About This Quiz
When World War II finally came to its conclusion, millions upon millions of soldiers left battlefields and went home. There, they tried to resume normal lives, and that meant having a lot of babies, all at the same time. The result? A huge baby boom. And the “Baby Boomer” generation created its own set of cultural norms and slang. Do you think you know all of the Boomer lingo in our quiz?
Don’t sweat it if you can’t hang loose with us in this tough quiz. After all, not everyone is hot to trot on such a tough challenge. But if you’re feeling funky and know how to get your groove on, we’ll wager you can get most of these questions right. Do you recall the vast informal vocabulary of the Baby Boomers?
If you hurry, you can have dibs on bragging rights over your friends. Dig it? Or maybe you don’t, and you’ll use Google to take a five-finger discount to steal the correct answers. Don’t be a cheater! Take this neato Boomer slang quiz now!
"Come on kids, we gotta beat feet if we're gonna make the train!" "Beat feet" means to leave in a rush.
You gotta get that dough, you wanna earn some bread. And that means you need a job, because that's how a boomer makes money.
Threads were clothes. "Oh Barbara, you really have a keen eye for new threads! That dress looks amazing on you!"
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Boomers love to have a gas… and no, it has nothing to do with beans. They're simply having fun.
Boomers with high blood pressure were perpetually "hacked off." It means that they were angry, an understandable reaction if someone stole your car.
Because apes are not known for their temper control. "Oh no, my parents found out that I skipped class again. They're gonna go ape on me!"
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"Please don't flip your wig, I didn't mean to wreck the car!" "Flipping your wig" meant to get very angry.
To Boomers, "cats" are not necessarily kitty cats. Because a "cat" might actually be a grown man.
Boomers tuned up a lot of muscle cars in their youth. But some cars were all show and no go, meaning they were pretty but had no speed.
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"Johnny, we gotta book it, lay a patch and let's go!" In Boomer-speak, "laying a patch" meant to spin the tires on a car to leave a black mark.
"Squares" were boring people who rarely engaged the people around them. Boomers didn't not want to be labeled as such.
You've got a bee in your bonnet and you need to get it out. "What's your bag" means "what's your problem?"
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Yell, "padiddle" when you see a car missing a headlight or taillight. The Boomer who counted the most of these won this silly game.
"That new Ford you got there is might clean." And by that, a Boomer is complimenting you on what a nice ride you have.
Pay phones are nearly obsolete in many places. But back when they were common, Boomers "dropped a dime" to make a call.
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Old-fashioned police car lights looked a bit like gum ball machines. And when they were illuminated, you were busted.
"Moo juice" is an oldie but a goodie. It's a slang term for milk, which many people drink right out of the carton.
"Booking it" meant that you needed to hurry up. Probably because you were late for the millionth time!
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This one's still in use today. A "hairy" situation has nothing to do with fur, but it does mean that something is dangerous.
Many young Boomers had a need for speed. So they juiced up the mills (engines) in their muscle cars to make them ever faster.
"Bummed out" means sad or depressed. "Yeah, I wrecked my GTO and he took my pink slip. I'm totally bummed out today."
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"Hit the gas, Bob, the cops are coming! Let's peel out!" If you were burning rubber in your car, you were peeling out, or spinning the tires.
Boomers came of age during the '60s, and some became flower children, or hippies. They were out to stick it to The Man whenever possible.
Full-on fights were part of growing up after WWII. If someone wanted to pound you, you'd better have your fists at the ready.
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Go easy on the giggle water. Too much of that beer will make you feel less like laughing and more like upchucking in the bushes!
"This new diner is the pits, let's beat feet!" "The pits" means something is truly bad or terrible and not worth experiencing.
"Gosh, that Bobby helped me mow my lawn again. He sure is swell!" "Swell" was one of many ways of saying something was fantastic.
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Boomers with a death wish might've played a game of "chicken" in their cars by driving straight at each other. The first person to swerve in self-preservation was a "coward."
No one wanted to be remembered (or more accurately, forgotten) as a flake. Flakes were rather useless or unreliable people.
Boomers often called televisions "boob tubes," because early versions used vacuum tubes, and because only sedentary people watched TV all the time.
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You're not telling them the whole story, but now it's time to "lay it on them." Otherwise, no one will really know what you mean.
If someone was "fine as wine," he or she was very attractive. And maybe you'd drink them up with your eyes.
In cartoons, sleeping characters often have the letter Z in a long line above their head. If you're "catchin' Zs," you're sleeping.
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It's another term that still lives on today. If something is "boss," it's totally great.