We’ve all become accustomed to using slang. If you’re like me, you may have a hard time keeping up to date with the terms. Slang words are all over the American vernacular; what was once considered the domain of rebellious teenagers has now bled over into common discourse, as evidenced by even Mitt Romney calling a baby’s necklace “bling-bling” at a Martin Luther King rally. Some slang words, such as “dude,” are still in use today and have origins dating back to the 1900s. Others, like the aforementioned “bling-bling” are relatively new creations.
“Dude” has its origins as a pejorative term used for people living out in rural areas that were unfamiliar with life and customs there due to living most of their lives in the city. It most likely comes from the German duden-pop, which literally means blockhead. These days dude has lost its pejorative connotations and is used as a friendly form of address. “Yo” is another slang word with an ancient origin – it was first used by hunters and sailors to signal each other in the 1600s. Later, it would be used by soldiers in World War II as a response when a roll was called. Its usage today is not too dissimilar from its usage four hundred years ago.
Other words, like “bling-bling,” have their roots in the hip-hop scene. The term itself is a sort of onomatopoeia for a reflected shine or shimmer. It was used to describe the over-sized, highly reflective gold, platinum and diamond jewelry that became popular with rappers towards the late 1990s.
The term “hipster” has come back into recent use, used to describe people, usually college-aged young adults, who have cutting edge hairstyles and enjoy wearing vintage or ironic T-shirts. These modern hipsters typically live in bohemian lifestyles, much like the last group of people the term “hipster” was applied to – jazz musicians in the 1940s.
Why do some slang terms stick around seemingly forever and others fall into disuse after a decade or so – like “gnarly” and “groovy?” It’s hard to tell, but new slang terms are constantly being coined by the front-runners of modern culture, so there will always be a new vernacular to catch up on.
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