I noticed a number of 90s slang terms used on Clarissa, which to me sound a little bit like 80s Valley Girls leftovers: 'rad', 'gnarly' and 'totally tubular'. Any more? Are they 80s more than 90s?
I also noticed '411' for 'information', of course. Was or is that common outside the series?
Dicky
One thing to note about this show is that is debuted in 1991, which still had some residue from the late 80s slang. You can see this in movies as well like "Don't tell mom the babysitter's dead." It's riddled with 80s humor, fashion and slang, yet it came out in 1991.
That great 80s slang didn't start to fade until around 1993. I think this happens with every decade, at the start of a new one, some of the old is still leftover. Look at 2000-2003, you still had girly pop stars and boy bands until they faded around 2004.
As far as the 411 slang, I never personally heard that at school (I was 8 or 9 when this show was popular, so that's probably why). The show appealed to teenagers, who could have been talking like this, but I'm not sure.
"Why go through life unnoticed?" - Aquamarine
Hi,
Thanks for the great, informative reply! Yes, it stands to reason that there is no clean break at the start of the decade, and people all of sudden start a new kind of slang out of the blue.
It was the same with the colorful (call it loud or garish) fashion styles in the show, which many see as belated 80s fashion.
As for boy bands and teen stars, we still have The Jonas Brothers, High School Musical, Justin Bieber and Big Time Rush, so either fads never fade in a way, or come full circle, so there you have it!
Dicky