Category: Education

Boomers Added Words to the Dictionary

Living languages, by their very nature, are constantly evolving. The English language is no exception, as words are added to the lexicon each year. There are many reasons words are examined and added, but a main reason is they are commonly spoken. These word candidates generally fall into a few categories: advancing technology; specific industries (like food or space); and cultural references (like fashion or the daily living experience). What’s of specific interest to the observations of Mister Boomer are the cultural touchstones that manifest themselves into words of common usage.

It’s hard to believe, for example, that the word “selfie” was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary more than twenty years ago. Certainly self-portraits were not new to the twentieth century (see Mister B’s: Boomers Watched the Evolution of the Selfie), yet the nickname shortcut of “selfie” didn’t find its way into everyday language until the first forward-facing camera made its debut in a cellphone at the end of the 1990s. The word itself was added to the dictionary in 2002.

Certainly younger people have always been at the forefront of the creation of new words, and the Boomer Generation had its share. Some made it into common language use, others did not. Mister Boomer wondered what some of those words were that had their start during the boomer heyday of the 1960s and ’70s.

1960 was an auspicious year for new word entries that told of the increasing influence of the Boomer Generation. The fashion world contributed words like “Mod” and “catsuit.” A burgeoning night life scene coined the words “discotheque” and “wait-list.” And an expanding national food industry added “junk food” and “arugula.” It’s hard to believe now, but at the time, iceberg was likely the only type of lettuce people were able to get in their region. (See Mister B’s: Boomers Watched Out for the Iceberg)

The sixties saw the beginnings of space exploration, so words relating to space appeared. Could anyone imagine the need for the word “spacewalk” before the world watched Astronaut Ed White perform the first one in 1965? One year earlier, in 1964, the compound words of “high tech,” “sucker punch,” and “Zip Code” joined the dictionary. Naturally, the Summer of Love propelled “flower child” into the books in 1967, but wouldn’t you have thought “dork” had already been inducted decades earlier?

As technology advanced into the 1970s, additional words became part of the everyday language and ultimately, welcomed into the dictionary. “Beeper” joined in 1970. Cultural compound words that also were added that year include “love handles” and “comfort food.”

At the time, few if any boomers were aware that their language was being tweaked to accommodate modern life. It may very well still be the case today, as common words are spoken. It is certainly logical that the 2022 word inductees included “greenwash” and “metaverse,” as those terms cross into everyday speech. Yet also added was a word boomers have probably heard their kids or grandkids use, but may not have had the occasion to utter with confidence themselves: “janky.” It can be defined as something that is not functioning properly or is of poor quality. This word is attributed to the influence of hip-hop culture. Groovy, man. The word beat goes on.

How about it, boomers? Do you recall words spoken in your youth that were new then and ultimately crossed into everyday language?

Boomers Had Strict School Dress Codes

This time of year, Mister Boomer recalls the daily dread he felt as the Labor Day holiday weekend approached. It meant one thing: summer was over and school was about to begin.  Another dreaded part of every impending school year was the mandatory back-to-school shopping venture. As growing boomers, clothing from the year before often would no longer fit. For many boomers, including Mister B, school clothes were different than casual clothes. School dress codes had a great deal to say about that.

Mister Boomer and his siblings went to parochial school. Therefore, girls were required to wear uniforms, and boys wore dress pants, dress shoes, dress shirts and ties. Styles and fit were strictly enforced. Girls could not have a skirt hem land more than one inch above their knees, and it was often checked with a ruler at the school entrance. Boys were allowed the leeway of a bow tie or clip-on neck tie, but in Mister B’s early days, the shirt had to be white, light blue or pale yellow. Girls had two styles of collar that was allowed on their blouses, and had to wear plaid jumpers or skirts and black patent leather shoes with a single strap over the instep — known as a Mary Jane. Boys were required to wear leather dress shoes with laces. That was all that was allowed.

Mister B’s public school neighbors had rules that were a bit more relaxed in that they did not require boys to wear ties, but their shirts were required to have a collar. It was preferred that girls wore skirts and blouses or dresses, though by the mid-1960s, pants were allowed.

As the rebel images of James Dean and Marlon Brando popularized dungarees in movies of the 1950s, kids wanted to embrace the fashion. There were protests, mild and polite by today’s standards, by students from coast to coast. Still, for several years, the students lost the argument. Long before dungarees became known as blue jeans, dress codes explicitly forbade them for both boys and girls. As loafer shoes and penny loafers became a trend, they were banned by many school districts.

The sixties changed everything, man. Many point to The Beatles for popularizing longer hair for boys, from the moment they landed in the U.S. with their “moptop” hairdos. In Mister Boomer’s observation, though, there was a sea change in 1967 after the Summer of Love. Take a look at audiences at rock concerts before that time and after, and you’ll see a marked difference in the way boys and girls dressed. Before 1967, you’d see kids dressed like they were going to school. This is quite a contrast when you view early videos of Elvis, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones or The Beatles, for example. However, after 1967, there were Bohemian and Eastern influences that helped to create what we now know as the cliché of sixties fashions.

Before the mid-sixties, a great many school districts did not feel there was a reason to have written guidelines on hair. Boomer boys and girls tested their patience by adopting every trend that came along, and that necessitated a reaction to “keep the kids in line.” There were all sorts of seemingly random rules designed to limit everything from girls’ bangs and hair height to boys’ sideburns and overall hair length.

In the last half of the 1960s, school dress codes slowly began to loosen. In public schools, most school districts allowed “clean” blue jeans, and bans of loafers quietly disappeared. The styles of the day slowly brought athletic shoes into the casual realm as the ’60s became the ’70s.

By most historical accounts, the confluence of culture and modernized education methods of the 1960s altered the way dress codes were viewed. The era of Civil Rights brought about in some small measure an understanding that dress codes could be culturally biased, and it was a time when the concept of “students’ rights” was being discussed. For boomers who were in school at the beginning and end of the 1960s, there was a huge difference in what school clothes their parents were shopping for as the new school year approached.

Take a look at the way kids are dressed when they head to school today, and it appears to old Mister Boomer, there are no rules governing dress whatsoever. Mister B recalls many students in his day either altering their look once they left the house (girls rolling the waistband of their skirt to make it shorter, for example), or literally changing clothes when they left the house and again before walking into school. These fashion rebels were definitely mild compared to the beyond-casual presentations of today’s kids.

Whether boomers welcome or lament these relaxed school dress codes, today’s kids have boomers to thank for their sartorial freedom. Boomers blazed the trail over three decades to set the stage for today’s casual class-wear.

What memories of school dress codes do you have, boomers?