Real Kato Blog: Stale or Boss?

I want to resurrect some old expressions.

When I was in elementary and junior-high school, the word "stale" was pretty popular, at least in our neck of the woods. It might have been a Michigan regionalism. It was used in ways other than to describe an old joke... we used it for what would now be called "weak" or "lame". For example: "Oh, those clothes are so stale."

My sister and I used "stale" in front our older friend Jerry (who was then in college). We had to explain to him what it meant. He told us that when he was younger, people used the term "oink" for the same thing. "Oh, that car is really oink." At the time I remember thinking that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard.

I guess we're all just attached to our own generation's expressions.

The phrase "no DUH", or its variant "no DUYEEE", seems to be making somewhat of a comeback. That one is still fun to use.

I wish we would bring back "bogue" (I guess, short for "bogus"). I liked "bogue". Very useful. What's today's equivalent to "that's bogue"? Perhaps "that's just wrong" or "that's cold". But "bogue" had a connotation of funkiness too. I don't know if there's really an equivalent.

I wasn't a big fan of the Valley-Girl terms: "grody to the max", "gnarly", "bitchin'". They seemed too trendy, a cliché right out of the gate. The terms "boss" and "dope" were kind of like that too.

I did kind of like "gag me with a spoon", though.

Psych.

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