I am a millennial woman; I grew up in the ’90s. Kids every decade make up new slang terms. These are some of the ones I grew up using. Some of these things I used to say all the time are now considered offensive. I was surprised by some on the list. Be careful with these.
1. “Going Postal”
This one is obviously offensive now, but we used to use it back in my day. It referred to a rash of Post Office shootings in the ’80s and ’90s. They were cases of disgruntled employees attacking their co-workers. It became a slang term used when you are really angry at someone. We use it to refer to someone we just fired. “I hope they don’t go postal.”
2. “Take A Chill Pill”
This one started in the ’80s as well. It refers to people taking Ritalin or other ADD drugs to calm down. We may have thought it was funny, but really it is perpetuating the stigma on people with mental health conditions. We need to stop using this ignorant phrase.
3. “Having a Senior Moment”
The Grumpy Cat is right. This phrase also makes fun of people with mental conditions. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are very serious ailments which take a person’s memory away. This doesn’t need to be made fun of. It is very sad to watch your loved ones suffering from these diseases. It can be hurtful when a family member doesn’t know who you are.
4. “Wife Beater”
Listen to Sherlock. We used the term wife-beater to refer to a white tank top shirt worn by men. We don’t need to use domestic violence jokes to refer to a shirt. Obviously, this one shouldn’t have been popular in the first place.
Here is a video comparing ’90s slang to slang now:
h/t: Bustle
Featured Image taken from YouTube video
