Different decades have different words and catch-phrases -- points of cultural reference that get used and then exploited to the point of parody. "Keen." "Nifty. " "23 Skiddoo."
Then there's my old favorite: “Groovy.” I use it all the time. I use it ironically, hearkening back to the 1960s, when I actually wouldn’t have been caught dead saying it. "Neat” had more currency in my circle. “Groovy” was for hippie teenagers I was too young and scared to be.
While I was attending Will C. Wood Junior High, however, I did have a black-light poster in my room of Snoopy – Charlie Brown’s dog, Snoopy – doing his “happy dance,” with his head flung back in rapture, love beads swingin' around his neck. He was making a peace sign with one paw, which had somehow sprouted little stunted fingers, and flinging daisies with the other. At the top of the print, “FEELIN’ GROOVY” was emblazoned in a fat, squiggly font that makes me think of Goldie Hawn dancing around in a bikini. It was pretty neat, but when you turned the lights off, man, it rocked.
But I digress
Okay, here’s the thing. Most trendy descriptors come and GO, unless they’re classics like “cool,” which somehow transcends generations because it just IS so freakin’ cool. But there’s one word that is oh-so-ripe-for discarding RIGHT THIS MINUTE. “Amazing.”
Think about it. This is the laziest placeholder in the English vernacular, meant to make you feel wowed about something you didn’t experience, but without really telling you jack about it. We’re just too busy to paint the colors for each other anymore, I guess.
It was an AMAZING concert. He’s an AMAZING guy. Our contractor was AMAZING. This bottled water is AMAZING. (For proper emphasis, during the middle syllable, one must press one’s lips together and draw it out – “a-MAYYYYYYY-zing.”)
Really, people? You’re amazed by these things? You are struck with wonder at these everyday items and occurences? Huh. Amazement seems to be happening all around me, all the time. It’s like a line from someecards.com that reads, “I have my suspicions that you may not be laughing out loud as often as you claim.”
Now, I think that's amazingly witty, don't you? LOL.
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Oh... I remember that Snoopy poster on your wall - it was the summer I got my first sweat-shirt (had a smiley on it). If memory serves, you lived on Euclaire in Bexley at the time. I remember being at your house on a hot day with that sweatshirt on - I was dying but wouldn't change what I was wearing because that shirt was "neat" and I wanted so much to be "cool" - ah nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI had exactly the same feeling about the word "groovy" as you... can remember saying "neat" a lot, too. Ah - what a wonderful memory you have for these precious details.
I admit to being an abuser of the word "Amazing" - am happy to discard it, but will need a descriptor to replace it, as nature abhors a vacuum - and just dropping the "A" word will leave a vacuum... suggestions?
(Liz)
I'm glad "drag" is still around. A very 60s expression. I think Apocalypse Now had something to do with it. The only drawback is some people think "drug" is the past tense if you are saying pulling something on the ground. Mike A
ReplyDeleteLike that's so farout. It's like totally boss, wicked cool. Way groovy, dude. Talkin
ReplyDelete'bout my ggggenneration.