By Jim Hagarty
1990
Literarily speaking, I’m not too sad to see the ’80s over with.
Especially since they took a lot of smarmy words and phrases with them when they left.
Sayings like “chill out” which was a trendy way of telling someone to calm down. As was “lighten up.” And “relax.”
“Give me a break” had a good run in the early part of the decade but was replaced towards the end by the variation, “Give it a break.” I hope people will give us all a break in the ’90s and quit using that phrase. Still another member of the “give it” family was “give it up” which is my advice to people who use it.
As far as I can tell, most of us have quit telling each other to “enjoy” and I sure am enjoying not hearing it so often. “Have a good one” has also dwindled in use and oh, I’m sure going to miss it.
A lot of us used “good stuff!” about 10 times a day to express our pleasure at some development. It’s gone now, to which I can only say, good stuff!
“Out of there” was big, as in “he’s out of there”, “they’re out of there”, etc. A variation was “I’m out of here.” That phrase is out of there. May it stay out.
Somehow, in the “gender-neutral” ’80s (sorry, but “gender-neutral” is here for the ’90s too), young women became “guys.” Young men, of course, had always been “guys” but now, we’re all “guys” regardless of our sex. I wonder if we’ll ever all be “gals.” “Sex”, by the way, was taken over by “gender” and the ’80s also saw the rebirth of the “dinosaur” – a word which replaced “male chauvinist pig.”
“Boyfriend” and “girlfriend”, of course, fell to the bottom of the endearment pile in the ’80s and were replaced by “love interest”, “significant other” and “partner” along with “life partner”, “life mate”, “love mate”, “love partner.” Those words will hang around for awhile in the ’90s, I’m afraid, till the word factories churn out some new ones.
“Bashing” had its day in the ’80s. We were “police-bashing” and “male-bashing” and “media-bashing” and “politician-bashing” until we were pretty well bashed-out. In fact “out” became our favorite suffix. We were “partied-out” and “stressed-out” and “burned-out.”
“Done deal” made a brief appearance in the last part of the ’80s, but it’s done. “Cautious optimism” has had it as have “guesstimate”, “time frame” and “touch base.”
But, unfortunately, long into the ’90s, we’re all going to hear television journalists ask their interview subjects to give them a “sense” of what it was like to be there, a “feel” for the situation. They’ll be commanded to “paint a picture” for the viewers. Unfortunately, news people are the first to jump all over new phrases and the last to abandon them.
Everything was “zoned” in the ’80s. There was the “comfort zone”, the “erogenous zone”, the “Blue zone.” Let’s hope all those phrases are soon in the “gone zone.”
Speaking of gone, these words are: “troubleshoot”; “earmark”; “ballpark” (as in a “ballpark” figure); “choice” and “shortlisted.”
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to get used to “empowerment”, “positive” (as in there are many “environment-positive” companies in Canada), “systemic” and “proactive.”
Not to mention “kindler, gentler” which I predict will have a short, but totally annoying, life.
And the prefix “enviro” will be attached to everything. Try it. It’s fun. She’s an “envirojournalist”, he’s an “enviroscientist”, they’re taking “enviromeasures” …
Out with the ’80s and computerspeak.
In with the ’90s and envirobabble.
Good grief! (That’s from the ’50s.)
