science

Grunge speak

Grunge speak is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Grunge speak rather than just read about it. In short: Grunge speak was a hoax series of slang words purportedly connected to the subculture of grunge in Seattle, reported as fact in The New York Times in 1992. The collection of alleged slang words were coined by a record label worker in response to a journalist asking if grunge musicians and enthusiasts had their own slang terms, seeking to write a piece on the subject.

Key takeaways

Grunge speak belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Grunge speak to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Grunge speak from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Grunge speak was a hoax series of slang words purportedly connected to the subculture of grunge in Seattle, reported as fact in The New York Times in 1992. The collection of alleged slang words were coined by a record label worker in response to a journalist asking if grunge musicians and enthusiasts had their own slang terms, seeking to write a piece on the subject. They were essentially made up on the spot; there was no such vernacular among members of the grunge scene, and the terms that were published were merely a prank on the news industry's tendencies to seize upon trends.

History The words later labelled "grunge speak" were coined by Megan Jasper, then aged 25 and working for Caroline Records. She had previously worked for Sub Pop Records, whose co-founder Jonathan Poneman referred journalists to her, ostensibly for her inside knowledge of grunge, but also because of her prankish streak. She was telephoned first by UK magazine SKY and later by Rick Marin for The New York Times. Poneman forewarned Jasper that Marin was seeking "a lexicon of grunge"; Jasper recalled Marin explaining, "Every subculture has a different way of speaking and there's got to be words and phrases and things that you folks say." Jasper tested her interviewers' gullibility by supplying invented slang expressions of increasing ridiculousness.

A coverline on the September 1992 issue of SKY said "like, harsh realm, man — How to hang out in Seattle", trailing a four-page article which mentioned some of Jasper's expressions. Seattle band Mudhoney saw the article while on tour in the UK and joined in the joke by reusing some terms in an interview with Melody Maker. Marin's article, "Grunge: A Success Story", appeared in The New York Times on November 15, 1992, as a full-page story in its Sunday "Styles" section. The article begins with an investigation on the origin of the term "grunge" and concludes with a summary of grunge music and fashion. Jasper's invented terms were published as a sidebar to Marin's story, titled "Lexicon of Grunge: Breaking the Code" and crediting Jasper for "this lexicon of grunge-speak". The list was reprinted by the Ottawa Citizen in December. Thomas Frank was skeptical of the Times' lexicon, and contacted Jasper, who "readily admitted" the fabrication, as Frank reported in the Winter–Spring 1993 issue of The Baffler. The Baffler story was picked up by news media, including Calvin Trillin's syndicated column. When the Times got back to Jasper, she initially denied Frank's claims, so the Times demanded an apology from Frank. Instead, he sent a letter standing by the story: "When The Newspaper of Record goes searching for the Next Big Thing and the Next Big Thing piddles on its leg, we think that's funny." He considered the article to be part of an attempt by mainstream culture to co-opt the grunge scene and felt that the Times had gotten what it deserved. Jasper later ascribed her initial denial to a fear that Marin or "Styles" editor Penelope Green would be fired. Green commented to the New York Observer, "Our piece was tongue-in-cheek, so I guess [the hoax] works. But how irritating." She prepared a correction but the Times never published it.

Grunge speak words The following were in the Times lexicon:

bloated, big bag of bloatation – drunk bound-and-hagged – staying home on Friday or Saturday night cob nobbler – loser dish – desirable guy fuzz – heavy wool sweaters harsh realm – bummer kickers – heavy boots lamestain – uncool person plats – platform shoes rock on – a happy goodbye score – great swingin' on the flippity-flop – hanging out tom-tom club – uncool outsiders wack slacks – old ripped jeans Jasper had also offered tuna platter ("a hot date"), and regretted that it had not appeared in the article.

Legacy Daniel House, the head of C/Z Records, commissioned Art Chantry to design a lexicon T-shirt after people started wearing the sidebar from the article pinned to their shirts at grunge shows. Chantry's design featured "Lamestain" or "Harsh Realm" on the front, with an enlarged copy of the lexicon sidebar on the back. Harsh Realm was a 1994 comic book series by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette, set in a future of multiple virtual realities, one of which was a dystopia called "Harsh Realm". In 1999 Chris Carter adapted the Harsh Realm comics into a television series of the same name. In Adam Warren's comic The Dirty Pair, the characters' futuristic slang includes "harsh realm" in the grunge-speak sense. Bass guitarist Dave Brockie's stage persona in the band X-Cops was "Ex-Patrolman Cobb Knobbler". The 1996 documentary Hype! included Jasper's prank in its exploration of the early 1990s grunge scene. The unrelated band Tom Tom Club started before the lexicon was invented.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Grunge speak

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Grunge speak claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Grunge speak before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Grunge speak ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Grunge speak

In research: Grunge speak appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Grunge speak in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Grunge speak is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1990s neologisms, 1990s slang, 1992 hoaxes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Grunge speak outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Grunge speak in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Grunge speak means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Grunge speak out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Grunge speak in simple terms?

Why does Grunge speak matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Grunge speak?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Grunge speak.