DC-area teen slang (1957)

[Wilson Gray]

"Hep" was just becoming unhip in DC in 1957?! "Take it easy, greasy!
There's a fungus among us!" was a common funny saying of no particular
meaning among black kids in St. Louis ca.1952. "Fruit boots," not
"boats," were what were "kicky" among white kids post 1950. The use of
"neat" instead of either "cool" or "hip" separated white kids from
black kids, though "Neat guy!" also used only by whites, was always
used sarcastically. (The high school that I attended never had more
than seven black boys among a student body of about 800 white boys in
the four years - 1950-1954 - that I was there. Hence, I became
familiar with both white slang and black slang.)

-Wilson Gray

On 9/1/05, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      DC-area teen slang (1957)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Various antedatings in this article, e.g. "with it" (OED2 1962), "like
> wow" (HDAS 1958, OED2 1959), "fungus among us" (HDAS 1960), "fantabulous"
> (HDAS 1958, OED2 1959), and "mystery meat" (HDAS/OED3 1968).
>
> -----
> http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VName=HNP&did=121235300
> Washington Post, Sep 29, 1957, p. F1, col. 1-2
> Parents, you'd better get with it or you're going to find yourself O.T.L.
> when your teen-age sons and daughters start slinging the slang. Last
> year's teen lingo is definitely out of it and you'd better learn the new
> mystery words or you'll never be a frozen feline (the superlative of
> cool-cat).
> We made this startling discovery while doing a little teen-searching at
> Maryland, Virginia and District High schools.
> "Hep" which only a few weeks ago was a mighty fine word to use when
> someone was in-the-know or a smart-cookie, is out. Now "you're with it"
> has left "hep" nothing but a three letter word.
> Of course, "lunching" is the opposite of O.T.L. (out to lunch) which
> plainly tells you that someone is out-of-it, not-in-the-groove, or
> not-with-it. Or if you don't want to say a friend is O.T.L. just call the
> "square" a "fly".
> "Cool" (great or wonderful) is still raising its little head in the
> District and Maryland schools but across the Potomac it's rapidly being
> replaced by "frozen" which makes "cool" just that much cooler.
> [...]
> Sometimes a new slang expression climbs up from below. Brown-eyed Genia
> Morehead -- a 17-year-old member of the pom-pom team at Bethesda-Chevy
> Chase -- admits that she picked up "Like Wow!" (meaning wonderful or good,
> or used as an expression of agreement) from her little sister, Mary, a
> ninth grader at Western. "Kids are growing up so fast," Genia added.
> National polls to the contrary, to the contrary, going "steady" is
> (according to area high school teens) on its way out. And they have a new
> word to prove it. Going "steadily" is now all the rage. ... "Security with
> variety" is the way two sophomores -- pretty 14-year-old Nicki Berbakos
> and her "steadily," Sam McWilliams -- define going "steadily."
> [...]
> Three Barbaras -- Armistead, Jones and Marks -- cut us in on the current
> slang at George Washington High in Alexandria. "There's fungus among us"
> is taking the place of "creepy character" and the southern influence is
> showing in the old standby "Yea, Man!". "Neat," "cool" and "square" are
> still getting a good play.
> [...]
> Also added to the teen dictionary is "fruit boats" (the new colored suede
> shoes) and "black khaki" -- the black cotton slack which are almost a
> uniform at B.C.C. Then we still have "gung ho" (all for it), "real crazy,"
> "riot" which to teen agers means lots of fun, "fantabulous," "real
> nervous," "mystery meat" (meat loaf, stew or almost any meat concoction),
> "nervous breakdown" (rushing around too much), and "schnook" for someone
> you don't like.
> -----
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>


--
-Wilson Gray