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The Lost Words
Did you ever notice how certain words or phrases become popular then fall out of use? When I was growing up some of the popular words and phrases were: peace; cool; groovy; make love, not war; love it or leave it; disco sucks. Peace and cool are still in my vocabulary. I always thought groovy was goofy so I never used it and I'm glad it quickly faded into disuse. I was all of eight years old when make love, not war and love it or leave it were in fashion. I didn't know what making love was but it had to be better than making war. And, I wasn't aware that "it" was our country, it's policies, and it's politicians but it made a certain amount of sense that if you didn't like something then why would you stay around it. Child logic. As a teen in Cleveland, Cleveland Rocks, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, disco did suck. To this day you will not convince me of disco's not sucking, so don't bother trying.
I've also noticed that certain words or phrases hang around various parts of the country or in different ethnicity's. My German grandmother used to call rubber bands, goomies or gumbies, and a bunch of us non Johnstown co-workers notice that many of the Johnstown hometowners call them gum bands. I know I've mentioned their use of the word "youns" as in this sentence (loose definition), "Will youns be coming to the Christmas Party this weekend?" Then their lack of the words "to be" in sentences. Example: "Yuck! The cat puked on the kitchen floor. It needs cleaned up."
My children used to try to update my vernacular. My daughter told me I should use the word "sweet" because the word "cool" made me sound like an old hippie. At one time people used to refer to boys and girls (men and women) as dudes and chicks, which I remember using for a short while. But when my son told me that boys and girls (men and women) were now referred to as pimps and Ho's or bitches, I told him if I caught him using any of those terms toward another human he was going to be introduced to the old fashioned practice of having one's mouth washed out with soap.
If the generations didn't begin to gap at the change in language, I'm sure the gap became a chasm when the kiddies chose "rap music." Something that is easily changed, since we are talking language, to "crap music", in my opinion. Don't get me wrong. I know that is a blanket statement about the whole rap genre even though some of the pieces I have listened to with the kids were artfully arranged, and the lyrics covered subjects that every other genre of music has covered. I have always loved drums and complex rhythms in music but doesn't music also encompass melody and harmony? And what is so appealing about yelling obscenities, glorifying violence, and promoting irresponsible sexuality to a rhythmic form? I'm sure my parents are snickering uncontrollably at this point, since I remember them saying something similar about Rock N Roll when I was a teen.
OK, I'm back from that little detour. I was reading the local paper this past week and they had a story about a 34 year old woman in one of the suburban Johnstown communities who was arrested for phoning in a bomb threat. Very serious, I would think everyone would agree. I'm thinking she's not real stable mentally. What normal person would do something like this?
What I found really annoying about this story, was what she was charged with. Are you ready for this? She was charged with . . . . .god I even hate to type this . . .threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction!!!!! That was the charge! That is how it was written in the paper. I wonder if that is how the law, now, actually reads.
Give me a break! What is this?!? Have people become so stupid that they no longer realize what a bomb threat means, or that a bomb, by definition, would cause damage on a large scale? Do we really need four words to describe something that was covered for several hundred years adequately by one word? Four letters as opposed to 22 letters?
I was at work when I read that story and voiced my disbelief at the new choice of words. One of my co-workers then told the story of an angry mall patron who voiced his displeasure with his shopping experience by saying, "I'm so angry, I could kill people right now." He was promptly tackled by mall security, dragged away in handcuffs, and charged with, "making terroristic threats." (spell check doesn't even recognize the word terroristic) I had to admit I noticed the terrorism term being applied to stalkers, murderers, robbers, muggers. It's like everyone is a terrorist in some form or another.
Honey says this is a ploy by the media and politicians to keep people in fear. I say ploy or popular vernacular, if I never hear the words terrorist or weapons of mass destruction again, I would die a very happy woman. I hope they both follow the path of groovy. Every time I hear those two terms I think of the whole Bush era. I'm sick of it. The only appropriate catch phrase to sum up this era should be, "I'm the decider." Dumb shit. Doofus. Moron.
Well, darlin', next time tell us what you really think! He is a dumb ass.
As my boss would say, "He's eat up with dumb ass." One of my favorite
verancular expressions is "ya'll'll" (you all will). It's the only double
contraction I know. We hired a guy who had been convicted of "making
terroristic threats to an officer". I can just picture him getting arrested
for public drunkeness or some such young man thing, and losin' it with the
arresting officer. He ended up with a felony but we needed operators and
I'd gone through a whole bunch who didn't work out so we decided to give
him a spin on some big yellow iron and, as it turned out, he was really
good. Ya just never know. It takes a special kind of guy to knock that shit
down with that big yellow iron.
No disco?!?!?!?!? Not even a little Donna Summer??? Oy, my heart. I LOVE
disco. I had some of the best times of my life during the disco era.
There was a bar we went to called The Golden Leaf. My friends and I dubbed
it The Piggy Disco (they played Madonna 6 months before anyone knew who she
was). Oh, those were the days. I still play it on my Ipod and my kids get
a kick out of it. They LOVE Dancing Queen. Saturday Night Fever is still
one of my favorite soundtracks and certainly one of my favorite movies.
Okay. I'll shut up now.
Over here 'cool' became cool again for several years - it was quite nice,
as I missed out on it first time around. It's pretty much faded back out
again now, though. I associate 'groovy' with Shaggy in Scooby-Doo (the
cartoon series not the decidedly dodgy films).
I still say cool Blackphi. I don't care if it makes me look like an old
hippie.
My favorite is the "eco-terrorist" label put on people trying to save the
rain forest by the government and logging companies. Up here in Canada they
were literally dragging 80 year old grandmothers off to jail for laying in
the road preventing the clear cutting of ancient forests.
I kinda like cool because it superceded hot as being something exciting.
OMG, in college, we used to sing, "Laurie Ott" instead of Gloria (go on,
give it a try) she was a gal we weren't too fond of. Too funny.
Well, I only heard "groovy" used on TV....I never knew anyone who actually
used the word in everyday conversation. I do, however, still say "neat",
to mean "great". And I know that dates me. I refuse to use "sweet"
because it sounds smarmy to me.
Good one JWL! Someone trying to stop destruction is now a terrorist. I
forgot about Hot, too. I still hear that used about good looking men and
women.
It seems I've been living under a rock while my computer was down. I'm
always interested in language, and with over 30 years of practice, I'm
actually making headway, as what comes out my mouth is usually what I'm
thinking and relevant, or my wife'll remind me to keep my thoughts to
myself, which I do. The last couple of months have seen me interacting less
and less with people, at least face to face, so I'm probably not up to
speed with the latest "slang." Reminding me, I've got to get a life! Hope
you're enjoying your Thursday evening!
You've got to think Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen are laughing their
asses off about how this country has responded to 9/11 and the assinine way
we've responded. Americans against Americans, our complete detour from
chasing Bin Laden to go into Iraq, the changing of our Constitution, the
decline of Middle Class America, the rich getting richer, America being
hated by the world, the growth of the military industrial complex, etc.
Remember when a cute member of the opposite sex was a fox?