Alex Carson
The sixties were a fun and memorable time to be a kid. For one thing, everything was a heck of a lot cheaper. For instance, you could go out to the movies with your friends for about 70 cents. Compare that to the $20 ticket price you’ll see in most major US cities today.
After catching a flick with you’re crew, you could hit up the local burger shack or soda fountain and only have to shell out another couple quarters to have a full meal and a milkshake to top it off. If you still had a little change jingling around in your pocket, you could always take your main squeeze to the drive-in. Sure, you just saw a movie in the theater, but as everyone knows, nobody spent much time actually looking at the drive-in’s screen. You were far too busy trying to get lucky in the backseat of your 64′ Lincoln Continental.
Youth culture dominated the 1960s. Young people were constantly inventing new ways to dress, date, get around, and speak. Some slang terms of this era made a significant impact on the way that we talk today, while others fizzled out by the end of the decade.
From calling everything a gas to getting down and groovy while trying your best to hang loose, keep watching as we take a little trip down memory lane to a bygone era that many of us wish never ended.
Facts Verse Presents: Slang Words That Every 60s Kid Will Remember Instantly
Far Out
Whenever something was so cool that you could hardly believe it, it was far out. The term refers to the phrases ‘out of this world’ and mind-blowing.
Bummer
Whenever you’re disappointed or sad, it’s a major bummer. The term was used to describe such somber emotions, especially when something didn’t work out as expected. This is a great example of a 60s slang phrase that many of us still use to this day. Call it an oldie but goodie.
Hang Loose
There are countless ways to use this phrase, but the most common one is when telling person that they need to chill out, calm down, or stay put. It can also be used to describe letting go of your inhibitions and allowing yourself to have a good time.
To use it in a sentence, you could say something like “Just hang loose, man. Everything will work out in the end.”
Give Me Some Skin
Alternately, ‘slap me some skin’, this is a phrase that you’d use when asking someone for a handshake. The phrase refers to two people’s skin touching when giving a handshake.
I Got To Split
Just realize that you left the oven on back at home? Did the vibe at the party suddenly change and you feel the pressing need to relocate? Well, then just say that you gotta split. The slang phrase means that you need to leave. Of course, if you’re a square, you could just say that you’re leaving, but this is far cooler. To spice the phrase up a bit, you could you “I got to split like a banana”.
Lay It On Me
Whenever someone wants to vent their frustrations, instead of saying ‘tell me about it’, you can say something like ‘lay it on me’. The phrase means that you’re telling someone that it’s okay for them to say whatever it is that’s weighing heavy on their mind, as in “what’s wrong, dude? Lay it on me?”
Cop A Breeze or Agitate the Gravel
Another couple ways to say that you got to get the lead out is by saying that you need to cop a breeze. In other words, you got to make like a tree and leave. As far as agitating the gravel, that just means you got to skedaddle with haste – likely kicking up some pavement in the process.
Apple Butter
Come election time, politicians are frequently guilty of doing a lot of smooth talking. Another creative way of saying this by describing it as apple butter. The phrase isn’t used much these days, but that’s really just a crying shame, as apple butter is one of the most delicious items in the spreadable food world.
Backseat Bingo
In the 50s, there was an explosion of car culture in America, and with that came a tidal wave of new slang terms that would linger around for the next couple of decades.
Backseat Bingo refers to the act of getting hot and heavy with your special someone in the backseat of your ride. “Parking” was another term that was used to describe the same activity.
Beatnik
This word is often used to describe the most prominent subculture of the 1950s, but it was actually coined towards the end of the decade in 1958 and continued to be used often throughout the 60s.
The phrase’s origins are traced back to columnist Herb Caen who added the suffix nik to the end of words, taking inspiration from the Sputnik satellite which was launched in ’57. Beat is a word that describes members of the Beat generation, and a Beatnik is just a cooler way of articulating that.
Your typical beatnik was a free-thinking, slam-poetry reciting, artist-type who rejected the status quo and societal conventions. American novelist Jack Kerouac is the supreme example of the beatnik of old. Eventually this subculture merged with the Hippie subculture that arose out of the anti-Vietnam war protest movement.
