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Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Remember when HIPPIE meant big in the hips?
and a TRIP involved travel in cars, planes and ships?
When POT was a vessel for cooking things in,
and HOOKED was what Grandmother's rug might have been?
When FIX was a verb that meant mend or repair
and BE IN meant simply existing somewhere?
When NEAT meant well-organised, tidy and clean,
and GRASS was a ground-cover normally green?
When lights and not people TURNED ON and OFF
and the PILL might have been what you took for a cough?
When CAMP meant to sleep outdoors in a tent
and POP was the way that the weasel went?
When GROOVY meant furrowed with channels and hollows,
and BIRDS were winged creatures like robins and swallows?
When FUZZ was a substance that's fluffy like lint
and BREAD came from bakeries, not from the mint?
When SQUARE meant a 90 degree-angled form,
and COOL was a temperature, not quite so warm?
When ROLL meant a bun, and ROCK was a stone,
and HANG UP was something you did to a phone?
When CHICKEN meant poultry and BAG meant a sack,
and JUNK trashy cast-offs and old bric-a-brac?
When JAM was preserves that you spread on your bread,
and CRAZY meant barmy, not right in the head?
When CAT was a feline, a kitten grown up,
and TEA was a liquid you drank from a cup?
When SWINGER was someone who swung in a swing,
and a PAD was a soft sort of cushiony thing?
When WAY OUT meant distant and far, far away,
and a man couldn't sue you for calling him GAY?
When DIG meant to shovel and spade in the dirt,
and PUT ON was what you would do with your shirt?
When TOUGH described meat too unyielding to chew,
and MAKING A SCENE was a rude thing to do?
Words once so sensible, sober and serious
Are making the FREAK SCENE quite PSYCHODELIRIOUS.
It's GROOVY, MAN, GROOVY but English it's not:
Methinks that our language has gone straight to POT.
Author unknown.
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Have a good one.
Alan