Linguists Explain Slang Trends Through History – IOTW Report

Linguists Explain Slang Trends Through History

I didn’t learn American slang until I was in 5th grade. I didn’t care for it. I still don’t, homeskillet.

It’s hard to imagine a world without slang, the very informal language that typically comes from a certain group and is more often spoken than written. Have you ever wondered where some of our slang terms come from? Why do some stick around while others quickly go out of style? And why do words like “cool” and “booze” stand the test of time?

21 Comments on Linguists Explain Slang Trends Through History

  1. Boss

    As in Radio Station KHJ, Boss Angeles (ca 1967-70)

    A reporter at a Jimmy Hendrix/Animals concert at Anaheim Convention Center (1968) wrote that Jimi Hendrix playing guitar with his teeth was Boss.

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  2. My folks were big into ham radio when they were dating, the Facebook of its day I suppose. Because of this, every time they gave each other a card for Valentines, Christmas, birthdays, what have you, they signed it the way they signed their love letters, which was with an “88”, and did so until the day my father died.

    “88 – Love and kisses, a greeting sent by radio amateurs over the air (to a YL or XYL).”

    https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/ham_radio/abbreviations_codes/abbreviations.php#:~:text=88%20%2D%20Love%20and%20kisses%2C%20a,to%20a%20YL%20or%20XYL).

    …I suppose if some disaster scatters those old cards and they are found by wokies, or some future historian happens across them, they will simply brand my folks as nazis and move on.

    Communisim is an inflexible religion based on fostering every kind of hate.

    They won’t even TRY to learn the truth.

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