Terms Which Have Disappeared

[LizzieMaine]

. Hopefully, there will be no nostalgic return of the 80s!

We're soaking in it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Heave-ho

As in, the boss (or girlfriend) gave him the heave-ho.

 

[HudsonHawk]

At least men still wore suits and ties in the 70s! Now the 80s, sweat pants, spandex, leggings, ultra shorts for men, preppies, all that was formal wear. Hopefully, there will be no nostalgic return of the 80s!

Seriously, how many of you actually dressed like that in the 80s?

 

[HudsonHawk]

We're soaking in it.

Plum silly with it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Seriously, how many of you actually dressed like that in the 80s?

You're spot on. That was MTV video pop star stuff. Not many real-world people dress that way. The thing many did do in the '80s that didn't age well was the Miami Vice look. I fortunately intuitively knew I was't cool, would never be cool and would look worse trying - so boring staid was me then and now.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You're spot on. That was MTV video pop star stuff. Not many real-world people dress that way. The thing many did do in the '80s that didn't age well was the Miami Vice look. I fortunately intuitively knew I was't cool, would never be cool and would look worse trying - so boring staid was me then and now.

 

[vitanola]

For me the 1980's were my "Tweed period". A sturdy fabric from which the little smuts of dirt and grease which came with driving a Flivver could be easily cleaned In the summer I substituted washable seersucker. Still have two or three Harris jackets from those days. Would that they still fit...

 

[tonyb]

... Would that they still fit...

Leave clothes in the closet long enough and they shrink. That'll happen.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Leave clothes in the closet long enough and they shrink. That'll happen.

It's when your leather belts shrink that it gets infuriating. I just tried to put on one of my old gunbelts and it's shrunk good 4 inches.

 

[Stearmen]

Hot diggity dog!

 

[Zombie_61]

Seriously, how many of you actually dressed like that in the 80s?

Not so much the spandex, leggings, and/or parachute pants, but more than a few classmates were into the punk rock scene when I went to high school in the late-70s, and they would have fit right into those two photos.

I ran into one girl in particular at a party thrown by a mutual friend about 10-12 years later. She was still active in the punk rock scene, but only "dressed up" when she attended concerts. She told us a story about working in an office with female co-workers who were extremely conservative. One day she brought in a photo album and showed her conservative co-workers photos from her punk rock days, including a wonderful portrait of her wearing painted-on spider webs on her upper eyelids. Her co-workers were appalled, and one of them asked, "You mean you went out for Halloween dressed like that?" Her response was, "No, I went to the supermarket dressed like that." She said those women walked away speechless, and didn't talk to her for a week unless they had to.

 

[Fading Fast]

You're spot on again. Plenty of kids in my town dressed like the kids in "The Breakfast Club," but not like the lower picture which is some sort of confused mash up of Olivia Newton John '80s music videos and Jane Fonda '80s workout videos. John Hughes had a pretty good handle on teenagers in the '80s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Seriously, how many of you actually dressed like that in the 80s?

The only people I knew in the '80s who dressed like that were six years old.

 

[MisterCairo]

You're spot on. That was MTV video pop star stuff. Not many real-world people dress that way. The thing many did do in the '80s that didn't age well was the Miami Vice look. I fortunately intuitively knew I was't cool, would never be cool and would look worse trying - so boring staid was me then and now.

The views of generations about prior periods are almost always based on the stereotype. The greaser was the exception not the rule in the 50s, hippies in the truest sense were never more than a smelly minority, most people did not do the disco in the 70s and having been there, that 80s "look" in those staged photos were never seen on any street I walked on.

The Breakfast Club and other Hughes films had it about right. Mostly normal stuff, the odd padded shoulder and painters pants. The hair styles were about right though, feathering being near mandatory on girls.

There were far more headbangers than punks any day of the week. Jeans, jean jackets, Iron Maiden tee shirts were dime a dozen for lots of guys I knew.

Punks were literally a handful in terms of the mohawks, etc., but many of us (self included) loved the music. New wavers were fairly common (self included) and some goths of course, but again, those stood out as exceptions.

I did have one friend who literally did the Miami Vice pastels, jacket with tee and rolled up sleeves. At least for a brief time, about grade 12 (1985 or so).

 

[Trenchfriend]

In Germany, it's getting warmer, these days. Winter-coldness is getting away.

Denim jacket-time will come, Denim jacket-time will come...

 

[BlueTrain]

I think I mentioned that I attended my 50th high school reunion three years ago, class of 1964. One fellow was distinguished by having a name that started with "Y" and so was always seated at the back of the room. Well, I was struck by how he somehow managed to look totally unchanged in spite of the passage of 50 years. He both looked and dressed the way he did in high school. He always wore cream-colored jeans (you couldn't wear blue jeans but cream colored ones were okay, I guess). And a Madras shirt. His uniform.

 

[tonyb]

...hippies in the truest sense were never more than a smelly minority ...

What made people "hippies in the truest sense"? And who gets to decide?

 

[ChrisB]

What made people "hippies in the truest sense"? And who gets to decide?

I can't say that I ever knew anyone who self identified as a "hippie".

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Remember when "made in Japan" meant cheap and shoddy?

 

[tonyb]

Remember when "made in Japan" meant cheap and shoddy?

Yup. And some still insist that "furrin-made" durable goods are by default less durable than the stuff made stateside. But then, these days determining where such goods are actually made isn't always so easy. A car might be "made in the USA," meaning its final assembly might take place here, but the components come from hither and yon.