A

• A-go-go – added to anything to denote an event or place being hip or happening 
• Acid – the drug LSD 
• Afro – a natural hairstyle for African Americans
• All Show and No Go – someone or something that’s pretty but has no substance
• Alright – an enthusiastic yes or agreement with something
• Amped or Amped up – maximum of something, also refers to state of mind
• Ape or Ape-shxx – crazy or out of control
• Are we having fun yet? – taken literally (comes from a 60’s cartoon character, Zippy the Pinhead)
• Around the Bend – to be crazy or strange
• Ate it – to be damaged or wounded

 

 

 

B

• Babe – cute girl or any girl
• Back off – an order given to stop a confrontation or undesired action
• Bad – good or very good, great
• Badass – someone who is tough, to be feared
• Bad scene – unpleasant place or event
• Bad Trip – unpleasant experience (not necessarily drugs)
• Bag (verb) – to steal or get when it doesn’t belong to you
• Bag (noun) – someone’s deal, could be their hobby or job
• Bag it – to stop or leave it alone 
• Baggies – loose oversized shorts or swim trunks (worn by surfers)
• Bail – to leave a place
• Ball – to have coitus (intercourse)
• Bang – (same as above)
• Barking spider – when someone passes gas and it’s smelled by others 
• Beam me up, Scotty – When a situation has become way too weird 
• Beats Me – I don’t know, not knowing something
• Beef – a fight, complaint or grudge
• Bell Bottoms – copying a navel pant, popular style of 60’s pant 
• Bent – crazy or out of it
• Berries – the best, terrific or oppositely to tease, be mean 
• Best thing since sliced bread – a great new idea or thing 
• Big Brother – symbolized anyone in authority specially government
• Bitchin – really good or fun 
• Black – a term for African Americans which replaced the word Negro
• Blacklight – a light that accentuated psychedelic posters 
• Blast – good or great (same as bitchin but more family friendly)
• Blitzed – drunk, high or generally out of it
• Blow Your Mind – to be amazed by something
• Blowing chunks – throwing up, vomiting 
• Bogart – to hog something, to not pass something along or to bully someone 
• Bomb – something that looks ugly and/or runs poorly 
• Bone yard – a place to put junk or wrecked cars 
• Book – to leave a place
• Boss – best of, groovy 
• Bought It – to die, or be killed 
• Brain Bucket – drag racing term for a helmet
• Brain derby – heavy thinking ie: an exam or school test
• Bread – money
• Brew – beer only (not hard liquor)
• Brody – skid half a circle in a car with the brakes locked 
• Bubble gum machine – flashing light on top of a police car 
• Bug (verb) – to bother or annoy
• Broad – an un-polite term for a woman 
• Bug (noun) – a Volkswagen Beetle
• Bug Out – to leave, quickly 
• Bummer – a downer or bad time, depressing, anything that is bad, a person, place or thing
• Burn rubber – to accelerate hard and fast and leave tire tracks
• Busted – arrested or caught also broke, no money
• Busting balls – teasing or ribbing a friend 

 

 

 

C

• Cancer Sticks – cigarettes 
• Candyass – someone who is a wimp or afraid to do something
• Cannabis – the plant that marijuana is from
• (a)Catch – a person or thing worth getting 
• Catch 22 – from a book title of same name, meant circular logic 
• Cat – a cool or hip person
• Catch some rays – to get some sun
• Cats – refers to people 
• Cherry – something that is near perfect or in great condition also a virgin
• Chick – the most common word for a female, usually a young female
• Chicken (noun) – someone who’s afraid
• Chicken (verb) – a game of bluff, sometimes played with cars
• Chill or Chill Out – calm down, relax, stop what you’re doing
• Chinese Fire Drill – fun at a stoplight, everybody gets out of the car and switches sides
• Color me gone – I’m leaving; I’m getting out of here 
• Cool – good, absolutely anything good (the most used word in the 60’s language, every sentence would have several “cool’s” and yes it was originally a 50s thing)
• Cooties – an imaginary germ that uncool people can have 
• Cop a Feel – to get to 2nd base or higher with a girl, sometimes inappropriately
• Cop a Squat – to sit down 
• Copasetic – no problem or you didn’t get caught
• Crash – go to sleep or pass out
• Crash Pad – a place to sleep and feel safe
• Creep agers – referring to teenagers 
• Crib – the place where you live, home 
• Crock – a lie or a load of lies
• Cruising – driving by a place numerous times looking for fun, “cruising the strip”
• Cruisin’ for a brusin’ – Looking for trouble
• Crumb grabbers (snatchers) – small children 
• Cut low (as in that cut low) – putting a person down 
• Cut me some slack! – Lay off me for awhile or “cool it” 

