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I wonder if that includes "bitchin," a term that, in my teen years would get my mouth washed out, but of which I still don't know the meaning.
2 comments:
Context: talking in a pejorative manner about a subject.
OR
cool, neat, hip, with-it, keen, right on, rad, def, phat, trendy, popular
I know (and knew then) what I meant when I said (out of parental earshot) "bitchin." My friend's car was "bitchin." The Beach Boy's new album was "bitchin." I know what my friends meant when they described the surf that day at the beach as "bitchin."
But what's the derivation of the word? What’s its first cite?
If "bitchin" is a shortening of the gerund form "bitching," how does the transformation from "to bitch" and "bitching" to a contraction of the word morph the meaning from negative to positive.
Phat. Nobody says phat.
In fact, the whole list is ridiculous. “Cool” was cool to say when “neat” and “keen” became giveaways that you weren’t really cool. Right on was mocked almost as soon as it appeared in common currency. You can even have it in a movie title today without it being used ironically.
Outside of “cool” the only words on the whole list that aren’t embarrassing are “trendy” and “popular.” Which words are neither.
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