Quite frequently, new terms and phrases make their way into the vernacular from a variety of subcultural sources.Slang most frequently originates among teenagers whose sense of alienation from older generations inspires them to concoct words of their own.
- Terms like hip hop, "frug," "rave," scat, and reggae, emerged from the music and dance worlds and were popularized through radio.
- Rock bands like the Dead Kennedys or Butthole Surfers chose their names for shock value and/or marketing purposes.
- Often, current events lead to the coining of peculiar phrases to describe the news of the day. A series of fatal incidents led to the terms "disgruntled postal worker syndrome" and "going postal."
The ultimate irony is that the words once thought to belong to the cutting edge soon become a mark of how dated a person's references might be. Terms like "disco bunny," "feminazi," "Trekkie," "shrimper," (a toe fetishist), "Deadhead," "dudette," and "holla" can pinpoint a person's age, interests, and sensitivities (or lack thereof) with remarkable precision.
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