• WhatsTheHoldup@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    If the question is things “only” old people say, you have to exclude phrases old people say that were repopularized through media.

    “Heavy” (meaning important, grave)

    For example this is a really quotable line from Back to the Future, so kids would pick it up.

      • considine@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        The strange thing here is that Marty McFly is using the slang “heavy” and Doc Brown doesn’t understand it. Yet the use of heavy to mean “profound, serious” started in Jazz in 1937. So Doc would have grown up with the word, and by the 80’s I wonder if it was really all that popular anymore. McFly is using 50’s slang in the '50s but the guy from the '50s doesn’t get the slang. Maybe because he’s not hip.

    • ouRKaoS
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      6 days ago

      40 year old movies are not really a major influence on slang & pop culture…