One of my all time favorite stories is that of Megan Jasper, the hep twenty-something woman whom The New York Times consulted to provide them with a "Grunge Slang Lexicon" in 1992. You can imagine this girl, clad in her docs and Mudhoney t-shirt, and she was like, "Sure, sure, no problem. Glad to do it. Go Gen X!" and then, she totally made everything up! How cool is that? She is my hero. Also my hero: Brian Hopper, but I'll explain that later. Here are a few choice definitions:
Harsh Realm: Bummer
Cob Nobbler: Loser
Tom-Tom Club: Uncool outsiders
(And my favorite) Swingin' on the Flippity-Flop: Hanging out
I love it. Like anyone would say any of those phrases. Especially "swingin' on the flippity-flop!" How long does it take to say it? Thanks, Gamaliel for providing the full excerpt!
So, earlier I mentioned my other hero, Brian Hopper. Well, that's because this story totally reminded me of the time I was at Laura's house and happened to catch Brian on the local news. There had been a really big storm up at Crystal and they were filming the kids playing in the snow and skiing and whatnot. If you know the Hoppers, you know they love skiing, so of course Brian made the newscast. I would give anything to find a clip of what transpired, but for now, here's a paraphrased transcript straight out of my memory.
Newscaster: (we'll say, Penny LeGate since I can't remember who it was) Wow! It's really coming down out here! These kids are sure having fun with their snowball fights! Hey, young man, what do you think of the skiing conditions today?
Brian: Yeah, yeah, it's bovine.
So, obviously Brian is totally joking and trying to keep a straight face all the while purposely misusing the word "divine" as though that's totally normal. We're cracking up at home and then, suddenly the newscast is interuppted by a classic needle-scratching-partystop noise and a voiceover comes on saying, "Wait a minute, did he just say, bovine?" and then, a computer-generated background of a cow pops up along with a "MOOOO" sound and then you hear this clackety-clack of a typewriter as these words appear transposed over the cow:
BOVINE (ORIGINAL DEFINITION): OF OR PERTAINING TO CATTLE
BOVINE (COOL 1995 SLANG VERSION): EXCELLENT OR RADICAL!
Then, (and I'm not making this up) it cuts back to Ken Schram or something, and he says: "Well, those hurricanes off the coast of Florida aren't so "bovine," Penny! Let's go to Steve Pool for the weather."
Tell me that's not the best fifteen minutes in local television history. Brian Hopper rules.
Harsh Realm: Bummer
Cob Nobbler: Loser
Tom-Tom Club: Uncool outsiders
(And my favorite) Swingin' on the Flippity-Flop: Hanging out
I love it. Like anyone would say any of those phrases. Especially "swingin' on the flippity-flop!" How long does it take to say it? Thanks, Gamaliel for providing the full excerpt!
So, earlier I mentioned my other hero, Brian Hopper. Well, that's because this story totally reminded me of the time I was at Laura's house and happened to catch Brian on the local news. There had been a really big storm up at Crystal and they were filming the kids playing in the snow and skiing and whatnot. If you know the Hoppers, you know they love skiing, so of course Brian made the newscast. I would give anything to find a clip of what transpired, but for now, here's a paraphrased transcript straight out of my memory.
Newscaster: (we'll say, Penny LeGate since I can't remember who it was) Wow! It's really coming down out here! These kids are sure having fun with their snowball fights! Hey, young man, what do you think of the skiing conditions today?
Brian: Yeah, yeah, it's bovine.
So, obviously Brian is totally joking and trying to keep a straight face all the while purposely misusing the word "divine" as though that's totally normal. We're cracking up at home and then, suddenly the newscast is interuppted by a classic needle-scratching-partystop noise and a voiceover comes on saying, "Wait a minute, did he just say, bovine?" and then, a computer-generated background of a cow pops up along with a "MOOOO" sound and then you hear this clackety-clack of a typewriter as these words appear transposed over the cow:
BOVINE (ORIGINAL DEFINITION): OF OR PERTAINING TO CATTLE
BOVINE (COOL 1995 SLANG VERSION): EXCELLENT OR RADICAL!
Then, (and I'm not making this up) it cuts back to Ken Schram or something, and he says: "Well, those hurricanes off the coast of Florida aren't so "bovine," Penny! Let's go to Steve Pool for the weather."
Tell me that's not the best fifteen minutes in local television history. Brian Hopper rules.
2 comments:
No... Brian Hopper does not rule. At all.
Uh oh. What did he do?
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