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Jan 5, 2023 · Get fun and popular 90s phrases. Learn how the 90s slang was used and get modern definitions for each.
- 1980s Slang
Much like a Jack of all trades, the slang of the 1980s can't...
- 1980s Slang
Feb 5, 2024 · Much like a Jack of all trades, the slang of the 1980s can't always fit in one neat box despite their popularity. These are some of the other fundamental 80s slang terms that were ever-present throughout the decade. big kahuna - refers to an important person, leader, or someone in charge, with origins in Hawaiian surf culture
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Apr 27, 2018 · Surprisingly, some of the most popular 80s phrases actually originated much earlier in our history. But they found a resurgence in the 1980s and became synonymous with that decade. We have comprised the ultimate list of 1980s slang terms along with their definition and use.
- Bodacious
- Big Whoop
- Hella
- Buff
- Gnarly
- Gazillionaire, Bazillionaire, and Buttload
- Duh
- Foodie
- Tubular
- Eat My Shorts
According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, this word—a blend of bold and audacious meaning “excellent, wonderful, very enjoyable”—was coined in the 19th century but found new life in the 1970s thanks to CB radio, where it was used to reference a strong incoming signal. In 1989, it was featured heavily in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure; you can see...
In the early 20th century, someone might have expressed their dismissiveness of something by using the phrase big deal. But in the 1980s, they went with big whoop, which was apparently formed by combining the word big with whoop, “A cry of ‘whoop’, or a shout or call resembling this, used to attract attention, as a summons, or to express derision, ...
According to Green’s, this adverb can mean either “a lot of” or “very, extremely, really,” and it’s an abbreviation of helluva, as in, “he had one helluva headache.”
The etymology of the word buff, meaning “a muscular body,” is uncertain; the OED posits that it might be related to the verb buff, as in “To impart the velvety surface usual in buff leather for belts, etc.” One thing we do know for sure is that it made its debut in print in 1982’s Valley Girls’ Guide to Life: “Well, dudes have gotto be totally buf,...
It’s probably not a surprise that gnarly comes from gnarled. According to the OED, the word originated in the 1970s as a surfing term meaning “dangerous, challenging,” perhaps in reference to rough seas. Green’s notes that gnarly can be a term of disapproval, meaning “bizarre, frightening, amazing,” or, conversely, it can be used to describe someth...
We have the ‘80s to thank for these slang words referring to people who have a lot—like a lot a lot—of money. The OED dates gazillionaire to 1980 and bazillionaire to 1987. Just a year later, the similarly defined buttload debuted in Richard Rayner’s book Los Angeles Without a Map.
This word, also frequently used in the phrase “no duh,” is, according to Green’s, a “grunt of incomprehension ... often used as a rejoinder, implying that the first speaker is stupid.” The OED’s first citation is a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon: “Duh ... Well, he can't outsmart me, ’cause I'm a moron.” In 1964,The New York Times Magazinenoted that t...
In the late 19th century, a foodist was a proponent of a particular diet; later, the term was used to refer to people who knew a lot about food. Other terms, like gastronaut, have been used to describe the same type of person over the years, but the term that ultimately won out was foodie, which appeared in New York magazine in 1980.
Tubular, from the Latin tubulus and the French tubulair, began its life in the 1680s as a word meaning “having the form of a tube or pipe; constituting or consisting of a tube; cylindrical, hollow, and open at one or both ends; tube-shaped.” But in the '80s, it took on a new meaning entirely—this one related to waves. According to the OED, surfers ...
That’s shorts as in underwear. This phrase dates back to the early 1970s (Green’s cites a 1975 issue of the Harvard Crimson: “They chant cheers as [...] unrefined as ‘A quart is two pints, a gallon is four quarts; Harvard men will eat Yale’s shorts’”) but you might remember it from John Hughes’s 1985 film The Breakfast Club. Later, it would be used...
Aug 9, 2023 · Rediscover the '80s through its iconic slang terms like 'rad', 'tubular', 'gnarly', and 'totally awesome'. Dive deep into the colloquial lingo that defined this vibrant decade, capturing its spirit and enthusiasm.
The '90s were da bomb—a decade of great music, spectacular TV, and artful language use. Just look at the following 25 bits of slang popular in the '90s that were all that (and a bag of...
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Feb 12, 2024 · Every decade has its defining characteristics: fashion, music, movies and, of course, slang. And the 1980s had some of the best slang ever. While every country has its own slang, a lot of the most popular 80s slang was American, made famous by Hollywood movies.
