Straight from the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang

By Max Décharné

Book Overview

Righteous jive for all you weedheads, moochers, b-girls, gassers, bandrats, triggermen, grifters, snowbirds, and long-gone daddies. Much of the slang popularly associated with the hippie generation of the 1960s actually dates back to before World War II, hijacked in the main from jazz and blues street expressions, mostly relating to drugs, sex, and drinking. Why talk when you can beat your chops, why eat when you can line your flue, and why snore when you can call some hogs? You're not drunk-you're just plumb full of stagger juice, and your skin isn't pasty, it's just caf? sunburn. Need a black coffee? That's a shot of java, nix on the moo juice. Containing thousands of examples of hipster slang drawn from pulp novels, classic noir and exploitation films, blues, country, and rock 'n' roll lyrics, and other related sources from the 1920s to the 1960s, Straight from the Fridge, Dad is the perfect guide for all hep cats and kittens. Think of it as a sort of Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary for the beret-wearing, bongo-banging set. Solid, Jackson.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767912063
• ISBN13: 9780767912068
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great fun for the whole family

I've always been interested in how slang terms originated. Accordingly, I decided that I had to own this book. To my knowledge, there's nothing else out there like it. It's a great read. Though some of the terms would be a bit dated for common speech, I've found numerous one liners that, at least, I can appreciate. Yes, the layout could have been better and the explanation of some words more concise, but I'm still happy with it. You show me something better than this and I'll give it a go.

What's Hip Today Might Become Passe

Subtitled "A Dictionary of Hipster Slang," this is a broad overview of mostly noirish/beat slang that will be enjoyed mostly be devotees of those genres. As mentioned by another reviewer, the organization is alphabetical only (as opposed to thematic, chronological, or source), so this lacks efficiency as a resource book--it's better for browsing. On the other hand, the somewhat narrower focus makes this more a heck of a lot more fun than the big and dry "Dictionary of Modern Slang," which is more complete but, akin to reading a dictionary. The slang expression is in a greyed margin on the left; brief explanations and examples are to the right. The book has flaws: The etymology of the slang is sparing; there are some examples of works in which it was used (but we don't know if that was the first use) for some but not all of the words. Most disappointing? Not a single picture except the book cover. To some extent, that may limit its "gift appeal," and, more importantly, and presents the words without much context. Perhaps copyright issues were at play; still, even scene-setting period photos would have evoked the slang's cultural and historical referents. There's also no index, although that's somewhat expected given the paltry organization. Given all this, the book (at around $15.00) is currently overpriced. Still, since there aren't many competitors, it has merit as browsing material (especially), and somewhat as a reference for "hipster" language.

Groovy

This is such a fun book. The best part are the footnotes. They explain where the terms originate from (movies, novels...)I got Straight from the Fridge, because I wanted to look up "normal" words and find what the slang might be so I could jazz up the speech in a short story. However, the book is not set up that way. It is organized in alphabetical order for the slang term only. Despite this drawback, it is a great source and well worth the read.