‘Hippie Dictionary’ defines groovy era
The 1960s and ‘70s were a trip: bad as in good, heavy as in deep, cosmic as in far-out, high as in clean out of sight.
It was a time to get down, get back, get with it, get it on, get it together, get naked, get real, and get stupid — if you get my drift.
Everyone was an individual and everyone wore bell-bottoms, beads, granny glasses, sandals, fringe, headbands, peace symbols, tie-dye shirts and flowers in their hair.
The places to be or not to be were the Fillmore, Woodstock, Haight-Ashbury, Kent State, Chicago, Monterey, Needle Park, Berkeley and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
If none of this rings a bell, or is all kind of a Purple Haze, it’s either because you weren’t there — or more probably — because you were.
Putting aside the matter of why your recollection of these two decades might be a bit hazy, be aware that help has arrived in the form of an informative and entertaining book called “The Hippie Dictionary” (Ten Speed Press).
The soft-cover, 704-page compendium, which took author John Bassett McCleary eight years to put together, bills itself as “a cultural encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s.”
Here are some offerings from the book that may intrigue and take you back, although hopefully, not in a flash.
Words and expressions that are still in common usage today:
Bash.
Funk.
Check it out.
Cop (to get or buy something).
Cop-out (to give into pressure).
Cop a feel (better not get into that here).
Don’t quit your day job. (Everyone wanted to be in a band … but most musical careers were unprofitable and one had to have a day job to pay the rent.)
Freak out.
Compleat Idiot’s Guide (nickname for the book “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive; a Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot”).
Words and expressions that didn’t, or shouldn’t have, made it
out of the 1960s and ‘70s:
Groovy (or worse still, groovin’).
Bag (as in “not my”).
Do your own thing.
Don’t trust anyone over 30.
Where one’s head is at.
Right on.
Golden oldie (See “Don’t trust anyone over 30”).
Words and expressions you may wish you never heard of:
No way, Jose.
Wazoo (along with relatives kazoo and yazoo).
Party hearty.
Let it all hang out.
Don’t worry, be happy (originally found on posters produced by followers of Avatar Meher Baba in 1960s. Later was title of extremely annoying song).
Memorable people:
The Mod Squad (Link, Julie, Pete).
Easy Rider (Captain America).
Shaft (a bad mother … shut your mouth).
Wavy Gravy (MC at Woodstock).
Memorable things:
Lava lamp.
Alligator clip (used to restrain alligators — yeah, right).
Gorp (“good old raisins and peanuts,” a hippie staple).
Op art (far-out, man).
Stratocaster (Hendrix).
Ripple (if you got the right month).
Hippie chicks.
In retrospect, the phrase that most accurately defines the
1960s and ‘70s:
Astral plane.