In contrast to school aged children’s preference for the routine and predictable, adolescents prize the new and contemptuously dismiss the old and familiar. We can contrast the rapid changes in adolescent slang with the conservative nature of school aged children’s games. Listed below are slang terms used by adolescents at four different periods during the last century:
| Years |
Slang |
Definition |
| 1940s |
|
|
| |
doll |
attractive woman |
| |
dollface |
attractive woman |
| |
jerk |
idiot |
| |
dope |
idiot |
| |
drip |
idiot |
| |
rugged |
attractively masculine man |
| |
hep cat |
“cool” male |
| |
swell |
positive |
| |
keen |
positive |
| |
golly |
exclamation of surprise/admiration |
| |
gee |
expression of mild astonishment |
| 1960s–70s |
|
| |
lady |
girlfriend |
| |
uptight |
uncool/rigid |
| |
far out |
awesome/amazing |
| |
bad |
good |
| |
hip |
cool |
| |
groovy |
great/awesome |
| |
foxy |
attractive woman |
| |
fine |
attractive |
| |
bogart the joint |
hog the marijuana |
| |
stoned |
intoxicated |
| |
take a hit |
inhale from a joint |
| 1980s |
|
|
| |
crib |
house/home |
| |
rents |
parents |
| |
bogue |
from bogus |
| |
bogus |
negative |
| |
excellent |
pronounced like egg salad |
| 1980s |
dope |
a drug, usually marijuana |
| |
radical |
positive |
| |
rad |
short for radical |
| |
fresh |
positive |
| |
dude |
young male |
| 2000s—often influenced by text messaging |
| |
lol |
laugh out loud |
| |
bff |
best friends forever |
| |
g2g |
got to go |
| |
brb |
be right back |
| |
idk |
I don’t know |
| |
ttyl |
talk to you later |
| |
jk |
just kidding |
| |
omg |
oh, my God |
| |
sweet |
great! |
| |
wicked |
positive |
| |
call you out |
disrespect someone |
| |
def |
positive |
| |
dope |
positive |
| |
tramp stamp |
wide tattoo on the small of a woman’s back |
| |
tool |
idiot |
