That's pretty rad

According to my best friend I'm so stuck in the 80's that I don't even realize it. During one of his visits this past week, my friend informed me that I regularly use the phrase "rad" to express my enthusiasm for something (usually when I'm describing some rad new toy). Apparently this is a habit I just haven't noticed and perform through unconscious impulse. It's possible that I simply never stopped using the phrase since childhood. Or perhaps I just picked it up again recently... who knows. Inevitably whenever something like that is brought to my attention I get to thinking about it in further detail, and that in turn leads into reminiscing about the 80's.

So I thought I'd look up a list of 80's slang and see how much of it I remember, and more importantly if more than just "rad" remains in my everyday vocabulary. A quick Google search lead me to this handy Glossary of Eighties Terms located at "inthe80s.com". They have an extremely thorough list, so for the purpose of my stupid little project I decided just to cover a handful of them:

Barf Me Out - This is one you would usually hear coming from the "valley girl" type. Used to describe something that is disgusting or perhaps offensive. I can recall hearing this quite regularly as I sat in the cafeteria during elementary school. It's no wonder as commonly served food items included cheese, which after rolled up into a ball would bounce just as well as the super bouncy balls purchased in vending machines. Regardless I am thankful that I never personally used this 80's phrase, ... that would have just been lame.

Batcaver - Here's one I don't think I ever heard. It describes a person who only wears black, and listens to bands such as "the cure". It's not surprising that I wasn't aware of this one since I was most likely too young and had no idea who "the cure" were. This phrase wins points with me for being creative and hilarious.

Bonus - According to the glossary this one is used to denote satisfaction or one's approval ie. "My parents are going away next weekend, I'm throwing a party!" "Bonus!" My friends and I were obviously out of the loop and rather confused about this gem. Instead of the above described definition we would regularly use the word "bonus" in place of the phrase "boner". I have no idea where that got started but I have a feeling it was just us being retarded.

Dickweed - "A dumb person or loser. Used for joking around with friends". After I was first called this on the playground in first grade I was puzzled for days as to what it could mean. Consequently this is one I still use on occasion.

Gnarly - This is one my older brother used quite regularly during his skater years. Denotes when something is exceptional. ie. "That move you just did with your board was gnarly."

No Doy - A variation of another 80's slang term "no sh*t sherlock". Used to denote when someone states the obvious. I can confirm that this term was used regularly by my friends and I, specifically when I was in elementary school.

So there you have it. If you would like to see more 80's slang then checkout the glossary linked above. I decided just to sample a few that jumped out at me. In conclusion - I have a theory that my brain is subconsciously using 80's slang in an attempt to open a rift through the space time continuum to 1985. I hope it ends up working since my time machine isn't getting any closer to being finished. Later...