60s/70s Slang
| In the 60's and 70's, as today, the young people had a different lingo and it, as today, drove our parents nuts. These are a few of the slang words that were used in the sixties. The keyword here is "used" as some of these words came from an earlier era. |
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| A Gas | A lot of fun. |
| All show and no go | Referenced to a car that had all the pretty chrome goodies, but wouldn't get out of its own way. |
| Ape | Used with "Go", "Gone" or "Went". To explode or go completely irate. Example: "When my parents saw my report card, they went ape. |
| Bad | Cool. Excellent. Awesome |
| Badass | A tough guy. A guy you really don't want to mess with. |
| Bag | To Steal. Example: "Who bagged my towel?" ; also see Score |
| Ball | To party, as in Little Richards "Good Golly Miss Molly, Sho Like To Ball". |
| Beat Feet | Leave the scene in a hurry. |
| Bench Racing | When a few of guys are sitting down (on a bench, maybe) talking about how fast a certain person's car is, or discussing who could beat who in a drag race. |
| Birth Control Seats | Bucket Seats |
| Bitchin (See also Twitchin') | Good, Exciting, Awesome. |
| Blast | A Great Time. Example: "We had a blast at the Prom". |
| Blew the doors off | Easily beat the other car in a race. |
| Blitzed | Drunk |
| Bogart | To "hog" something. |
| Bone Yard | Auto wrecking yard; Junk yard. |
| Boogie | To announce you're leaving. "Later. Gotta boogie" See Cut Out |
| Book | Leave the area. |
| Bookin' | Going real fast, usually in a car. |
| Boss | A great or cool thing. Example: "The Beach Boys new record is really boss". |
| Bread | Money |
| Brew (Brewski) | Beer |
| Brody | Also, Brody Out; To skid in a half circle with the brakes locked up. |
| Brody Knob | See "Suicide Knob" |
| Bug, To | To irritate or bother |
| Bug out | Leave the premises. "When the cops came to the door at the party, everyone bugged out." |
| Bummed out | Depressed |
| Bummer, What a | How depressing |
| Burn Rubber | To accelerate hard spinning the tires, making noise, and billows of smoke come from the rear of the vehicle. |
| Candyass | A real wimp or an uncool thing. |
| Cat | A guy. |
| Catch some Z's | Go to sleep |
| Cherry | Pristine, Totally Clean. Example: "That rod is cherry"! |
| Chick | A girl or a woman. |
| Chicken, To play | Two cars race toward each other; the first to pull to the side is the chicken (coward) |
| Chinese Fire Drill | Stop at a Red Light. Everyone on the Driver's side would run around and get in on the Passenger's side. Everyone on the Passenger's side would run around and get in on the Driver's side. |
| Choice | Really cool or bitchin. Example: "That girl is really choice." |
| Chop | To cut down verbally. Example: "Man, you're so ugly, you gotta slip up on a glass to get a drink of water." (Now that was a "chop".) |
| Chrome Dome | A bald guy. |
| Church Key | Before poptops, a Beer or Soda can was opened with one of these, leaving a triangular hole to drink from. |
| Circus Wagon | An older car, with an outlandish paint job, and in lousy shape, mechanically. |
| "Climb it, Tarzan" | An act of defiance. Said while giving someone "the bird". |
| Cool | Nice. |
| Cool Head | Nice Guy |
| Cooties | Someone who wasn't cool had them. No one ever saw them, but you knew who had them. |
| Cop a Feel | Touch a girls "parts", sometimes pretending it was an accident |
| Copasetic | Very good; all right, as in no problems. Example: Everything is copasetic. |
| Crash | Go to bed; go to sleep. |
| Cruising | Driving up and down the same street looking for races, girls, guys, etc. |
| Cut Out | To leave without ceremony. As in, "Bob, this party is a drag. I'm gonna cut out." |
| Cut Outs | Additions to the exhaust system that would let you open the exhaust pipe in front of the muffler to let the engine breathe easier, thus adding horsepower and a whole lot of noise. |
| Daddy-O | Actually a 50's term for Man. |
| Daddy's Car | A car that was very conservative looking; that might be owned by your parents. |
| Decked Out | Dressed up. |
| Dibs | Most always used with "Got". Example: "I got dibs on that Coke." Meaning you owned that Coke |
| Dig | Do you understand? |
| Dip Stick, What a | An Idiot |
| Ditz | An Idiot that was also clumsy or bade poor choices. |
| Don't Flip Your Wig | See "Don't have a Cow". |
| Don't have a Cow | Used when someone was "going ape" or perhaps being a "spaz." Example: "So I took your book by mistake, don't have a cow about it!" |
| Don't Sweat It | Don't worry about it; stop bothering me |
| Dork | See Dip Stick or Ditz |
