Every generation develops its own unconventional terms and phrases.  In the 50's teenagers used old words in whole new combinations much to the dismay of their parents.  Some of the slang used by the coolest kids in the 1950's still hangs around in popular culture today.  The following are a few of the slang terms and their meaning that were used by our generation.

 Achin' for a breakin'  Threatening someone to fight
 Ankle biter  A small child
 Are you writing a book?  You're asking too many questions
 Baby  Cute girl, term of address for either sex
 Back seat bingo  Necking in a car
 Bad  Something that is really good
 Bad news  Depressing Person
 Bash  A party
 Beat Feet  Depart quickly
 Beatnik  A member of the best culture
 Bee's knees  Something good, wonderful
 Big Daddy  An older person
 Big tickle  Really funny
 Bitchin  Really good or fun
 Blast  A good time
 Bread  Money
 Burn Rubber  To accelerate hard and fast
 Bust a gut  Laugh very hard
 Candy ass  A timid or cowardly person
 Cat  A hip person
 Cherry  To be untouched, in perfect condition
 Chick  A girl or young woman, especially an attractive one
 Classy Chassis  Great body
 Cloud 9  Really happy
 Cool  Quality that makes someone or something extraordinary
 Cool it  Relax, settle down
 Copacetic  Very satisfactory
 Cruisin' for a bruisin'  Looking for trouble
 Daddy-O  Term of address to a man
 Dibs  A claim - as in I've "got dibs" on that seat
 Dig  To understand
 Don't have a cow  Don't get so excited
 Drag  Drag
 Eyeball  To look around
 Fab  Fabulous
 Fat city  A very comfortable condition or situation in life
 Flat out  Fast as you can
 Flick  A movie
 Flip  To get excited
 Frosted  Angry
 Get Bent  Disparaging remark as in "drop dead"
 Get with it  Understand
 Gig  Work, job
 Go ape  Get very excited
 Goofball  A person who does dumb, silly things
 Goose it  Fully accelerate the car
 Greaser  A guy with lots of grease in his hair
 Grody  Sloppy, dirty or messy
 Hang  As in "hang out" which means do very little
 Haul ass  Drive very fast
 Heat  The police
 Hep  Cool, with it.  A person who understands the situation
 Hipster  A person who is in the know, cool, trendy in an unconventional way
 Horn  Telephone
 In orbit  In the know
 Kick  A fun or good thing
 Kill  To really impress
 Knuckle sandwich  A fist in the face
 Later gator  Goodbye - see ya later, alligator
 Lay a patch  Accelerate rapidly & leave a patch of rubber on the road
 Made in the shade  Success guaranteed
 Make out  A kissing session
 Make the scene  To attend a party or event
 Most  As in "the most" - high praise usually of the opposite sex
 No sweat  No problem
 Nowhere  Opposite of cool.  No wheresville was a boring, bad place to be
 Odd ball  A person a bit off the norm
 Pad  Home
 Party Pooper  A person who is no fun at all
 Passion Pit  Drive-in movie theater
 Peepers  Glasses
 Radioactive  A really cool person who is also very popular
 Rag top  A convertible car
 Rod  A car
 Royal shaft  Badly or unfairly treated
 Spaz  A person who is uncoordinated - a klutz
 Split  Leave
 Skag  A derogatory term for an ugly female
 Smog in the noggin  A person can't remember something
 Square  A regular, normal person
 Take a chill pill  Relax, calm down
 Tank  A large sedan (usually driven by parents)
 Threads  Clothes
 Tight  Good friends
 Wazoo  Your rear end
 Wet rag  A person who is no fun
 What's buzzin cuzzin  What's new?




 

Page created on 2/15/20