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Brilliant video argues for 5 iconic Gen X words that are poised for a cultural comeback

You totally want to see this happen.

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An 80s woman holds up a boom box. A 90s woman break dances.

As a proud Gen X-er, I'm probably a little biased as to how totally sick our dope slang was. A person is considered part of the X generation if they're born between 1965 and around 1980, so we have words and phrases that were big in both the 80s and 90s. In the 80s, it was stuff inspired by Californians, (particularly those who lived in the Valley) like "rad," :stoked," "tubular," and "grody to the max." The 90s Gen X-er elevated to more intelligent-sounding terms like "dope," "wiggity whack," and "illin'."

- YouTube, RUN DMC, Certifiedwww.youtube.com

Luckily, we have movies like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, plus bands like Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Kris Kross to keep these words forever in our vernacular. But most, if not all, of them deserve to make a true comeback.

Joe Boyd (@deconstructedpastor on TikTok) shares what he believes are the top five Gen X slang terms of all time. In the number five slot, he lists, "Psych," which he explains is the odd concept we had of saying one thing and then immediately admitting it was a joke. Like, for example, this Gen X slang article was published in a Harvard science journal. Psych!

@deconstructedpastor

Top 5 gen x slang words of all time. #genx #genxtiktokers #genxcrew #genxkid #awesome

At number four, Joe tells us it's "Duh" and any variation on it. "No Duh!" Or "No Der." Or "Der." Or "Doy!" In very typical Gen X fashion, he explains this term by just using it. "It just means, ya know, DUH."

Number three on the list is "Totally." Again, easiest to explain it by using it in a random sentence. "Things are just, totally. It just meant obviously, yes we agree." I'll add to that "totally" was used as an intensifier for an adjective. "Totally rad. Totally gross. Totally whack."

Number two, he says with authority, is "Dude." To put it in younger generational terms, he clarifies that "Dude was our 'Bruh.'" He explains you can use it many ways like "What's going on? Or dude. Or THAT dude. Or THIS dude. Lots of dudes."

Sean Penn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Awesome, Gen XSean Penn as Spicoli says "Awesome."Giphy Sean Penn GIF

Coming in at number one on his list is hard to argue against: "Awesome." Now that's one of those Gen X words that never really went away, because how else would you describe a sunset or a sandwich? In fact, it's noted in the comments that both "awesome" and "dude" are still used daily.

On the subreddit r/GenX, a person posted, "Curious to know what Gen X slang everyone used or still uses?" This question resonated because over 400 people chimed in and came up with a few even I had forgotten.

Many people echo Joe's sentiment about the word "dude," though one points out the magical hybridization of the words "dude" and "man," which is now just "dude-man."

Another claims they came up with an entire phrase: "My husband swears he invented the phrase 'cool beans.' It’s an ongoing argument in our household." Another Redditor adds, "I've uttered cool beans in front of my kids. They looked at me like I had grown a second head."

To that end, lots of Gen X parents and teachers get a kick out of making younger generations guess the meaning of our slang. In this fun TikTok, @ghostmama tries to teach her daughter the meaning of a handful of terms.

@ghostmama

She cracks me up #genz #genx #mothersanddaughters #slang #SpotlightAPI #fypシ #80sbaby #80sslang

Her daughter gets a couple of them right (like "Big Time" and "Bodacious"), but adorably fails on "Space Cadet." (She asks, "That's a profession, right?")

Her most inventive answer involves the word "DINK," which means "Dual income, no kids." She's told it's an acronym and guesses "Don't invent Nutella Kids," which is a perfectly rad and awesome guess. She's all that and a back of chips, you might say.


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Culture

16 nostalgic sounds only people over 30 will recognize

Most of these will never be heard in their natural habitat again.

Canva Photos & Jason Toney/Flickr

The sound of a dot matrix printer, or the pop of a Snapple bottle — that's what the world used to sound like.

Is it just me or has the world become increasingly silent? Don't get me wrong, we're certainly bombarded by things fighting for our attention—ads, content distributed by algorithms, notifications. But it's mostly visual noise. The more time goes on, the more it feels like there are fewer and fewer real, tactile sounds in our life.

Even the relatively iconic "iPhone ringtone" is a thing of the past, as is the text message "ping." A majority of people keep their phones on silent, even going so far as to watch YouTube and social media videos without sound. After all, auto-captions are far less intrusive when out and about.