| Drag | To race another car a short distance (sometimes one block, sometimes two or three blocks) from a standing start at a stoplight when the light turned green. The term originally comes from the phrase "main drag", a combination of "main" or main street in town, and "drag" which referred to a car that was lowered in the back and dragged the ground if it hit a bump while racing or was just so low that it touched the ground if the street was not perfectly level. |
| A Drag | Someone or something that's boring or un-enlightening. |
| Dude | In the early 60's, a dude was a geek or a panty waist, and the term later morphed in to what male friends would call eachother as a term of camaraderie. |
| Easy | Another way of saying Goodbye. Example: "Easy, Man!!". Also a girl who was a sure thing. Example: That girl Bob took out last night was "Easy". |
| Fab | Great, fantastic, fabulous. |
| Far Out | Excellent, cool. |
| Fink | A tattletale. Example: You're such a fink. Why do you always tell mom everything I do? |
| Five Finger Discount | Anything obtained by theft. |
| Flake | A useless person. |
| Flake Off | Get outta here. |
| Flat Top | A very short hair cut, usually cut extra close on top. |
| Flat Top with Fenders | A flat top with long sides. |
| Flee the Scene | See Bug Out |
| Flick | Movie. "Did you see that new flick at the Edina theater?" |
| Flip Flops | Thongs (that went on your feet) |
| Flower Child | A Hippie |
| Fox | An outstanding looking girl or woman. |
| Freak Out | Temporary loss of control due to an unpleasant event. |
| Funky | Neat, Cool. also gone bad. Example: I think that milk is funky. |
| Fuzz, the | The Police |
| Get or Lay Rubber | To leave some rubber on the street while accelerating in a vehicle. A term used usually with first, second, third, or fourth gear. Example: "Bob's 49 Ford is pretty fast. He can get second gear rubber." |
| Gimme some skin | Shake hands |
| Go All The Way | Have sex with. |
| Going Steady | If you were "Going Steady", you were dating only one special person. |
| Golden | See Cherry. |
| Gone | Cool, groovy, neat, neato; said of a person, as in He's a real gone cat. Or you could say, I'm gone over him. (wowed, infatuated, totally sold on). |
| Gnarly | Originally a difficult or large wave (He wiped out on a gnarly wave),later anything big or difficult (The Chemistry test was gnarly.), then later an expletive of approval (That custom paint job is gnarly!) |
| Greaser | A guy that used too much grease in his hair. Usually "LB Butch Wax" or "Pomade" |
| Groovy | Nice, "Cool" or Neat. Used commonly among hippies in the 60's. |
| Groady (grow-dee) | A shortened version of grotesque. When we went to wash the car (by hand at the park) we wore our grotees. Also, someone's dorm room if it was "trashed" out would be called grotey. |
| Glasspacks | Mufflers that are packed with fiberglass to muffle the sound. They came in different lengths. The shorter the glasspacks, the louder the car. |
| Hacked | Angry, disgusted, mad, ticked off, etc. Sometimes used in reference to parents. "My Old Man is really hacked at me about my grades...." |
| Hairy | Large; out of control. Example: "Check out the hairy slicks on that Chevy. |
| Hangin' | Awesome, Cool. |
| Hangin' a B.A. | A car full of guys pulls up to another car (usually full of girls) and one of the guys pulls down his pants, bends over, and sticks his "bare ass" out the window. |
| Hang Loose | Relax; Take it easy. |
| Hang Out | To spend leisure time with others. "Dude - wanna hang out?" |
| Haulin (Ass) | See Bookin' |
| Hauls Ass | A car that really moves. Example: "Since Ron put the new engine in his car, it really hauls ass!" |
| Heat | The Cops |
| Heavy | Deep, Cool, Chaotic, Sad, Controversial |
| Hep | With it. A person who understands the situation. |
| Hip | Very good,cool. |
| Hook | Steal |
| Hopped Up | See Souped Up |
| Hunk | What a girl would call a good looking guy |
| Ivy Leaguers | A type of men's pants with no pleats, made of polished cotton, and with a buckle in the back. |
| Jacked Up | To Raise the front end of a car. Done to transfer weight to the rear wheels for drag racing or just to make your car look cool. |
| Jam | To leave the area, (See "Cut Out") Example: "Hey John, this party is going to get busted. I'm going to jam!" |
| Jazzed | Elated, Excited; "This is going to be a great reunion. I'm really jazzed about going." |
| Jinx, You Owe Me A Coke!! | When two people said the same thing at the same time, one would slug the other on the shoulder and say these 6 little words. |
| Jump Bad | Looking for a fight - acting tough. As in "I think Jim was drunk last night, he tried to jump bad with everybody!" |
| Keen or Keen-o | Someone or something that was Cool. |
