A Thread of Words

[Amber]

Aww. did he laugh at it?

[Bionic Jean]

Yes :)

[Amber]

cool. ^_^ I wonder if people still say any 80s slang? found a website of 80's words. Wonder if anyone would use them in everyday speak. http://www.inthe80s.com/glossary.shtml

wonder why totally wasn't in the 80s vocabulary as I used that with the word awesome too. :)

[Leslie]

Amber wrote: "cool. ^_^ I wonder if people still say any 80s slang? found a website of 80's words. Wonder if anyone would use them in everyday speak. http://www.inthe80s.com/glossary.shtml

wonder why totally wa..."

I see that I still use a fair number of these (after all, I was in my 20s during the 80s!) but they left out 'wicked'. Perhaps that is regional rather than 80s but in the Boston area, wicked is used in a way similar to 'awesome'. "That was a wicked game last night" for example...

[Bionic Jean]

"Wicked" in that sense is/was definitely used here in the UK too, Leslie!

That's a great list Amber! I hadn't realised that some of those words originated in the 80's. There are quite a few missing though. I remember a kid talking about his friend's "moody mullet" for instance. Any idea what that was anyone?

Answer (view spoiler)[a dodgy hairstyle! (hide spoiler)]

[Leslie]

I recall mullets! Some things are best left in the past :P

[Bionic Jean]

LOL!

[Amber]

a mullet was funny. LOL. ^_^ I was born in 1987 but started getting into 80s stuff in the 90s and on. :)

[GeneralTHC]

Amber wrote: "a mullet was funny. LOL. ^_^ I was born in 1987 but started getting into 80s stuff in the 90s and on. :)"

I did that same thing, only it was the 70s for me.


Even then I thought mullets were cheesy--there's another 80s word. I thought they were for people who wanted long hair but weren't committed.

[LauraT]

Jean wrote: "Just tried it out on my husband Chris, but he thinks I might get beaten up if I say it to anyone else :("

;)

[Violeta]

This is one of my favorite threads ever!!!

[Jenny]

Mine too!

[Bionic Jean]

OK it was ominously silent after my mention of "clatterfart", so here are a couple of others, also meaning a chatterbox:

"blatteroon" and "clitherer" (that one's only used for women though!)

Maybe those are easier to use in polite society? :D

Please do join in, Violeta!

[Leslie]

Over in the Georgette Heyer group, we have a similar thread for great words we find in her books. She used a lot of Regency slang and even some thieves' cant. Anyway, recently we went through words that meant dull or thick, bird-brains. One of my favorites:

bacon-brain

[Bionic Jean]

LOL - That actually sounds quite recent, Leslie! I can imagine hearing that in East London even today...

[Leslie]

We were wondering if it is the origin of the phrase "meathead"! :)

[Bionic Jean]

:) Maybe someone knows?

[Charbel]

LOL! Bacon-brain!!!

[Leslie]

If any of you like old-fashioned vulgarities, then you might want to take a look at this dictionary of the vulgar tongue from 1811 at Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5402

[LauraT]

WOW!!!

[Bionic Jean]

Grose by name, gross by nature?

[LauraT]

;)

[Charbel]

Just wondering how people feel about fusing two words together to make up one word such as: chillax, or absotively.

[Bionic Jean]

Hate it!! No use though - guess that's one way language might develop...

[Leslie]

Charbel wrote: "Just wondering how people feel about fusing two words together to make up one word such as: chillax, or absotively."

I agree with Jean about those particular examples (and 'sup for "what is up") -- there are so many marvelous words that rarely get used; I would like it if they would be implemented instead! However, I am not opposed in principle...

[Charbel]

It's not so much that I hate it, it just sets my teeth on edge and makes me want to pull out every hair on my head, and shout at the person for not speaking properly... ok I hate it!

[Amber]

I thought rad was a pretty good word with totally tubular. It'd be cool if people would talk in the 80's language for a day. :)

[Leslie]

Amber wrote: "I thought rad was a pretty good word with totally tubular. It'd be cool if people would talk in the 80's language for a day. :)"

LOL! You make me think of the Valley Girl song by Frank Zappa:)

[Amber]

Thanks Leslie. I've never heard of that. :)

[Bionic Jean]

Here are some clever clogs words:

godwottery (the affected use of archaic language - like wot I am doing!)

raw-gabbit (Scottish - speaking confidently on a subject of which one is ignorant.) Or similarly in English:

to talk like the back of a cigarette card (pretending to know more than you really do!)

[Charbel]

Raw-gabbit!!! Lol, I just might start saying that!

[Leslie]

Charbel wrote: "Raw-gabbit!!! Lol, I just might start saying that!"

Yes, let's! :)

[Bionic Jean]

And by popular request we have:

gobsmacked - contemporary English vernacular for being so surprised by something that you feel quite fazed. I used it earlier on, in a thread here, not being aware that it is particularly "English". I used it in the context of feeling embarrassed at being a proper doddypoll or goostrumnoodle (a stupid person, a fool) Neither of those are words in my repertoire, by the way! LOL

[LauraT]

I'm ... flabbergasted!

[Bionic Jean]

LOL - very good Laura :D

[Charbel]

LOL!

[LauraT]

;)

[Gill]

This is a bit of a repeat from a discussion on another thread: If you search on the internet for 'David Crystal gobsmacked' you will find out a bit more about the word 'gobsmacked'.

[Leslie]

I just learned a new word: habromania, meaning a kind of insanity in which there are delusions of a cheerful character or gaiety.

Can you tell that I am reading another Dorothy Dunnett?!

[Charbel]

Leslie wrote: "I just learned a new word: habromania, meaning a kind of insanity in which there are delusions of a cheerful character or gaiety.

Can you tell that I am reading another Dorothy Dunnett?!"

Lol. Sounds like my kind of word!

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "I just learned a new word: habromania, meaning a kind of insanity in which there are delusions of a cheerful character or gaiety.

Can you tell that I am reading another Dorothy Dunnett?!"

Just started!!!! But my sony's dictionary still miss a lot of words she uses!!!

[Leslie]

LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I just learned a new word: habromania, meaning a kind of insanity in which there are delusions of a cheerful character or gaiety.

Can you tell that I am reading another Dorothy Dunn..."

I had to search online for "habromaniac" as none of my dictionaries (print and electronic) had it!

[LauraT]

:)

[Leslie]

I just came across a new word on Facebook this morning - pluviophile. A pluviophile is a lover of rain!

[[deleted user]]

That's beautiful, Leslie! I'm definitely a pluviophile!

[Charbel]

Leslie wrote: "I just came across a new word on Facebook this morning - pluviophile. A pluviophile is a lover of rain!"

That reminds of nucleophile, that may be because I've been studying for an organic chemistry test.

[B the BookAddict]

perspicuous - meaning 'clearly expressed and easily understood; lucid.'

[Shirley]

I'm coming across loads in Vanity Fair, and because I have it on kindle too, I can look them up easily! I love that about kindles...I will try and remember to put them on here...

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "I just came across a new word on Facebook this morning - pluviophile. A pluviophile is a lover of rain!"

Are there such persons???

[B the BookAddict]

LauraT wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I just came across a new word on Facebook this morning - pluviophile. A pluviophile is a lover of rain!"

Are there such persons???"

farmers, maybe?