Most of the time I like young people, I even gave birth to one!
But I also remember the day when:
"grass" was mowed,
"coke" was a cold drink,
"pot" was something your mother cooked in and
"rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the School Principal's office,
"chip" meant a piece of wood,
"hardware" was found in a hardware shop and
"software" wasn't even a word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap…
Today we might have television, jet planes, space travel, man has walked on the Moon, spaceships have visited Mars, we even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing etc. We didn't have those things when we were young; so we invented them,
9 comments:
I thought Chips were always chips? Now they are bloody "French fries". Yech!
They tasted better when they were called chips!
And let's not forget when Gay meant... "having or showing a merry, lively mood" !!!
john of dublin you are soooo right!
I loved life when we were allowed to be 'Gay' It was back when the sun always shone and everyone was happy! ;)
Yes, I've nothing against folk with same sex interests, but the English language lost the core meaning of a lovely word which evoked exactly the images you describe.
....and Gay Byrne wasn't impressed either!
Jod,
It seems to me that there is no reason for changing the meaning of the words.
‘Cool’ was how we tried to keep the milk in the days before we had fridges!
‘wicked’ according to the dictionary was: sinful, iniquitous, vicious, morally depraved, very or excessively bad, malicious, mischievous, or roguish.
Now ‘wicked’ is ‘cool’ or has it changed again?
Geez...jod....I had to think about that for a minute. First time that abbreviation has been assigned to me! Shows how "cool" you are.
Since you mention "wicked" and "cool", the "ohmygod" expression is flogged to death chez nous with our three young ladies and their entourage of visiting pals.
Yes I am one 'cool' babe!
My feet are always like two blocks of ice ;)
Must go walkies!
Em ... how is it you youngsters communicate these days ... God damn it ...
Word up, dawg. Me an' ma homies, da West Coast Crew be lookin' for somebody to be hookin' us up with some 40 ounces and some smoke, know-what-I'm-sayin'?
Seriously though,wicked still maintains much of its 'cool' associations, however the more modern young term for cool is 'savage', which means 'wild, and feral' as far as I can tell. Be it not upon me to question the etymology of modern slang.
And JoD, you sound like you're older than my father. And he's 60. You need to be more 'hip', man.
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