| Kibosh | To quickly put a stop to; Put the Kibosh on |
| Kings X | To proclaim a truce or time out |
| Kipe | To steal. |
| Kiss up | The proverbial "Teachers Pet". This person who would do anything to please the teacher. |
| Knocked Up | Pregnant |
| Later | Goodbye; See you later |
| Lay A Patch/Strip | To accelerate leaving a strip or patch of rubber behind on the road. |
| Lay it on me | Speak your piece. |
| Lead Sled | Lead was used prior to Bondo to fill in the holes and to do body work. A lead sled was a car that had extensive body fill work done with lead. |
| Lip Flappin' | Talking about things of little importance. |
| Loaded | Intoxicated |
| Make Out | Usually a kissing session in a parked car at a Drive In or other secluded place. |
| MaryJane | The term for Marijuana, which was illegal at the time, but readily available at Harriet or Calhoun. |
| "Meanwhile Back At The Ranch" | Used when someone who was telling a story would ramble off to another subject. So, the term was used by the listener to get the storyteller back on track. The term itself was no doubt linked to "the Western," which was TV's dominant genre in the late 50s and early 60s. Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, The Virginian and many more shows. |
| Meat | As in, "Hey Meat"; A jocks term for "Guy" or "Man" |
| Melvin | See Wedgie; Example: "Jimmy the Fink was smarting off to Billy, so I sneaked up behind him and gave him a Melvin." |
| Mirror Warmer | Usually, a piece of pastel blue or pink cashmere that was attached to elastic and was placed around the perimeter of your inside rear view mirror. It was usually your girl friends idea. |
| Moon | To drop your pants, bend over, and show your bare butt. (See "Hangin a B.A.") |
| Moons (Baby Moons) | Chrome hubcaps that were smooth and domed. They fit the inner part of the wheel, leaving room for beauty rings. |
| Neat (Neato) | Nice; Sharp |
| Nifty | Meaning "Cool" but usually said by someone who wasn't. |
| Old Lady | Your Mother. |
| Old Man | Your Father. |
| On the Make | Usually after a break up of steadies, a guy or girl who was "on the make" was looking very hard for a new mate. |
| Outta Sight | Fantastic, Awesome. Example: Hey Kathleen, that tie dyed top your wearing is "outta sight". |
| Pad | Someone's house. Example: There wasn't much to do so we all hung out at John's pad, drank Cokes and listened to records. |
| Padiddle | A word "called" by someone that has just seen a car with one headlight. The caller then receives a kiss from the person of their choice. |
| Padunkle | Same as a Padiddle only it refers to a car with one taillight. |
| Pants | An activity where usually two or more boys physically remove the pants from another boy so as to cause him embarrassment in a group setting. "You see when the guys pantsed Marvin in the lunchroom?" |
| Panty Waist | A mama's boy or a geek. |
| Paper Shaker | Pom Pom Girl |
| Passion Pit | Drive-in Theater |
| Peel Out | (See Lay A Patch/Strip) |
| Peepers | Glasses |
| Peggers | A type of men's pants, very similar to today's dockers, but with a cuff. |
| PG | Pregnant |
| Pig | Cop |
| Pig Out | Over eat |
| Pound | If someone was going to beat up someone else you said he was going to "pound" the other person. For an example, “Joe caught Jim with the hubcaps that he stole from Joe's car last night. He'll probably pound him after school.” |
| Primo | First class. |
| Race for Pinks | Also race for pink slips. Meaning two people race and the winner gets the others car. |
| Rags | Clothes |
| Rap | Talk |
| Rat Fink | (See Fink) |
| Raunchy | Raw, Rank, Disgusting |
| Real Gone Cat | Someone who marches to his own drummer. Example: The Fonz is a real gone cat. |
| Right On | I agree; I concur; You have my full support! |
| Righteous | Extremely fine, beautiful. For us guys it was generally used when talking about the most important areas of our lives; cars and women. |
| Ripped Off | To have something stolen, or to have stolen something |
| Rule | To take ownership of |
| Sad | An expression of disapproval. Example: "That cat is really sad." |
| Scarf | To eat very fast. Example:"I'm going to scarf this hot dog". |
| Score | To obtain something valuable or necessary; (Let's go score some pizza.); Also to go 'all the way' with a girl. |
| Scratch | Money |
| Screwed, Got | Cheated out of something |
| Screwed up | Made a mistake; messed up in the head; intoxicated |
| Sex Pot | A sexy or seductive woman. |
| Shades | Sunglasses |
| Shag or Shag Ass | Let's get out of here. Example: "Let's shag ass before the cops get here." |
| Shake it, Don't Break it! | Said to a girl who had an awesome wiggle in her walk. |
