About This Quiz
The 1990s gave us some great things, like chokers, flared jeans (lord help you if you called them bellbottoms), belly chains ... wait a minute ... It's clear that the 1990s was easily the most uninspired, unoriginal decade when it came to things like fashion. Those of us who grew up in that time were basically told that tie dye had been done, chokers went out of style for a reason, and wearing next to nothing was something people discovered they could do in the '60s. As a matter of fact, the only decade the '90s didn't try to steal from was the '80s, which were totally bashed at the time.Â
While the 1990s wasn't an excellent way we expressed ourselves through fashion and makeup choices, we did find individualism in our music ... and our words. The slang of the 1990s took the words of the decades before and completely changed them. The great part about it was that slang was no longer isolated to regions of the country, because it was found everywhere (especially MTV ... which was still cool, and sometimes still played music in the '90s), and it spread through the media and the Internet with the communication age. So, if you were around for the '90s (or you just have an obsession with that decade), you probably know a thing or two about the slang that was available. It's time to test your skills, and try to complete these slang phrases from the '90s.
When something was all that and a bag of chips, it was better than great, it was the best. It had more going for it than you could imagine. Imagine if you had a pot of gold and a unicorn. Now imagine all that with an additional bag of chips.
Talk to the hand, because the face ain't listening was a great way to shut someone down if they were acting like a fool, being annoying, or trying to disrespect you. It was the perfect way to disrespect them before they even had a chance.
A fart-knocker was the term used to tell someone they were acting stupid or like an idiot. The phrase originated from the show "Beavis and Butthead," two teens who liked to watch MTV.
Advertisement
Home skillet was a derivative of home fry, homey, and home boy. Home is a safe place, a place that you return to and love, and you associate your best (oldest) friend with home. The skillet comes from the fact you can fry things on a skillet.
When you were outtie, you just had to go. It was usually something you announced only if you were in the middle of a conversation, and you had to cut someone short. However, some people used it every time they got up from the lunch table.
Yes, "outtie" soon turned into Audi simple from assimilation of the sounds. Of course, this phrase then evolved into a heavily marketed model: the Audi 500. The phrase worked, for a short time.
Advertisement
While this phrase has a dark origin, it was the 1990s way of showing that you went crazy. Several postal workers in the 1990s took out their frustrations in the workplace with violent activity, and that's where this phrase came from.
Joey from "Full House" really brought this one to the spot light. He'd always say it, complete with sign language. It basically mean to stop what you were doing, usually in a funny way.
The exclamation wasn't just to tell people you were surprised, it also told everyone that they should be surprised too. For example, if someone who was bullied finally stepped up and took down said bully, someone might shout "Oh, snap!" because they didn't expect that, and no one else should have expected it either.
Advertisement
Step off meant a little more than back off, it was basically a way to warn someone who was trying to pick a fight that you weren't in the mood. It was a push-back phrase that told people you were ready to fight if they didn't walk away.
Back in the 1990s, when the Internet wasn't around to help us look up phone numbers, we would dial 4-1-1 for directory information. It gave quite a bit of details about people's lives, so when someone wanted gossip, they'd ask for the 4-1-1.
You go, girl! or You go, boy! were great ways to tell people that you supported what they were doing and you were proud of their efforts. Of course, this soon turned into a sarcastic phrase, and eventually was said when people did things you didn't approve of, but you didn't really care.
Advertisement
If someone is freaking out over something or they were acting crazy, you would tell them that they were trippin.' This soon became a great way for people to tell their significant others that no cheating was happening ... because that would be crazy.
"Hella" basically meant very, but it was a much cooler way to say very. It could be used in nearly any context, but soon the term was shown to be pretty stupid when Eric Cartman couldn't stop saying it in an episode of South Park.
This one was made famous by the movie "Wayne's World," in which the main character, Wayne, would yell NOT to emphasize his sarcasm for the statement he just said. "Wayne's World" also brought us words like "Schwing!" in the '90s.
Advertisement
Being salty in the '90s was your way of being grumpy. It was a nice way to tell people that they were acting very close to a female dog in heat. These days, we might tell people not to feel so butthurt.
Of course, we may have first heard this on Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but it really became a staple in the '90s as a way to sarcastically respond to someone who was annoying you beyond belief.
Back in the day, people said "back in the day" to begin sentimental sentences about how their lives used to be. The trouble with this phrase was that it was used to talk about things that happened a couple of years prior to the conversation.
Advertisement
The most common use of the term "bangin'" is for someone who has a perfect body. When someone told you that you had a "bangin' bod" it meant that they were very interested in looking at you without your clothes on.
BOO-ya! was an exclamation that was mostly used to pronounce a win or that someone was proven correct in an argument. It was most often used by middle and high school students who wanted to run their skills in people's faces.
Usually, "my bad" was reserved for minor infractions, like bumping into someone or messing up a math problem. However, in the movie "Clueless" we see it used when someone hits a parked car. Yes, you should have left a note.
Advertisement
Props was a short way of saying proper acknowledgement. It was the 1990s version of a shout out. It was a way to tell people that you couldn't have done something without the help of the person you're giving props to.
While the characters on South Park still tell us that things are sweet, this term was used the most in the late 1990s (most likely originating from South Park itself). However, it wasn't just used to describe things, it was a way to say thank you as well.
If you couldn't figure out something to come back with in the 1990s, you'd probably just yell "your mom" really loud. It was the "I'm rubber, you're glue" of the decade, and it stuck around for quite a while.
Advertisement
As if was another phrase made famous by Cher in "Clueless." Not only was she a fashion guru for those in need, she was the quintessential '90s teen, who used every slang term available at the time.
Kicking someone to the curb was the 1990s way of saying that you were kicking the person out of your life. They didn't deserve your time, or even your sidewalk at that point.
A scrub is also known as a busta, according the the trio who made this term famous. If you were wall about girl power in the '90s, you didn't mind tell men that you weren't interested in any kind of scrub.
Advertisement
'Sup? wasn't just a way to ask people how they were doing. The decade brought on a lot of selfishness, so even though "'sup" literally means "What's up?" it was more of a greeting. People weren't really interested in what was actually up with you.
This term could also be used to tell a friend that they were acting a little too crazy or off. "What's the matter with you? You're totally buggin' right now," was a great way to tell your friends to calm tf down.
"Mad" was a term used in the '90s to express a lot of something, but it was more than a lot. It was crazy, unheard of, mad style a lot. If someone was making mad money, you've probably never seen so many commas in a paycheck.
Advertisement
If you know the song by the Offspring, you know that "fly" meant cool back in the 1990s. The show "In Living Color" actually even had dancers that were known as "Fly Girls" to show how cool they were.
"All" was another filler word that function the same as "like" or could actually be used with it or on its own. You could say someone was "all 'you don't get it'" or you could say someone was "all like 'you don't get it.'"
If someone was "bout it-bout it" they were pretty much down for anything. This term originated in rap and hip-hop culture in the 1990s, but it did trickle into other cultures as well.
Advertisement
When someone was clownin' around in the 1990s, they were just kidding. This phrase was usually used only when someone told a joke that offended people. In order to lighten the mood, the comedian would tell people he was just clownin' around.
In the 1990s, your crib was your home, because ... well there's no real reason. It was just a cooler way to say that you lived somewhere. Maybe because it was comfortable to you. You might remember the show MTV Cribs, where we could see inside the mansions of the rich and famous.