One social media user, perhaps nostalgic for when real-life objects actually made noise, had a question for people over 30: What’s a sound from your childhood that younger generations will never hear?

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The answers in the Reddit thread did not disappoint. Collectively, they're a warm and welcoming stroll down memory lane, and a reminder that the world used to sound, well, really nice.

1. A floppy disk being read

Honestly everything about old computers was so manual and tactile. This is what booting up a computer and reading a few files sounded like back in the day. You can practically feel the vibrations running down your spine in the best way!

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

2. The clink of a metal seat belt buckle

Buckling yourself into the car used to sound so much better when the entire buckle was made of metal and not plastic. The satisfying "cachunk" really made you feel safe and protected.

You just had to watch yourself if your car had been sitting in the hot sun for a while, or you could seriously burn your leg. But that's also why the 80s and 90s invented car window shades that looked like a big pair of sunglasses.

3. Cassette tapes and VHS tapes rewinding

It might shock younger people to hear it, but that Netflix button "Play From Beginning" didn't always exist. No, media used to be linear, and when you were done watching, you had to rewind it back to the beginning for next time (or for the next person... "Be Kind, Rewind" was the saying).

The sound was incredibly soothing.

4. The sound on AIM when your friends logged on or off

To me, this is the sound that encapsulates middle school. It was mine and my friends' first taste of freedom; the freedom to communicate with each other outside of school without our parents facilitating it. We'd spend hours on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and the sounds of a buddy logging in, logging out, and sending a message are forever etched in my brain.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

5. The sound of the phone operator

Hey, remember when you picked up the phone and waited too long to dial? Or dialed the wrong number? I bet you can recite the script from memory if you're over 30:

"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again."

6. The sound of hanging up a phone

Just trust me, kids. Pressing the little red "End Call" button on your phone has nothing on physically hanging up a telephone receiver the size of a large hot dog.

If you were pissed at someone you could even slam it down to end the call with incredible emphasis. It was powerful. It was awesome. You really had to be there.

7. The Windows start-up sound

In the 90s and 00s, you were either a PC family or a Mac family. If you were a PC family, you probably walked into your family's "computer room" thousands of times only to hear this:


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

8. A dial tone and the busy signal

On some modern phones and carriers, you may still hear some form of "busy" signal when you call someone who's talking on the other line. Chances are, though, the phone will just ring and eventually you'll be sent to voicemail.

The dial tone, though, is truly special. Any time you picked up a phone, you'd hear this sort of plain, inoffensive, steady tone that indicated your phone line was active and waiting for you to punch in a number.

Anyone who's old enough to have used a landline phones knows these sounds intimately.

9. The dial-up Internet sound

Similarly, you have to be of a certain age to remember "logging on" to the Internet. You'd have a small machine called a modem that, instead of being constantly connected, had to quite literally dial a number to connect to the web.

For some reason, they all made the same hideous screeching noise while trying to connect. It's called a "handshake" and it's basically the sound of your modem exchanging data with a server somewhere. Why our poor ears had to hear it is a mystery, but after all these years, the horrid sound has become nostalgic and quite pleasing.

10. The "KASHUNK!" of turning off an old, chunky TV

Older televisions, too, were not dainty little things. They were filled with tubes, lead, circuit boards, and gasses. They made real noises, both when you pressed in their gigantic Power buttons (or better yet, turned a knob).

But the innards also made very satisfying sounds when they turned on and off. Some models had a very tangible pop that felt so much better than modern TVs which just silently go dark.

11. The sound of a quarter in a juke box

Or an arcade game. Or a vending machine.

Sliding a metal coin into a slot and hearing it fall down and activate the mechanical mechanisms inside a machine was so outrageously satisfying. And you knew right away when it didn't sound right and the machine was broken! Today, most machines are coinless. Some still accept bills, while others take credit cards or "game cards" that are loaded with money. We really lost something when we got rid of quarter pinball machines, I'm telling you.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

12. The popping of paper caps in a cap gun

It might be for the best that toy guns are no longer in vogue, but the sound (and smells...mmm, the smells) of paper caps popping off from a cap gun just take you right back to childhood.

I can still remember exactly what the little cap rolls looked like, the way they felt in my hands, and what they sounded like as those little puffs of white smoke drizzled out of the end of the toy. Pure bliss.

