80's Slang

[Onkel Neal]

My days at the cycle shop have me in contact with two types of people, mainly. Young guys who speak some strange ghetto-crypto tongue that sounds edgy, and vulgarians who make the hair on my neck crawl.

The vulgarians, can't do anything with these boobs. F F F F and occasionally, B. Boring and unimpressive.

But the young guys who gamely refer to stuff as "sick" when they mean "bad" ( and by that, I mean "cool"), who ask "where my rims at?" (I think that thump I just heard was Steve passing out), who respond to my puzzled stares at their mangled sport bikes with extended swingarms with "that's how we roll". Today I tried to reply to a question with, "O.M.G. y’all" and they fell out on the floor.

I think it's time for some payback. I wanna brush up on my 80s slang, get really smooth with it and start conversing in it. Just fight fire with fire (y'all) (oops). So, help me out here, dudes. What 80s slang can you recal? Not Valley Girl slang (on threat of the Brig), but genuine Van Halen era 80s slang. Be sure to provide an interpretation for your terms, I have a bad memory.

Rock on!

[Sailor Steve]

Quit dissin' me, dude! I know there's a difference between the way people talk and the way they (should) write.

Unfortunately by the '80s (which, by the way, is the way the contraction should be written, since you're cutting out the first two digits, not saying that 80 owns something), I was already an adult with two kids of my own, I'm not really up on the slang from that era. For me it was the '60s.

[Herr-Berbunch]

To both Neal and Steve's post.

I was around in the '80s - aged 6 to 16 but I fear any slang from this side of the water may not be recognised over there.

Try to stomach some films from that era, I know it'll be hard, but just about doable.

If you want to look really cool watch some '70s blaxploitation movies - then see how quickly they fall on the floor.

[Mork_417]

Sorry, never been one to keep up with the current slang'ish terms of any decade. When someone rolled into the shop slinging words of such, i usually would have to point them to my buddy, or hand them a shop form to fill out.

Don't have anything against those who wish to express themselves differently, but don't feel i should be required to memorize a different language every six to twelve months. I have too much to do already.

You could just start talking like Jack Burton...
Jack Burton: When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

One of my favorite movies, .

On a side note, sport bikes with extended swing arms.

[Gerald]

MTV Classics: Memories of the 1980s (How We Talked)



Urban Slang in the 1980's (Part 4)

(Ad in)

[Skybird]

One deed or sight says so much more than a thousand words, Neal. Stop talking, dye blond your hair again and get a wave or popper hairdo like it was fashionable in the early and mid 80s. Next see those cycle dudes drop like flies!

[Dammit_Carl!]

The words, "gnarly," and "rad," jump out at me for some reason - "grody to the max," as well.

Could always throw in the, "where's the beef," thing too.

Sorry; drank some since then. Grew up in the 80's but outside of also recalling those horrible neon color schemes that were popular for clothes, Airwolf, and Miami Vice, I'm tapped for memories.

For what it is worth, nothing kills slang moreso than when old dudes start saying it which is why I make every effort to keep up to the dizzate on my lingo, yo.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I'm not really up on the slang from that era. For me it was the '60s.

Steve, as I remember we didn't really have all that much slang in the 60s. Nothing like today's nasty slang, which is totally F'd up. At least the music back them was great, but it's been on one big downhill slide side the mid '90s.

Seems to me most of the 'slang' talked today on the streets comes from the Ghettos or Urban wastelands.

I can't figure out why an upper-class kid with all the advantages would dress and talk that garbage.

But they think it's cool.
I told a new Guy that wanted to work for me to use a belt since he was always pulling up his pants.
That 'hurt' his feelings so I sent him on his way as a safety issue he was not willing to comply with.
(Back to the safety of welfare)

[AVGWarhawk]

Yo!

[Red October1984]

The way some people talk these days...haha.

Ay YO! My N*&$#@! WAZZUP! Check this $&U#* out $*U&@*#.