cultural origins of slang terms

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 5/12/2000 5:08:05 PM, highbob at MINDSPRING.COM writes:

<< Good point, Ron, but just for the sake of argument (things are slow
following the semester, and I'm putting off writing) couldn't such a term
finding a language community some 40--going on 50--years after the film
reflect not the sentiments of the film, but the callousness of the folks who
actually use such a term?  You know, the kind of TV viewers who actually
enjoy COPS. >>

In that case, it seems to me that it would be a lot more likely that the
slang of those callous folks would be inspired by more recent cultural icons
than a movie made generations ago which, however classic, no longer reaches a
mass audience.