| Shine It On | Don't give it much thought; just forget about it. |
| Shined Me/Them On | Ignored me/them, or their comments. |
| Shotgun | A place of honor in the front seat of a car nearest the door. Usually reserved for the coolest guy in the group besides the driver of the car. If there is a doubt, before entering the car someone will call shotgun and then everyone will argue as to who actually will ride shotgun. |
| Shot Down | Rejected, typically in a social or romantic context |
| Skag | An ugly girl. |
| Skank | See Skag |
| Skanky | Gross, Disgusting |
| Skirt | Girl |
| Skuzz | Lowdown; undesirable |
| Skuzz Bucket | An ugly car |
| Slug Bug | This when you saw a VW beetle on the road. Saying "Slug Bug" before anyone else gave you the right to hit or slug the person next to you |
| So Fine | Another cool or bitchin' thing. "That girl in my science class is so fine". Used in a variety of early rock and roll songs usually as follows: "She's so fine, she blows my mind". |
| So Tuff | See So Fine |
| Snowing Down South, It's | Said to a girl when her slip was showing. |
| Solid | Something that is ok or all right. |
| Souped Up | A car that's had the engine modified to go fast. Example: "Bob really souped up his car. It did the quarter in 14.5 seconds!" |
| Spaz | Used as a put down. |
| Split | See Cut Out |
| Sponge | Someone who is always borrowing money or is always broke. A spongy person. Everything you get comes from those around you. AKA; bum. Also practiced by those who are so stingy as not to spend their own money. |
| Square | Someone who was not "Cool". Example: "Jerry's so square, all he does is his homework, watch TV, and he doesn't even like rock music!" |
| Stacked | Being well endowed 'upstairs'. Example: "Wow, that girl is really stacked!!" |
| Steady | Boyfriend or Girlfriend |
| Sticks, (Out in the) | Anyplace considered not in the metropolitan area. "Dude, I'm not going to that kegger - that's way out in the sticks!" |
| Stoked (as in I'm stoked) | Excited |
| Stoned | Intoxicated. (See Mary Jane) |
| Stood Up | When a guy (or girl) didn't show up for a date |
| Stuck Up | Conceited |
| Stud | See Hunk |
| Submarine Races | A place at the Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun, where you would park and wait for the Submarines to start racing. Of course they wouldn't show up, but while you were waiting, you'd make out....for hours. |
| Suicide Knob | A knob attached to the steering wheel for driving one handed (used when front seats were bench seats and you could have your right arm around your girlfriend) |
| Swampwater | A mixture of alcohol that partygoers contributed what they brought to one container |
| Swapping Spit | Those passionate, "get down and really into it", French Kisses. |
| Sweat Hog | A fat chick. |
| Teach | A Teacher |
| "The Bird" | The Finger. |
| "The Most" | Something that is the best or the greatest (Superbitchin') |
| "The Man" | Police |
| Think Fast! | It usually was used to tell you to get ready because someone was tossing you something. |
| Thongs | In the 60's, thongs were something you wore on your feet. (See Wedgie) |
| Threads | Clothes |
| Tough or Tuff | Neat, cherry, great, bitchin', as in "Dude! Tuff car!" |
| Trollin' | Cruising around looking for girls. As in "Let's go trollin' for some chicks." |
| Truckin | Get going (From the one page cartoon, "Keep On Truckin'" by Robert Crumb) |
| Twitchin' | The word used instead of Bitchin', around your parents. |
| Wedgees | A shoe style. The sole and heel were one piece and on the same plane. |
| Wedgie | When someone pulls your underwear up from the back and it ends up in the crack all on it's own. (Now it's called a thong and women wear them that way on purpose.) |
| Wet Willie | A trick played when someone wets their finger and puts it in your ear and puls it out quickly. |
| What's Your Bag, Man? | What's your problem; where are you coming from? |
| Wicked | Term of Admiration. "Those engineer boots are wicked, Man!" |
| Wiggin' out | Going crazy |
| Wipe(d) out | A term for extreme fatigue (I'm wiped out, I'm gonna crash.) (Originally, to fall off a wave while surfing, later to crash one's vehicle and severely damage it; "He wiped his coupe out at the drags." |
| Whiz, Take a | Urinate |
| Wuss (or Wussies) | Unmanly male or a grop of them. "Stop being such a wuss!" "They're all wussies." |
| Zilch | Zero. Nothing. |
| Zits | Pimples |
| Zoned Out | To lose focus on the present and drift into a state of mind-wandering or daydreaming, often accompanied by a lack of awareness of surroundings. Probably related to The Twilight Zone TV show. "That dude was totally Zoned Out." |
