In this feature for the ‘Footloose’ countdown, the staff of The Fordian decided to take a step back from rehearsal pictures and the like to bring you a little cultural context for the time from which ‘Footloose’ derives; through the power of words. Yep, that’s right dudes and dudettes we’re wearing our sunglasses at night because it’s the 80’s!

And best of all, we compiled a concise glossary of 80’s slang to know before you go to see the show, so that you will be able to recognize what some of the characters are saying when they refer to the words of ‘dweeb’ , ‘fresh’, and ‘awesome’.

Thus, we embark on our long-awaited campaign to start reviving some of these phrases and words that have not stood the test of time, (of course only for this week for the show in the spirit of cuttin’ loose) just to get everybody in the mood that Kevin Bacon danced his socks off in.

Now, we must preface this by saying that these words are meant to be used in good faith for the further cultural exploration of a time period long gone in time but still relevant in a study of American history today. These words represent the unique vernacular of an all too short-lived era and give insight into not only the popular culture of those days of the golden past, but also a look at what the dialogue and song lyrics of ‘Footloose’ might be like.

But without further delay, here it is, the list we compiled from various sources (which include Merriam Webster Dicitonary and PBS), in all it’s 1980’s glory.

The Fordian’s Gnarly 1980’s “lingo to know before you go” list:

As if!: I’d rather not

Awesome: something extremely good

Bad: good

Barney: an unattractive male

Bodacious: beautiful

Bogus: deceptive, a sham, not good

Bonus: used to denote satisfaction or one’s approval

Boss: very cool

Bow-Head: another name for preppie – usually a silly girl with a big bow in her hair

Brody: a police officer

Take a Chill Pill: take it easy, call down

Chillin’: to be in a state of rest; resting

Cool Beans: cool, awesome, agreeable

Deck: to beat someone up

Def: something really hip

Don’t Have a Cow: remain calm, don’t get excited

Dudical: used to describe a place or thing as cool as someone dubbed a dude

Dweeb: someone who is not cool

Fer Sure: definitely

Fresh: very new, used in reference to music

Gag Me With a Spoon: disgusting

Generic: of poor quality; poorly planned or executed

Gnarly: exceptional

Grody: disgusting, gag me with a spoon

Gross Me Out the Door: very disgusting, very grody, very gag me with a spoon

Make Me Barf: a way to signal disgust with a situation

McFly: someone has just done something very stupid

Nice Play, Shakespeare: that was a really stupid action

Preppie: a person who dresses in upscale clothing and acts snobbish towards people not in the same social standings

Radical: something extremely hip, almost awesome but not quite there

Rad: abbreviation of the popular term ‘Radical’ see above

Stoked: very excited

Valley Girl: a teenage girl from a wealthy family in southern California who speaks in a unique kind of slang and who cares about social status, personal appearance, shopping, etc., rather than about serious things

Val: short for Valley Girl see above

Wicked: excellent or great

Yuppie: a person who is a whit collar worker who has possessions of expensive nature and flaunts them around thinking they are ‘rad’, when they are just annoying