Cool
Perhaps the most used slang term of all time, cool was originally part of African American Vernacular. It arose out of the Jazz scene of the 1940s, and by the 1960s it had become mainstream with youth across America and the western world. Anything hip and trendy was labeled as cool – be it a fashionable article of clothing or a catchy song you heard on the radio.
Cruisin’ For A Brusin’
If your pal is looking to pick a fight with someone, you could say that they are cruisin’ for a bruisin’. By the late 60s and early 70s, however, it came to be used as a pejorative way of saying that someone had a short temper.
Pad
While the word pad can describe any place of residence these days, it originally had unsavory connotations when it was first used in the mid-20th century. The beatniks of the 1950s used this term to describe a place to crash or a room used to detox from a night of drug use.
Ginchy
If someone told you that you were the ginchiest, that meant that they were giving you high praise. While the term essentially meant ‘excellent’, it didn’t manage to stick around very long – especially after ‘cool’ became the dominant word to describe essentially the same thing.
Dreamboat
This term can be used to describe any person – primarily men – who were worth going ga-ga over. If a star like Elvis or James Dean was hot enough, they qualified to be called dreamboats.
Groovy
Sure, this might be the most obvious word to be included in this video, but no list of 60s slang words would be complete without the addition of this iconic word.
Groovy was the ‘awesome’, ‘bangin’, or ‘dope’ of the decade. It was a versatile world that has since been immortalized in contemporary pop culture thanks to the enduring appeal of the hippies.
The word originated in the jazz culture of the 20s. Originally It related to the ‘groove’ of a piece of music. It can also refer to the physical groove cut in a vinyl record. Another way it’s used is to refer to getting your ‘groove back’ or realigning with one’s mojo.
Passion Pit
This phrase has since come to be synonymous with a certain indie-pop band, but back in the day when people used to play a lot of ‘backseat bingo’, it referred to drive-in theaters.
Chrome-Plated
If someone got all chrome-plated, it just meant that they got dressed up more than usual.Once again, this phrase came from American car culture and the chrome finishings that suped-up hotrods often rocked.
The Living End
This phrase can mean anything that’s particularly outlandish, outrageous, absurd or scandalous. Today, instead of telling someone that they’re the living end, you might say that they’re being ‘extra’.
Burn Rubber
This phrase means to gain speed behind the wheel of a car at such an alarming rate that you literally leave behind a trail of hot, melted rubber. It can also mean that you got out of a jam with lightning-fast speed.
Get Pinned
This phrase was synonymous with ‘going steady’. It’s origins are related to the tradition of male suitors offering their prospective love interests literal pins to wear as a sign of their commitment. It was mostly used in the ’50s but stuck around for a while and was still in use by the mid-60s.
Off The Cob
This phrase is used to describe something particularly corny or hokey. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but you got to admit, it’s got a nice ring to it.
Dig It
If you can ‘dig it’, you understand or agree with something. It’s thought that this term is derived from the physical action of ‘getting beneath the surface’ of something’. Another way of saying the same thing is by asking someone if they can read you.
Much like far out and cool, this term came from African American Vernacular and was popularized in the jazz scene of the 40s and 50s. By the sixties, it had two main connotations. Besides asking someone if they comprehended or agreed with something that you just said, you could also use it as an expression of enthusiasm, essentially alerting the other party that you were on board or down with whatever it was they were rapping about.
It’s A Gas
If something is a gas, that means it’s a good time. The phrase was originally used by Irish English speakers to describe any enjoyable situation or agreeable person. A common false origin story attributes it to the effects of laughing gas or nitrous oxide.
The phrase was immortalized in the Rolling Stones song ‘Jumpin’, Jack Flash”.
Mellow
Last but not least, we have a term that refers to being relaxed or laid-back. Historically this word was used in phrases like “mellow like a cello”, and indicates someone or something that is very easygoing and chill. If you tell someone that they need to mellow out, you’re saying that they need to loosen up and relax.
Mellow has also been occasionally used to describe the intoxicating effects of a particular smokable herb. Nowadays, we’d call that effect being ‘stoned’.
That about wraps up our rundown of the most popular slang terms of the peace and love generation.
So, how many of these 60s slang terms do you remember? Did we cover all of the basics, or were there a few that we missed? Let us know in the comments, and as always, thanks for watching!
