Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Oh. My.Gosh. It's the Valley Girl Vocabulary Run Down

Have you heard? The eighties are back? Ugg. I have seen two news shows documenting the "return of the 80's". Seriously, when I think of the 80's I think of bad fashion, invasion of the British with synthesised and over processed music and horrible hairstyles. Why would we want to go back? With the exception of "my" hair bands, I just assume the 80's be gone forever.




I began to ponder the days, some 23 years ago, when I was 15-you know, back in the 80's. I looked something like this:


What a dork.
At the risk of sounding like an old fart, times were different in those days. Kids didn’t walk around with cell phones pressed to their ear. The hair music was great, piercing screams from hair metal rockers such as AC-DC and Bon Jovi. Today, all I hear coming from the stereos are the deep sound of bass and a bunch of repetitive chat and stutter. OH. My. Goodness. I AM an old fart.

We wore some crazy styles, so much so, that today the styles have come full circle. Kids today are sporting everything from legwarmers to (gasp) mullets. However, one thing that the kids of the 80’s had was their lingo, their own verbatim. We were valley girls and dudes. I think today the lingo is based on shortened phrases of text messaging, like TTO and ILY and of course PITR. It just doesn’t have the same coolness to me as the phrases that my generation coined. True. Most words played themselves out, but it was great fun remembering! So "crop a squat" and let us study up on some new vocabulary words that you can bring back into your conversations…

awesome- \Awe"some\, a. 1. Causing awe; appalling; awful; as, an awesome sight. In the 80's, if something was cool, it was awesome. See also bad.

bad- adj. it meant good….very good, excellent; Cool, Awesome. See also awesome.

bad to the bone- The group George Thorogood & the Destroyers had a hit in the early 80's that had started this quote. The movie Fast Times At Ridgmont High was bad to the bone! See also bad.

barf bag- A type of insult. Something Jo on The Facts of Life might of called Blair for spilling something on her homework.

barf me out- You might of heard this come from a Valley Girl after you've said something offensive to her. Also used to describe something you do not particularly like.

bogus/bogue -Unfair or unfortunate. Having one night to do a termpaper is so bogus!

bomb- Adj. Something favorable. See also awesome.

boy toy- A word to describe a cute guy used as a toy for older woman. Madonna invented this one with her "Boy Toy" belt on her 1984 Like a Virgin album.

butt ugly- Adj. Unattractive to the sight. Worse than ugly. Though I never sed this one. To me, NO ONE is ugly. But I did hear this used.

cheesy/cheezy- Adj. 1. In poor taste; lame, corny. The gift I received was really cheesy. 2. Overly sentimental or insincere. 3. Leigh still uses this word regularly, because it is cheesey. But Leigh is a fan of cheese. Leigh uses cheesey in the dorkus form. “Leigh is cheesy.”

chill -v 1. to relax; hang out. Let's go chill at your place. Dude, just chill.

choice- Extremely Cool

dipstick- n An unintelligent person; moron, dim-wit; idiot. Popularized by "Boss Hogg" on TV's The Dukes of Hazzard.

ditz -A less harsh way of describing a person who is not very smart. See also airhead.

dweeb- Geek, nerd. Someone who is not "in".

for sure/fer shur -To stress what you are saying. Usually in a valley type accent. Fer shur, fer shur dude!

fresh -Cool, new. A true VAl migh tsay, "Duran Duran's" new album is so fresh!

gag me with a spoon- A typical Valley Girl response to something you dislike. Not meant to be taken literally.

gnarly -Very good. Not commonly used today. She is gnarly!

grody- really, really gross. Sometimes used with: Grody to the max! Max being a degree of grossness.

gross out/grotesque- To make someone sick. Most of the time - not literally.

have a cow -Being overly excited or to make a big deal out of something.

hoser -Loser, jerk.

joanie -A boring, not-so-hip girl. From the 70s and 80s show Happy Days, Erin Moran, the character of Joanie Cunningham the unhip girl of the 50s. Tell me that you know who I am talking about?

lame- Used to describe something or someone who is not cool or acceptable.

like -A word used before every sentence in the 80's. "Like, are you going to the prom?", “Like my hair is sooooo in need of a perm….”

major -To stress something you say, immensely. "You are a major dipstick, Major!"

new wave- A type of heavily synthesized pop music performed by groups like A Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, The Busboys, Thompson Twins and Eurasure. A form of disco that had an essence of the future. This spun off people who dressed "new wave". Lots of mouse or gel in the hair, makeup on the face, loud colors, etc. These were bands that my husband, then infatuation, was fond of. I never liked these groups-although I was an 80's chick. I preferred the long haired bands with guitars.

o-rama- Suffix you affix to a word to describe the whole spectrum of the meaning. "He is a Dweeb-o-rama". Meaning, you are describing someone that is every sense of that word.

out the door- A suffix used at the end of a phrase. "Gag me out the door." Meaning, something gaged them so much they had to leave the room.

paninaro- Italian slang for a person or persons who are fashion conscious. Came from the Pet Shop Boys with their song "Paninaro".

party hearty/party hardy- To party excessively.