 

 

 

D

• Day-glo – a florescent paint used to give a psychedelic effect
• Dead Head – a fan of the Grateful Dead
• Defoliant – not new to the 60’s but widely discussed because of Vietnam and Agent Orange
• Deuce – 1932 Ford “deuce” coupe or to go number 2 in the bathroom or to hold up 2 fingers, peace sign 
• Dick – replaced “jerk” as meaning bad or stupid (Richard – dick – Nixon)
• Dig – to understand or agree ie: “can you dig it?” 
• Do Your Own Thing – just what it says, usually had a social implication
• Dove – anti war, a pacifist
• Drag – depressing or tiresome 
• Drop Acid – to do drugs specifically LSD 
• Dude – each generation defined it a little different, in the 60’s it was a guy friend
• Duh! – a sarcastic exclamation in response to an obvious statement

 

 

 

E

• Easy Rider – a film about the 1960s counterculture 
• Egg Head – a very intelligent or studious person, sometimes used sarcastically 
• Electric – used as an adjective to describe something that was psychedelic
• Establishment – parents and anyone who was part of the status quo 
• Exactamundo – exactly with a Latin ending for emphasis
• Experience – Jimi Hendrix took this word to a whole new level in 1967

 

 

 

F

• Fab – something that’s good or great 
• Fab Four – a term for “The Beatles” 
• Fag – a British term for a cigarette 
• Far Out – very popular phrase meaning wonderful, amazing or just simple approval (used much more frequently than in the 50s)
• Fat – signifies something good or best
• Fat City – flush, plenty of money 
• Fickle Finger of Fate – from Rowan and Martin ‘s Laugh-in
• Finger (verb) – to betray or turn someone in to the authorities
• Five O – means police or law enforcement (from the 1968 TV show Hawaii Five-O)
• Five finger discount – to shoplift 
• Flake – Someone who’s quirky, phony, or weird 
• Flat Top (Flat top with fenders) – a guys hair style
• Flip Flops – thongs or zories 
• Flippin – something that is fun or cool 
• Flip Out – to loose your cool, getting over emotional
• Flippin – something that is fun or cool 
• Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee – a phrase by Muhammad Ali to intimidate his boxing opponents
• Flower Child – a hippie
• Flower Power – the power of peaceful, natural and free lifestyle
• Fragging – a Vietnam War term involving a fragmentation hand grenade
• Freak – hippie, stoner, social anarchist (not derogatory)
• Freaked Out – scared or crazy
• Fred’s Out – phew, someone farted 
• Free Love – making love (sex) freely – whenever, wherever and with whom one wishes
• Friggin – used as an adjective in front of almost everything in the sixties
• Full of It – someone who is incorrect or outright lying
• Fuzz – the police 

 

 

 

G

• Gassed – drunk, high or generally out of it
• Gear – good or great (Beatles term) 
• Generation Gap – although not new it was much more acute during the 1960’s
• Get a Grip – to take control of your emotions
• Get Real – get serious, don’t fool yourself
• Gimme me a break! – Lay off me for awhile or “cool it” 
• Gnarly – difficult or big 
• Go Ape – to do something crazy or out of the ordinary
• Go-Go – dancing, nightclubs and perceived decadence
• Granny Glasses – round or octagonal either wire rimmed or rimless
• Greaser – not as common as the 1950s but greased hair and a motorcycle 
• Grok – to understand something intuitively
• Groovy – good, pleasing, pleasant – something that is right
• Grotty – gross, disgusting or tasteless 

