Word Play – Part Two

Many of the words listed have not survived or will in time, but then that’s the nature of language. They are an indicator of the culture at that moment. Whatever happened to the “beat or boom box” for example? Who would’ve predicted the geek would last until today, especially with a positive connotation given its initial meaning?

by Terry Watada

Last month, I looked at words coined during the Nisei and the beginning of the Sansei era. This month, let’s look at the Sansei era proper and the Yonsei era with the help of the OED Birthday Generator.

1960 bouffy (as in bouffant hairdo, now that’s a word for its time)

1961 chocoholic

1962 blag (a tall story or bluff)

1963 cyberculture

1964 Beatlesque (still with us today)

1965 bada-bing (the Sopranos live)

1966 computernik

1967 mockney (this is Beatlesque)

1968 gasp

1969 megastar (must be related to superstar)

Other words of the 1960s: in-joke, foodaholic, expat, people-watch

 

1970 laugh-out-loud

1971 reboot

1972 guilt trip

1973 recyclist (the recycling movement begins)

1974 internet

1975 brainiac

1976 punkster or punk rock

(Sid Vicious becomes prominent)

1977 nip & tuck (cosmetic surgery becomes a fad)

1978 gazillion

1979 bagsy (to claim something for yourself)

Other words of the 1970s: Bollywood,

Monty Pythonesque, number crunch

 

1980 foodie (rise of the Food Channel)

1981 chill pill

1982 downloadable

1983 air guitar (also an odd Japanese TV show)

1984 shopaholic

1985 gobsmacked

1986 channel surf

1987 bazillionaire

1988 beatbox

1989 crowd-surfing

Other words of the 1980s: smartphone, spell-check, road rage, ecotourism

 

1990 emoticon

1991 nu skool (styles of popular music)

1992 popstastic

1993 geeksville

1994 Dad rock (better term than what my son calls “my music” – dino or

prehistoric-rock)

1995 scratchiti (form of graffiti)

1996 gastropub

1997 muggle (really, Harry

Potter made it into the lexicon?)

1998 hactivism

1999 bling (this one is really tired)

Other words of the 1990s: auto-complete, cybercafé, bridezilla, dotcom, fashionista, wiki

As I said last month, these are not the only words coined that year or decade, but they seem the most popular. Many of the words listed have not survived or will in time, but then that’s the nature of language. They are an indicator of the culture at that moment. Whatever happened to the “beat or boom box” for example? Who would’ve predicted the geek would last until today, especially with a positive connotation given its initial meaning?

 

For words of the 2000s (the Yonsei era proper and the Gosei era), you can look them up at the OED Birthday Generator website. Just google it.