 'Jive Turkey'*

    I love that expression. Remember it in The Simpsons?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n2Ag-ZqZRI

    "You got to sass it..."

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  18. I saw boob tube. It was made by the Zucker Brothers (Airplane & Ghost). Actually I really liked the sequel Kentucky Fried Movie. It was indeed DYNO-MITE!!

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  19. I still say fox or foxy.. is that bad? :)

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  20. Geez, is it bad I say these and I wasn't even born until the middle of the 70s? LOL

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  21. Everyone, for the record. I was born in 1972. I was too young to know about any cool, hip words. I researched this and yes we still use these words toady - nothing wrong with that :)

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  22. My friends and I still use 'Spaz' in generally conversation.

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  23. Great post. I love all of these and the far out one that a couple of people mentioned.

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  24. My husband says "what it is" all the time. I'm very partial to "boss" however. That's boss, man.

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