13. AOL: "You've got mail!"

It's not just a rom-com! No, "You've Got Mail" was truly a way of life for early Internet users getting by on free AOL trial CDs.

Can you imagine your computer literally saying "You've got mail!" every single time you get an email nowadays? It would simply be unmanageable. But back in the 90s, getting an email was an exciting event, and AOL helped commemorate it with this iconic sound effect.

14. A dot matrix printer

Laser printers really ruined everything. This is what real work is supposed to sound like:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

15. The "Cha-Ching" of an old cash register

Cash registers are still around, obviously, but they're computer-driven with fancy interfaces, touchscreens, and automatic drawers.

You haven't really lived until you've experienced what a real cash register sounds like. When you hit that drawer button and the mechanical springs pop the drawer open, my goodness does it sound nice. It sounds like commerce is supposed to sound. In fact, "Cha-Ching!" is so iconic that we all associate it with money even though most young people have never heard the sound in its truest form.

16. The popping sound of opening a fresh Snapple

Snapple may still exist in some stores, but there was a time when it was one of the most popular beverages on the planet. And it had to be in no small part because of the satisfying "pop" you'd hear when you twisted open one of their famous glass bottles.

As a little bonus, you were then treated to a Snapple Fact under the lid for your effort. Now that's refreshing.

The good news for millennials and Gen Xers is that tactile, mechanical buttons and interfaces may be making a small comeback.

Engineers and designers have recently realized they've gone too far in some cases—people truly don't want everything to be a touchscreen. In cars, for example, customers find computer interfaces annoying and distracting, much preferring a real knob to change the temperature or a button to turn on their hazard lights.

We like a little physical and audible feedback in our lives. It's why our phone sometimes buzzes or pulses every so slightly when we press a button. But those little vibrations just aren't the same as a ratcheting dial, a thick heavy button that snaps in and out of place, or even the iconic trilling noise of collecting coins in Mario. Call it pure nostalgia if you want, but some things were actually better when they made noise, and this list is the proof.

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Joy

Gen X woman describes what Halloween was like in the 80s with perfect accuracy

"Every single member of Gen X can smell this photo."

Photo credit: ~ tOkKa/Flickr, Canva

Halloween costumes in the 80s were terrifyingly terrible.

Halloween has come a long way since the 70s and 80s, when Gen X kids donned the worst mass-produced costumes known to man to go out and ask strangers for candy that we were sure was laced with poison or razor blades. Those sure were good times, though, weren't they? Social media creator Kelly Manno shared a video describing what Halloween was like for kids who grew up in "the forgotten generation," and holy moly is it accurate.

First, Manno showed a photo of someone dressed in an "80s costume" for Halloween, with neon colors and legwarmers and big hair, and said, "Absolutely nobody looked like that in the 80s, especially on Halloween. We looked like this."

Then she showed a grainy photo of kids in the plastic masks and poorly printed costumes that were the hallmark of the age.

"Every single member of Gen X can smell this photo," she said. "It's like a vinyl, like plasticky paint smell."

Manno explained that our parents only took a few photos of us per year, and Halloween was always one of them.

"You knew, before you went out trick-or-treating, that you had to line up with your cousins in front of the fireplace, in your highly flammable costumes, with your mom chain-smoking Virginia Slims.'"

Oh, those masks were the worst inventions ever. The eyeholes never lined up properly, so you were constantly trying to adjust them to be able to see even a little bit.

media4.giphy.com

"We would push our tongue through the slit in the mask. It would cut our tongue, but then we'd keep doing it again because we were eaten up with OCD and ADD and nobody cared."

Then Manno described the "garbage bag costumes" we had, which were basically trash bags printed with whatever character it was supposed to be. So janky. So sweaty. So crinkly when we walked. But somehow still socially preferable to your mom making your costume from scratch.

"Look at us, we were terrifying," Manno concludes. "No wonder people tried to poison us."

media1.giphy.com

Her descriptions of what it felt like to trick-or-treat in those costumes and haul our own bodyweight in candy are spot on, and people who lived it are feeling the nostalgia.

"So much truth in one video! 😂 I just saw, heard, and smelled my childhood."

"You are literally making me laugh so damn hard, cause you described it exactly as it was, but my mom smoked Winston's!"

"It was always freezing on Halloween that the vinyl/plastic suit would crack and tear halfway through the night."

"Or the rubber band breaking at the second house and you had to hold it up on your face at the door the rest of the night. 😂 Good times."

