Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers: A Decade-by-Decade Guide to the Vanishing Vocabulary of the Twentieth CenturyOUP USA, 2005 M09 29 - 239 pages Every era of the twentieth century from the "Roaring Twenties" to the "Me Decade" brought its own fads and trends and the language to go with them: fresh youth slang, up-to-the-minute buzzwords, and colorful catch phrases. Most of this new vocabulary exploded into the vernacular, only to fizzle a few years later as newer trends and more current events demanded their own terminology. Giving yesterday's words another chance to sparkle before they retire for good, Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers focuses on language that still resonates with the mood of its times. A nostalgic word trip through the highs and lows of American English from the last century, this book pays special attention to words that enjoyed a brief vogue only to end up abandoned and nearly forgotten: jet jockeys, keypunch operators, the bugged-out and the slackers. All these words have a place here in engaging essays, arranged by decade, that put them in their historical and sociological context. While the twentieth century is over, this book will help us appreciate the words that were left behind. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American Dialect Society American Speech Anzio army ballyhoo beat beatniks became bomb breakdancing Burma-Shave BUZZWORDS cakewalk called clothing colorful communist culture dance decade Dictionary dress drug dude early eighties expression fans flapper freak front geek grunge hackers hair haircut hippies hobble skirt hoboes Hoover Hoovervilles included Internet invented jacket jargon jazz jitterbug Kilroy known language later legs look magazine mainstream marijuana McJob meaning meant motor move movie nineties nuclear pants party payola person phrase play police popular President punch cards punk radio refer Rubik's cubes seventies shirt shoes short sixties skirt slang soldiers someone sometimes Soviet Star Trek style surfer talk teenage teens television term theaters tion troops United usually Valley Girls Valspeak Vietnam Vietnamese vocabulary Watergate woman women word wore World worn York young Yuppies