#BIFF SLANG MEANING TV#
#BIFF SLANG MEANING FREE#

By about 1994, slacker came to refer to an entire generation characterized by apathy and lack of ambition, also known as Generation X. Slacker peaked in popularity around World War I when it referred to a military draft dodger.įrom there the word's usage dropped dramatically, only getting a slight bump in the '90s with the release of the film of the same name. While this term might seem to epitomize the '90s, it actually originated almost 100 years earlier to mean someone who shirks responsibility. Slacker is Principal Strickland’s favorite putdown for both Marty and his dad. Fox was a Pepsi spokesman, as evidenced by the plethora of Pepsi product placement in the Back to the Future franchise.

#BIFF SLANG MEANING FREE#

Tab, one of the earliest diet sodas, was introduced in 1963 by the Coca-Cola Company and was advertised for those who wanted to “keep ‘tabs’ on their weight.” Caffeine-free Pepsi Free came onto the market in 1982.įor much of the ‘80s, Michael J. The 1955 town residents definitely wouldn't have known about Tab or Pepsi Free. “You wanna a Pepsi, pal,” Lou says, “you're gonna pay for it.” “Gimme a Tab,” Marty tells Lou the diner owner. However, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, gigawatt can be pronounced with a soft G, as in gigantic (and perhaps GIF). So what the hell’s a jigowatt? It’s been thought of as a mispronunciation of the hard-g gigawatt, or a billion watts. “One point two one jigowatts!” Doc Brown says. By the 1930s, it meant a second running of a motion picture, and by 1955, a rerun was a repeat of a television program, a practice that began that decade with shows like I Love Lucy, which were recorded rather than broadcast live. The word rerun originated in the early 1920s to mean a repeated attempt, especially a race or election. While his 1955 family has no idea what Marty is talking about when he says he’s seen a Honeymooners episode “on a rerun,” rerun television shows actually already existed by then.

#BIFF SLANG MEANING TV#

The word butthead reached peak-buttheadness in the early 1990s, most likely due to the TV show, Beavis and Butt-head, which debuted in 1993. It might have come from butterhead, African-American slang for someone who’s a “disgrace to the community,” but that didn’t come about until the 1960s. However, he would have never used the word in the 1950s.īutthead didn’t originate until the 1980s. BUTTHEADīiff calls Marty a butthead in both 19. Soon after, it gained its figurative meaning. While that became obsolete, heavy picked up again in 1930s jazz slang in reference to music that was profound or serious. Way back in the first century, the word referred to something that was greatly important. “Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?”Īctually, someone in 1955 probably would have known what heavy means. “There's that word again,” responds Doc Brown. He slips a couple of times-or does he? Find out in these 12 time-bending slang terms from Back to the Future. Not only does Marty have to make sure his parents get together, he has to fit in, which means wearing the right clothes, not knowing too much, and using the right lingo.

Thirty years ago today, Back to the Future blasted into theaters, sending one Marty McFly back 30 years himself to 1955.

Biff slang meaning