Films/Shows that introduced society to a new word/concept

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

One of the things I love about film its ability to impact culture in permanent ways, such as introducing words we never knew before. Here are some examples:

The movie War Games introduced the world to the concept of a "hacker." After that film, "hacker" became universally known to all. And then a movie entitled Hackers came out a few years later.

The movie Poltergeist introduced us to the concept of the "noisy ghost" embodied in the German word that makes up the film's title. We Americans had already posessed a few loose notions about some spirits being more restless than others, but that film gave it an actual and official word. And again, it's a word that is now univerally known.

The movie The Weatherman introduced us all to the phrase "camel toe."

And Borat has now made almost universal the previously little-used phrase "not so much."

The TV show Seinfeld is perhaps the all time king of introducing new words to every day culture, the most famous, in my opinion, being "shrinkage."

I think it's the ultimate compliment to the writer if he can introduce a never-before-heard-of concept/vocabulary word and then it instantly takes hold in the entire culture.

Any more??

Marlys · Jan 24, 2008

Certainly movies, TV, and books popularize terms and catch phrases (you're right about Seinfeld--here's a site with a list) and sometimes they do coin entirely new words and concepts. Three from books: Catch-22 (Joseph Heller, from the novel of the same name), Big Brother (George Orwell, 1984), Utopia (Thomas More, Utopia).

But some of your examples don't quite work. The word "poltergeist" has been used in English for over a century and a half--certainly any kid who devoured Hans Holzer ghost-hunting books in the sixties and seventies or Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid (not obscure--a 1972 Newbery Honor book) knew that it means "noisy ghost" well before the Spielberg movie came out. "Camel toe" was certainly around when Conan O'Brien debuted the character "Camel Toe Annie" on his show in 2001, four years before The Weather Man, and some sources date it as far back as the seventies or eighties.

Not trying to smack you, just make sure that as writers we get used to giving credit where credit is due.

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

Marlys said:
Certainly movies, TV, and books popularize terms and catch phrases (you're right about Seinfeld--here's a site with a list) and sometimes they do coin entirely new words and concepts. Three from books: Catch-22 (Joseph Heller, from the novel of the same name), Big Brother (George Orwell, 1984), Utopia (Thomas More, Utopia).

But some of your examples don't quite work. The word "poltergeist" has been used in English for over a century and a half--certainly any kid who devoured Hans Holzer ghost-hunting books in the sixties and seventies or Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid (not obscure--a 1972 Newbery Honor book) knew that it means "noisy ghost" well before the Spielberg movie came out. "Camel toe" was certainly around when Conan O'Brien debuted the character "Camel Toe Annie" on his show in 2001, four years before The Weather Man, and some sources date it as far back as the seventies or eighties.

Not trying to smack you, just make sure that as writers we get used to giving credit where credit is due.

I don't take it as a smack.

I don't mind if you can cite an earlier reference to these things.

How about this:

The COMMON EVERY DAY PERSON didn't now what a "filibuster" even was until Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

LIVIN · Jan 24, 2008

Plot Device said:
The movie The Weatherman introduced us all to the phrase "camel toe."

No offense, but that statement is laughable. Maybe it was introduced to you, but I'd heard that phrase a thousand times before that movie.

But, this brings up an interesting point.

Plot Device said:
I think it's the ultimate compliment to the writer if he can introduce a never-before-heard-of concept/vocabulary word and then it instantly takes hold in the entire culture.

Which is this... If I'd written camel toe into a script in say 2002, I would have considered it utterly commonplace. That being said, I try to avoid utterly commonplace. But, as you suggested, it was utterly new to you - so maybe I should go back and rethink all these things I think if as utterly commonplace and put them in my scripts.

We're talking about a question of originality.... and I have not composed my thoughts yet, but there's the pitch...

