The dark turn of modern slang

It’s interesting to reflect on the implications of American slang for approbation and enthusiasm.  Old-timey slang included terms like “the bee’s knees,” “cat’s pajamas” and “copacetic.”  They were humorous and light-hearted expressions of appreciation, without the expectation of control in the relationship with the admired object.  The 1950s beat slang saw a bemused irreverence for daddio, slouching into passivity when the with-it were cats and chicks, and things were cool, man.

The ’60s saw more mind-bended vernacular for enthusiasm like “far out,” “groovy,” “out of sight,” “dig it,” and “down with it.”  Popular music of the ’80s and ’90s contributed baleful terms like “bad” and “bad-ass” for the earthier-spoken, and a strange term of high praise — “sick” — perhaps resonant with admiration for hard drug culture.

A few years ago, there was a subtle change in slang words used to express enthusiasm.  Slang seemed to bifurcate along lines of education and class into, on the one side, intense street-level expressions for the hot and hip, and on the other, more urbane, tech- and New Age–driven verbiage.

#AmericanThinker #Slang #Words #Speech

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