The 1980’s

By Olivia smith

People of society

• Rich got richer• Poor got poorer• Shell suit decade• People were poor due to Margret thatcher

increasing poll tax

Youth Culture

• Music terms – hip hop origin/ garage origin• ‘body popping’ ‘break dancing’ • ‘moon walking’• ‘crack’ ‘E’s’ ‘ Warehouse raves’ • ‘moshing’

Hip hop origin

• www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-O5IHVhWj0

Politics• Margret Thatcher - making the poll tax too high which particularly

upset the middle of England

• Anyone who went against her was seen as ‘handbagging’ her

• Labour party also upset everyone which lead to words such as ‘fudge’ and ‘mudge’ to come into the English language.

• Emily’s list - Increase number of female MPs

• Words which came out this were :• Sleaze and spin doctor

Money

• A major part to this era was that finance brought new vocabulary into the English Language.

• It also changed the dynamics of society as there was now considerable amount of wealth.

• Financial boom in stock markets 1986

• 1987 – Black Monday – Share prices plummeted

Money terms

• Words that were added into vocab:• ‘Grey market’ An unofficial market in which goods are bought and sold at prices lower than the official price set by a regulatory agency

• ‘Dawn raid’An investor buys a substantial number of shares in a company first thing in the morning when the stock markets open because they are at their cheapest.

War

• Faulkner's war (1982) this benefitted Margret Thatcher's electoral prospects

• The threat of war in Britain made Britain set up peace camps. This started new lexis being added: zero option, START and build down.

• Eastern Europe had gained independence and the forty year cold war had been won by the West of Europe.

Technology• Technology accelerated in this era:• Dongle and toggle

• Lots of people had problems with this new technology however.

• Communication in technology was a new influence on the modern world

• Snail mail was dying out and cures for hackers such as ‘vaccines’ were being found

• Email and information superhighway were new terms

Technology

• Walkman's and ghetto blasters portable sounds

• Camcorder, record own videos

• Chat lines and help lines reinvented telephone industries

Environmental concerns

• Bio diversity/ Eco friendly – we were eager to be this sort of society

• Cruelty free products- people bought

• We supported the construction of wind farms

Aids

• Terminology of disease came about when it did

• Buddy, HIV, PWA, AZT

• Femi-doms, safe sex , bonking

Slang• Wicked• Massive• Mega• Radical

• Prostitutes became ‘sex workers’

• Pets – ‘companions’

• Deviation from norm had to be phrased as ‘challenged’

• Sizest or fattist comments or anti feminist comments were discouraged