(Edit: I read Marlys post after typing this)

LIVIN · Jan 24, 2008

Plot Device said:
The COMMON EVERY DAY PERSON didn't now what a "filibuster" even was until Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I learned about filibusters in 7th grade.

clockwork · Jan 24, 2008

I think Plot's talking about the introduction of an idea/theme/phrase into the wider public consciousness, not to individuals. So that if you were ask 100 people on the street, where did you first hear the expression, "sponge-worthy" most, but maybe not all, would say Seinfeld.

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

clock_work9 said:
the introduction of an idea/theme/phrase into the wider public consciousness, not to individuals

Yes! Exactly!

small axe · Jan 24, 2008

And Borat has now made almost universal the previously little-used phrase "not so much."

I will defend the reputation of the glorious FIREFLY with six guns and rocketships blazing!

"Not so much" was a fav phrase of her Captain, and that was on national TV years before Borat. And a cult series on national TV counts as an introduction, methinks.

(At least, I'd never heard the phrase before. But sometimes you'll hear something "new" and it turns out a huge segment of the population has been using it for years. I saw Mitt Romney say "Who let the dogs out. Whoop, whoop." on tv just a few days ago, and I thought, "Out of touch with pop culture, much?" -- which I'd attribute to the Buffyverse, but realize it may be Val Speak from the 1980's! Gag me with a tubular grungy! But that happens when Black slang filters down into white pop culture: by the time the crackers use it, the bruthahs have dropped it like it's Pluto! HA!)

Other than that lapse into madness and infamy, I like your thread, it's ... "shiny"

(a fav phrase of the cute stardrive mechanic girl on Firefly)

JoNightshade · Jan 24, 2008

I don't watch TV but we rent shows sometimes on Netflix. Lately I've been noticing that internet geek terminology is creeping into popular use. We've been watching the show 30 Rock and I notice a lot of internet slang on there. Interesting how terms migrate from an isolated sub-culture into the popular lexicon.

paprikapink · Jan 24, 2008

My kids think FYI is new.

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

small axe said:
I will defend the reputation of the glorious FIREFLY with six guns and rocketships blazing!

"Not so much" was a fav phrase of her Captain, and that was on national TV years before Borat. And a cult series on national TV counts as an introduction, methinks.

I have witnessed ONLY in the past 18 months (ie. ONLY since Borat) many an evening anchor on American network television, and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and even guest commentators on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, using the phrase "not so much" with that distinctly Lower East Side inflection. So I feel with confidence that it was indeed Borat that has only recently made it the "in" thing to say among American Progressives.

Now if only I could suss out who might have been the FIRST person to coin that now-popular (and perhaps over-used) Jonestown reference: "drink the Kool-Aid." I've only been hearing it for about two years now, even though Jonestown was decades ago.

HeronW · Jan 24, 2008

'Squeal like a pig' -- Deliverance

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

The first time I ever heard the sarcastic come back of "Ya THINK?" was in the film Adventures in Babysitting. Would anyone know of THAT film was what launched it into nationwide usage? Or was it already all over the place from some other source?

LIVIN · Jan 24, 2008

Plot Device said:
So I feel with confidence that it was indeed Borat that has only recently made it the "in" thing to say among American Progressives.

Oh, so we're talking about the "in" thing. How fetch.

I wouldn't know about the "in" thing, but I will say everything's merely a copy of a copy of a copy.

What else was I going to say? I forget. But maybe someone will tell me and I'll remember. Heck, maybe I'll even think it's new. And not remember that I ever forgot. Spooky. Anyway, I seem to gone off on a tangent. Or have I?

I don't know what you classify as the wider public consciousness. From your examples, me thinks your glasses might be a little foggy. Or perhaps I don't subscribe to the wider public consciousness weekly.

It seems I still have not composed my thoughts on the matter...

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

First time I ever heard "Been there, done that" (I actually heard it phrased as "Been there, done it, and got the T-shirt!") was when I was in Europe in 1992. An Irish girl in her 20's said it to me.

