Slang and Language – 60’s
Author: LKB
In today’s society if you
walk down the street you’ll hear the modern slang that
most are now used too; but if you traveled back to the
1960s you wouldn’t understand a word they said. Just
like all generations this decade had their own ‘lingo’
which we would think was completely ridiculous now.
Some of the best slang
words, in my opinion, are ones such as ‘suicide knob’, I
mean if you heard this today you would either laugh or
be disgusted at the vulgar language being used; but in
those innocent times of the 60’s this phrase actually
was describing a knob placed on the steering wheel,
allowing the driver to have one hand free to put around
his date.
One of the more unusual ones
would have to be ‘padiddle’ which is actually a word
which would have been ‘called’ by someone when they
spotted a car with only one headlight. Once said, the
caller could then receive a kiss from anyone of their
choice. Now this is something you would never find in
modern society, especially with today’s youth who seem
to be doing drugs, drinking alcohol and partying 24/7.
Though there are many
differences in the language used; some of the slang must
have caught on, as even the teenagers today know a few
of the more well known words, which surprisingly
originated from the great decade that was the 60’s. The
most common slang brought forward to this day include
some of the ‘surfer dude’ terms such as ‘righteous’ and
‘stoked’.
Though one thing I feel should be brought to
attention is the word ‘dude’. You see back in the good
old 60’s it was considered an insult; yes, that’s right
all you surfers out there, if you were a teenager in the
60’s and considered yourself a dude, you would actually
be describing yourself as a geek.
So as you can see, times
have indeed changed; though even in such things as
language and today’s slang, the 60’s had a big influence
that will continue on for many years to come.
Teenager – 60’s
The 1960’s was probably the
most significant decade for young adults to this very
day. It was the first time that these teenagers
realized that they could be separate from their parents;
and could have different lifestyles from their families.
This was most likely down to
finally getting back to some kind of normality after the
war; as rationing and effects were visible, and affected
the working class for many years after the conflict had
been resolved. This decade was also the birth of brand
new technology; fashion, attitude and of course, music.
The most influential music
artists of the time were the Rolling Stones and the
Beatles and these groups started the craze of ‘teenage
rebellion’. This craze played a key part in the 1960’s.
The rebellion was mainly focused around the new drug
culture which had taken hold of this newly liberated
group of young adults; and soon after came the
contraceptive pill which led to a whole new level of
freedom and leniency in relationships that no pervious
generation had ever had access to.
The main change for
teenagers in the 1960’s was the new concept of ‘freedom’
and new social activities, never heard of before,
becoming hugely popular such as clubbing; which even
today still plays a large part in the party scene for
all generations in modern society.
Overall this was a
revolution in society; and without the actions of
teenagers during the 1960’s young adults today would
have few of the freedoms and independence that we now
take for granted.