Poser- A 'wannabe' spin off

preppie/preppy- A collegiate type, someone who wore Polo or Izod shirts, deck shoes and a cloth belt. Preppies usually grew up to be yuppies. See also yuppies.

psych- A term meaning "gotcha"! Psych was usually used after telling someone something not true. My cousin Gina and I really overused this one.

spazzing- Overly excited. An exaggeration of being excited.

stoked- To be ready to do something.

to the max- To the extreme. Taking it to the max or maximum level.

totally- Another way to stress what one is saying. "That is totally tubular". -or- "School is totally uncool".

tubular- Something that is cool. Something overwhelming. "Tubular, totally tubular."

wannabe- A person who would like to be like someone else. Usually a pop star or a person in the public eye. There were lots of Madonna wannabe's in the mid-80s.

wicked -Another word for good, radical or bad. See radical and bad. "She is wicked nice."

And that my friends, is a crash course in 80's slang. I hope that you learned something that you can take out into the world and use. You can sound ultra hip, totally fly when you are giving the "downlow" to your peeps. I know, maybe I try too hard sometimes....


What's even more sad, many of these words and expressions I still use.


What about you? What do you remember from the 80's? Was it the fashion? The vocabulary? Or were you around in the 80's?

16 comments:

Keetha Broyles said...

I still like 80's hair. I don't like flat hair. MOST females look better with some "big" hair around their face. I look like an ugly boy when my hair is flat.

I'm just sayin'

Michelle said...

I remember when the word "bitchin" was used to refer to something really cool.. I was scared to use it though, because it was too close to the other word.. lol A kid the other day in a class told the teacher that they were a BEAST at the subject they were teaching.. I laughed out loud.. Kids crack me up.. I always thought beastly meant they were strong.. haha or ugly.. Im gonna go take my geritol now.. :D

Anonymous said...

GIRL!! That is so funny. I know I said Like ALL the time and I would get on my Mom and Dad's nerves by saying that. Those were some good ole days though. I liked the big hair!! The hairbands, well, they are still the tops for me. Def Leppard, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Tesla, Motley Crue, gosh the list goes on and on. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

Terri said...

I sooooo have 80s hair still to this day!
Big shoulder pads
bright plastic earrings and bangles
acid wash jeans
tri-fold socks with keds

and...I can't recall the name of them, but the tshirts that changed colors with heat.

Question. do we REALLY want these styles back? hahahahaha

Trina said...

I was born in '77 so I just hit my teens in 1990, which I found two hilarious photos of myself from that year. OMG is all I gotta say! If I can figure out how to scan these into my computer, I will share with the bloggy world.

Hewy Nosleep said...

Love the pics, the future was so bright that you had to wear shades!

Tammy said...

I love this! I still use some of those words to this day. And who knew I'd grow up to be a Yuppie?!

Susan said...

Thanks for the trip down memory lane... thing is, it's a trip and I don't want to stay for an extended vacation!!!

By the way, thought you were pretty cool in high school!!!

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Keetha- 80's hair to big, straighted, I agree to flat (on my head) somewhere int eh middle.

Michelle- do I need to wash your mouth out? LOL! BEast is a good one. "That test was a beast!"

Kristy-where ya been? We have way to much in common....LOL!

Terri-OH! I remember those shirts! Yep, I recall all of those fashions. All to well.....

Trina-I am going to swing by! I hope you found it!

Hewy-Hey! You're goooood!

Tammy-and a member of the mafia....well, I guess that was a given (thank goodness your hubby has that t! I love that!)

Susan-Agreed. Yeah, right, In my dreams.....but you are a sweetheart!

butterflygirl said...

I miss everything about the 80's...especially the big hair! I always tease mine up some and the kids at school say I need to tame it down!

Anonymous said...

You sure do look like your oldest baby boy in the pic with the blue tank!!!!
ILU,Mom

Kristin - The Goat said...

I know who Joanie is -but in the dairy cow country of Michigan that word never got to us. What a great compilation of words and phrases.

I loved my permed hair. Loved it. I have stick straight hair now and I dislike it to a high degree. I want the big triangle look lol I did however just cut the shoulder pads out of the new blazer I got. I never did go for the linebacker look.

Jenny G said...

It has occurred to me recently that "awesome" is still one of my favorite and most commonly used words!!!!

j said...

I am so glad that you clarified at the end that you still use these phrases. Because I was starting to feel like a dipstick.

And I laughed at the phrase "butt ugly." I remember that one well.

I said something the other day and my oldest said "Did you REALLY used to talk that way?" I said "Still do!"

The pictures of you were adorable.

h said...

I found an old pic of some guy sporting the Don Johnson look from Miami Vice.

"This one is PERSONAL, Tubbs" he seemed to be saying to the camera.

That isn't ME in that picture! No Way that's me!

Anonymous said...

I remember using Clairol hot rollers to get my BIG hair!

Now I think about what a pain that was-I barely have time to dry my hair now!