A year or two later I started hearing the phrase in American films and on TV as the much shorter "Been there, done that."

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

First time I heard the phrase "Go postal" was (I think ) the movie Clueless.

LIVIN · Jan 24, 2008

Plot Device said:
"Been there, done that."

I know I heard this commonly by 1990.

LIVIN · Jan 24, 2008

Plot Device said:
First time I heard the phrase "Go postal" was (I think ) the movie Clueless.

la la la (need characters, apparently)

Wikipedia said:
The term derives from a series of incidents from 1986 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public.

nielsty · Jan 24, 2008

The phrase I remember the best from Clueless was "As if". At least it reached Denmark with that film. I don't know how common it was before Clueless in the States.

small axe · Jan 24, 2008

LIVIN said:
Oh, so we're talking about the "in" thing. How fetch.

Look, just stop saying 'fetch' ... it isn't going to happen.

Or something like that.

"drink the Kool-Aid."

I think that's an old Kool-aid advertisement from the 1960's (when marketing was simpler) ... now, say "Drink the PURPLE Kool-aid" and you're not only 'in' ... you may not get out alive!

It's an interesting question, how do phrases and ideas enter the consciousness and then migrate throughout a culture?

I read somewhere once that the most common source of such things is Scripture, and the second most common is Shakespeare. I'd hate to think BORAT is the third!

But if you told me SEINFELD was, I wouldn't be surprised, because it had its tentacles out there mining the sub-cultures and then redistributed things all across the world in single episodes.

There's a theory about "memes" I keep hearing about, and really should investigate: little packets of ideas which some say take on a life of their own and basically spread and mutate in human cultures. If you hear something for the first time that "sounds so right you swear you've heard it forever" ... that may be a meme clicking on inside you.

I'd bet much much more slang originates from Black and Gay culture than most Whites in the mainstream could even dream of ...

I digress.

It always strikes me as bizarre how you'll see these Third World people (I don't mean any disrespect by saying that, so please take none) on TV and they'll be wearing a T-shirt that says "Indianapolis Colts" or "Dr. Who" on it, right?

And you wonder: what does that mean to that person? What can it mean, it's a totally alien concept, it might as well be from another world to a kid starving or fighting a tribal holocaust in Africa.

He's dying of thirst in the Sudan, and wearing a "Coca-Cola. Share a Coke and A Smile" T-shirt with happy polar bears on it.

You see these kids protesting in Gaza, burning American flags, seemingly hating all things USA (which is their right, lets not argue politics) ... and they may want to burn America down, but they're wearing their Tupac t-shirt! It's gotta be strange ...

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

HeronW said:
'Squeal like a pig' -- Deliverance

I was too young for Deliverance. Was that phrase NEVER used before that film?

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

nielsty said:
The phrase I remember the best from Clueless was "As if". At least it reached Denmark with that film. I don't know how common it was before Clueless in the States.

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

JoNightshade said:
I don't watch TV but we rent shows sometimes on Netflix. Lately I've been noticing that internet geek terminology is creeping into popular use. We've been watching the show 30 Rock and I notice a lot of internet slang on there. Interesting how terms migrate from an isolated sub-culture into the popular lexicon.

Gimmie an example.

Plot Device · Jan 24, 2008

paprikapink said:
My kids think FYI is new.

Ouch. That needs a litte bit of enlightenment.

DWSTXS · Jan 24, 2008

I think 'squeal like a pig' was introduced by Deliverance......when we saw it.....that was the phrase to use for a while.........

Also..........from real life 'I am not a crook!' (Nixon in the 70's) was a phrase that caught on for a while........

I have actually created an excel spreadsheet with several thousand examples of these cultural bon mots from over the years.........and I use it often in my writing.

I love them.......and I could go on and on and on about them.........but hey....I'll shut up
now...........I don't want to be accused of giving anyone tired-head.

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