The other day I came across a file called Youth Paraphernalia as I was trying to force my filing cabinet closed (it's filled with the ghosts of children's librarians past, even though I cleaned a lot of stuff out when I first started). I don't know the date exactly, but inside was a program from our teen writing contest ceremony in 1989 (when I was 16, whoa). Also inside was this gem, written on a fancy new word processor, no doubt. It seems to be a summary of a teen focus group or poll.
CURRENT YA TRENDS/FADS SLANG
Wicked, rad, bitchin', awesome = cool, great, etc.
Took, geek = stupid person, idiot, loser, etc.
Bacteria = ugly wench
Mellow out! = Calm down!
Baked, cooked = high on drugs
Meech Laker = someone who backs out of something at the last minute [a proposed amendment to the Canadian
constitution in the late 80's that met with much opposition and was never ratified - I'm sure I never heard anyone call anyone
this]
FUBAR - (I guess a new form of snafu!) f***ed up beyond all recognition [although they actually wrote out the word, my
stars]
Not!= add on to a sentence to change meaning. e.g. "I liked it - not!" That means "I hated it!"
CLOTHING & APPEARANCE
Styles - jeans with frayed cuffs, button fly, baggy
white Levis
oversize tops
big earrings, especially hoops
leather beads on thong around neck (guys)
second hand and sixties style clothing
headbands (guys)
nylons and tights under shorts [I totally wore that!!]
Name brands - Levis, Guess, Stussy, Polo, Esprit, Club Monaco, Bennetton, Mexx, Vuarnet, Hugo Boss, Buffalo, Gotcha, West Beach, Ralph Lauren, B.U.M., Mistral, Sun Ice, Keds, Vans, Nike Air
MUSIC
Groups - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alias, 2 Live Crew, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Metallica, M.C. Hammer, Sinead O'Connor, InXS, Louis Armstrong [what?!], Ice Tea [little did we know he'd end up on a cop show], AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Faith No More, Depeche Mode, Public Enemy, Grateful Dead, Dee-Lite
AUTHORS/BOOKS/MAGAZINES
Authors - S.E. Hinton, Christopher Pike, Stephen King, V.C. Andrews, Danielle Steel, Judy Blume, Ann McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Gordon Korman, Ed Greenwood, Jackie Collins, L.M. Montgomery, Stephen R. Donaldson, Harper Lee [except for a few, the more things change, eh?]
Magazines - R/C Car Action, Teen, Seventeen, Vogue, GQ, YM, Mad, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Penthouse, Cheri, Powder Mag, Elle Horse & Rider, Snowboarder (written in No Thrasher? No Sassy) [actually, I couldn't get them to read Thrasher in this day and age, either, just cancelled the subscription; apparently at one time the library did have a subscription to Playboy]
Titles mentioned - Go Ask Alice, The Outsiders [again, things don't change much]
FOOD
Foods - fries, patchos (has been crossed out and had natchoes written above it), burgers, tacos, pizza, caesar salad, chicken, pasta, ice cream, steaks, frozen yogurt, junk food, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Japanese [strangely, all of these have tick marks above them, except natchoes, which has been underlined - perhaps no-one on staff had ever heard of them]
[Some favourite local restaurant chains are also listed, several of which no longer exist - but McDonald's is there, of course.]
MOVIES/TV
Movies - Gorillas in the Mist, Dead Poet Society, Killing Fields, Young Guns, Diehard, Steel Magnolias, Men at Work, Arachnophobia, Pretty Woman, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Beaches, Rainman (Predator II and something that looks like Robot Jox has been written in)
TV shows - Married With Children, America's Funniest Home Videos, Much Music [so shiny and new], Doogie Howser M.D., Ferris Bueller, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 911, Simpsons [long may it reign!], Days of our Lives, Wonder Years, Who's the Boss, Twin Peaks, Cheers, Cosby Show, Unsolved Mysteries
Actors/Actresses - Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger [he got a tick, too - what would they have said if we told them he'd be a governor some day?], Julia Roberts, Kim Basinger, Christian Slater, Johnny Depp, Dustin Hoffman, Kiefer Sutherland
(written in) Most admired: Bill Cosby 88 - Eddie Murphy '89
Then there's a section on places to go on a date, which I've never heard of. Which made sense because I then noticed at the very end it mentioned that the kids commented on lack of places to go in a city waaaay up in the interior of the province - so maybe this was picked up at a library conference or something as an example of a teen poll? I'll never know... But I enjoyed the blast from the past. :) (I think my favourite part was the lengthy explanation of "Not!")