 

 

 

H

• Hacker – exceptional computer programmer, the first hackers were good guys
• Haight-Ashbury – an intersection in San Francisco associated with the hippie movement
• Hair – the Musical – a Broadway play about the 1960’s hippie culture
• Hairy – difficult or out of control 
• Hairy eyeball – A look you give by lowering your brow and squinting slightly when suspicious 
• Hang Out – spending time with someone, or at a place 
• Hanoi Jane – name given to Jane Fonda after visiting N. Vietnam
• Happy Trails – See you, or Have a good trip, from The Roy Rogers TV show 
• Hassle – to bother, disturb or persecute someone
• Have a Nice Day – a satirical way to indicate mindless thoughts
• Head – a person who does drugs
• Head Rush – the first feelings of perceived pleasure after doing whatever drugs 
• Head Shop – store that sold drug paraphernalia and counter culture items
• Heat – refers to the police or any law enforcement
• Heavy – serious, profound or thought provoking
• Heifer – an inappropriate name for a girl 
• Hell no, we won’t go – the most used anti-war chant and slogan
• Here come the Judge – comical line from TV show “Laugh In” 
• Hemp – term for marijuana 
• Hep – like hip, “I’m hep” 
• High – one could feel euphoria through experiencing life or by using drugs
• Hip – to be in the know, to be cool, good, with it, happening
• I’m Hip – I understand or agree with 
• Hippie – members of the counter culture who were thrust into the spotlight primarily because of their anti-war activism
• Hit – a drag off of a marijuana cigarette
• Hit the Rack – go to bed 

I

• “If the van’s rockin don’t come knockin” – originally found on a bumper sticker for Volkswagen buses
• I’m Hip – I understand, I agree
• Instant Karma – being immediately rewarded or penalized for a good or bad deed
• It’s all in your mind – used to describe things that didn’t seem real but probably were 
• “It’s been real” – it has been nice, usually used sarcastically

 

 

J

• Jack – a 60s twist on the word, it meant “nothing”
• Jam – to leave a place, to go
• Jammin(g) – an unstructured music event, or musicians playing off each others impromptu composing
• Jesus Sandals – leather sandals worn by hippies (although flip flops were the norm) 
• Jet – to move quickly or to leave quickly
• Joint – a marijuana cigarette

K

• Keep the Faith – stay true to your beliefs, keep up the fight against the war and the establishment
• Ken Doll – guys who cared too much about their looks and appearance
• Killer – an adjective about something that’s great
• Kiss Off – telling someone to stop or to leave
• Kiss Up – to flatter, flirt or always agree with

 

 

L

• La La Land – either drunk, stoned or just naturally crazy
• Laced Bong – a bong with marijuana, Cocaine and Hashish
• Laid Back – relaxed, easy going, not easily ruffled
• Later – goodbye, short for see you ….
• Lay a Trip – to mess with someone’s head, to create confusion or conflict
• Lay It On Me – let someone know something, to give someone something
• Let It All Hang Out – to act without restraint, to let go of inhibitions
• Libber – a female who supports the women’s liberation, sometimes said derogatorily
• Light Show – psychedelic lights at a rock concert
• Lit – high, loaded or intoxicated 
• Load – a heavy burden or A lie, or questionable story 
• Loaded – high or drunk, out of it 
• Longhairs – hippies, used by straight society as an insult
• Looney Tunes – crazy or mentally disturbed 
• Loosey goosey – A car that handles poorly 
• Lost it – becoming hysterical,out of control 
• Lousy (adjective) – lots of ‘she was lousy with diamonds’ 
• Love beads – you had to wear them to be a cool hippie
• Love In – a gathering of people to be close and spiritual (sexual or not)
• “love it or leave it” – America, either accept what is going on or leave the Country
• LSD – a hallucinogenic drug
• Lucked Out – to get “lucky” with a girl 
• Lump It – learn to live with it