The Allusionist

94. Harsh Realm

On 15 November 1992, the New York Times printed a ‘<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/style/grunge-a-success-story.html?pagewanted=all" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lexicon of Grunge</a>’, a list of slang terms from the Seattle music scene. ‘Harsh realm’ = bummer. ‘Wack slacks’ = old ripped jeans. ‘Swingin’ on the flippity-flop’ = hanging out.
Not familiar with any of these? It’s OK, that’s not because you’re a cob nobbler (= loser). They were all made up. By Megan Jasper. Now the CEO of <a href="http://subpop.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sub Pop</a> records, she recounts her linguistic prank.
Find out more about this episode at <a href="http://theallusionist.org/grungehoax" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">theallusionist.org/grungehoax</a>.
NB there are a few swears in this episode.
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Adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman. TheAllusionist.org