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My Gen X Playlist: Cool Places – The Sparks with Jane Weidlin

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I read an article about parents breaking out their Gen X slang only to receive blank stares in return. C’mon, really? Some of our slang was pretty good. Here are a few that brought back memories.

“I said something about ‘making a run for the border’ referencing the old Taco Bell commercials to my 19 year olds and was given the Gen Z stare lol.” – bibleeofile123

“I still regularly use both gnarly and grody.” – duck_butter

“Using ‘Not!’ to sarcastically negate everything you just said.” – FreshCords

“More and more, kids these days don’t know where ‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner’ comes from.” – HLOFRND

“Answering ‘what’s up?’ with ‘chicken butt’.” – expespuella

“Word to your mother.” – silentAl1

“Does any body still say someone’s gonna sh*t a brick?” – iwonandimstillhere

“My kids still look at me strange when I say I am going to nuke something.” – lazygerm

“My husband said ‘let’s go veg out’ to my teen kids yesterday and they looked at him like he was crazy. My son was like, ‘what’s that mean?'” – CarisaDaGal

“Smooth move, Ex-Lax. . .” – Warhammer517

“Thank you Captain Obvious . . .” – nonesuchnotion

“Cool beans!” – Wide_Neighborhood_49

I have to admit, I did use a few of these growing up. I’m from Southern California, so I’m sure I threw out an occasional gnarly. Yes, yes, yes. I used to reply chicken butt. Don’t hate me. And shit a brick was a fun one. But if you really think about it, damn that really is a bad situation.

Not everybody can pull off Vanilla Ice’s word to your mother. I was self aware enough not to even try. But oddly enough, I always wish I could. I just discovered the shortened version is simply Word. I never connected the two before, but that totally makes sense. That also reminded me of this middle age guy that used to throw that out in department meetings. He definitely couldn’t pull it off but that never stopped him from trying. I was in my twenties back then and whenever he shouted it out, it made me think that old people were effing weird.

I never said cool beans, that just isn’t me. But I did use cool a lot. Still do as a matter of fact. I think that one will never die.

Here’s a song from the 80’s: Cool Places by the Sparks and Jane Weidlin (of the Go Go’s). This was a fun song that played a lot on the radio and MTV. This totally has an 80’s vibe. Word to your mother. Damn, even in print form it’s awkward. And I could hear my voice in my head as I was typing each letter and felt this crescendo of cringed. Just bad…

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I wanna go to cool places with you
I wanna take you cool places tonite
I wanna go where nobody's a fool
And no one says uh, "hey girl, need a light?"
I want to move like this and that
A minimum of chit chat
I never wanna cool down, cool down, cool, cool, cool
Cool places tonite

I gotta tell you, you're lookin' real good
They let us in so I'm feelin' all right
I like to go where sometimes they refuse
Yeah, I remember last Saturday nite
But I'm feeling cooler now
And they could tell we're cooler now
It's obvious we're cooler now, cooler now, cool, cool, cool
Cool places tonite

I wanna go, I wanna go, [etc.]

I want to go to cool places tonite
I wanna go to cool places with you
And after that we'll slip out for a bite
A coffee shop, and toast, coffee and juice
And then we'll sleep 'til 5 P.M.
And start it up all over again
I never want to cool down, cool down, cool, cool, cool

I wanna go, I wanna go, [etc.]

26 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Cool Places – The Sparks with Jane Weidlin”

  3. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” is new and a head-scratcher for me… I like Sparks though this seems a bit of a departure or them though not short on their usual quirkiness. I hadn’t heard this one before, so thanks for the intro!

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    1. I never said that one, but I’ve heard people refer to it fondly. It’s a line from Dirty Dancing. Don’t worry about the head scratcher. I never really hit it either!

      This was probably a mainstream Sparks song for MTV…

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  4. As a parent and as a teacher, I get really annoyed when I hear some of the current slang.

    But then it occurs to me that the current slang is not intended for our generation. We’re not supposed to like it. It’s supposed to be confusing and frustrating for us.

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  7. I’m a Boomer and I still use a lot of the slang you mentioned, although some had me scratching my head (like Steve here in the comments). I over-use “cool,” especially around my 7-year-old grandson, but there really isn’t a similar (or better) adjective.

    Love “Cool Places”–haven’t heard it in a while.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. I’m glad you are keeping it alive and well! That’s a line is from the movie Dirty Dancing. I’ve heard people are quite fond of that saying, but I’ve never heard anyone ever use it.

      I overuse cool, too. That one will never die for me.

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