60s slang! | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Ta @Ahhh Girl I have a book of Australian slang that dates back to the 1960’s and well beyond, if I can find it I’ll throw some slang in here. Every time I hear ‘groovy’ these days I get a vision of Paul Simon in fishnets (mashup of 59th Street Song and Sweet Transvestite) I do hear ‘far-out’ occasionally too. Remember Brylcream? My dad used to call it ‘greasy kid’s stuff’, I have no idea why.

Heavy: Serious or very emotional. I’m pretty sure this is older beatnik slang, the Beatles liked to grab the hipster stuff. Some terms like bread are older hipster/beatnik slang and didn’t originate in the 60’s but the boomers pretend they invented them. This happens a lot.

Dig – Get it, understand. Another beatnik term. I’m not sure if these were specifically Californian or New York but they’re one or the other.

Skank/Skag – Unattractive boy/girl. We used to use it for both boys and girls. We tended to use skaghead for the boys though. I think it’s had a comeback due to hip hop.

Old Man/Old Lady – Your parents, ugh. I first heard kids using this when I was a nipper and thought it was incredibly rude, I loved it. And then Elton John used it on a song and it didn’t seem as cool.

Birds: attractive young women. British slang common in Australia in the 60’s/70’s.

You’re right about Aussie slang being Americanized, it’s gotten very strong in the last 20 years. My slang does tend to be incredibly British, and I put that down to being an early Xer growing up in the 60’s and 70’s when British culture was still influential (particularly all the comedy shows we used to get in the 70’s and things like Minder).

I always liked that slang “scrumping” and how specific it is to apples. Is it just West Country slang or is it applicable elsewhere? Nick has been used for “steal” since the 19th century but its Australian slang for jail from back then too!