"The tongue thing is on point. I can still feel it. 😂"

"I can totally smell that picture lol. I remember the steam from inside the mask would have your lashes and eyebrows covered in dew then after a couple streets of running house to house the crotch would tear out. We would stay out until everybody turned their lights off and the pillow case was full."

"Yes!!!! And we used a pillow case for our candy. And no adult supervision."

"My mom made me really nice homemade costumes, but I remember begging for the plastic Strawberry Shortcake garbage bag one. So, she bought it for me one year. That was a terrible, sweaty experience. 😂"

"Let’s not forget having to inspect every piece of candy for razor blades. I swear I lost half my haul to my father in that clean up. 🍬 🍫 😢"

Kids these days have no idea, with their official city trick-or-treat hours and their parents walking around with them and their costumes that actually look like the thing they're trying to be. The 70s and 80s were a wild time, and as funny as it is to reminisce about those Halloweens of old, most of us would agree that the experience has been much improved for our own kids.

media.giphy.com

Pillowcases still make the best trick-or-treat bags, though. Some things do not change.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Music

Teacher jokingly tells 10-year-old going on a trip to England to 'find Duran Duran'—and so she kind of does.

And just like that, Simon LeBon appeared in the doorway.

Wikicommons and lakehighlandsadvocate IG

Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon poses with a young fan

Imagine this: you're a fourth grade language arts teacher in Dallas, and like many Gen X-ers, your obsession with Duran Duran never waned. So much so that you still have dolls of each member of the band in the classroom and, according to Austin Wood's article for the Lake Highlands Advocate, even an old telephone in case (lead singer) "Simon LeBon calls."

This describes Miriam Osborne, a fourth grade teacher at White Rock Elementary in the Lake Highlands district of Dallas, Texas. Wood shares in "White Rock E.S. student, inspired by teacher, meets Simon LeBon" that one of Osborne's students, 10-year-old Ava Meyers, was getting an early pickup for Christmas break, as her family was heading to the U.K. for a holiday wedding. As they were saying their goodbyes in the hallway, Osborne kiddingly said to Meyers, "Find Duran Duran."

gif of Duran Duran performingDuran Duran 80S GIFGiphy


Cut to: Ava and her family, including her mom Zahara, fly across the pond to find themselves in the Putney neighborhood of London. After a day of sightseeing, Zahara shares, "I was just Googling things to do in Putney, and the first thing that popped up was 'Simon Le Bon lives in Putney from Duran Duran.'”

Zahara did a little sleuthing and found Simon's house, thinking perhaps a Christmas stroll by the home would be exciting. But, according to the article, Ava felt they could do better. She and "an 83-year-old relative named Nick, who apparently has courage in droves, went to the door and tried a knock. Zahara was initially hesitant but assumed Le Bon would be away on vacation, so she figured it was harmless. Le Bon’s son-in-law answered, his wife came to the door next, and following a few moments of getting pitched the idea by Nick, agreed to get her husband 'because it was Christmas.'"

And just like that, Simon LeBon appeared in the doorway. He warmly greeted Ava and her family and even took pictures. "It was just crazy," Ava exclaimed.

But possibly more excited was Miriam Osborne, back in the States. She proudly shared the photo (which had been texted to her) with many of her friends and even encouraged Ava to recount the story to her classmates when they returned from the break. Wood shares, "Osborne’s connection to the band goes back to her childhood in El Paso in the ’80s. As the daughter of a Syrian immigrant, she says she had trouble fitting in and finding an identity. Some days, she and her brothers would travel across town to get records from a British record store."

Miriam explains she used her babysitting money to buy her first Duran Duran record. "And so I had been a fan, literally, for 43 years—my entire lifetime."

gif of Simon LeBonDuran Duran GIFGiphy

Osborne's love of Duran Duran, and many '80s bands in general, nostalgically connects her to a throughline for her life that she tries to impart onto the students as well. "Music is a connector, and it connected me to a world that I didn’t always fit in as a child. It helped me find people who I still love to this day, and it’s a big part of this classroom with me and the students I teach, because everybody has a story, and there’s something really incredible about hearing something and it taking you to a happy moment."

As for Ava? She's now taking guitar lessons. And perhaps one day, she can become so famous and inspirational, a teacher sends a student off to find her on a Christmas vacation in the future.

This article originally appeared in March.

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