A Totally Tubular List of 38 Slang Terms From the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries

In a totally tubular episode of the Mental Floss series “The List Show”, Editor-in-Chief Erin McCarthy amusingly listed out 38 different slang terms from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

The list includes such terms as “ampersand” (punctuation), “knee dusters” (1920s dresses), “Abyssinia” (I’ll be seeing ya), “Bogart” (keeping for oneself), “guilt trip” (self-explanatory), grody (gross), “chillax” (chill and relax), and “dumpster fire”, just to name a few.

Wastoid, wedgie, and dumpster fire, oh my! 20th-century slang has some of our favorite words and phrases. Learn all about the fun origins of some pretty whacky and absolutely real slang terms from the last hundred years.