The Woodstock Festival Anniversary: A Far-Out Legacy of Language

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair celebrates its 40^th anniversary on August 15^th, 2009. The “flower-power” generation was partly-fueled by the message of limitless self-expression, creativity and freedom. Speech has always been a principle medium for younger generations to define and differentiate themselves, and Woodstock not only created timeless music and art, but it also gave us enduring cultural slang and slogans.

The language from the hippie-era is still very much alive today, in words and phrases like “peace,” “cool,” ”bummer,” “freak out,” and “radical.” And while much of this slang began in the years before Woodstock, the iconic festival of 400,000 was a culmination of music, lifestyle and language that defined a generation.

This morning I spent an hour on the phone with my dear friend Jean Fraschina. She grew up in San Francisco and was on Haight Street during the Summer of Love. She wore her share of Tie-Dye and Patchouli Oil and has a distinct West Coast viewpoint on the cultural impact of the language of the hippie culture. I grew up in Washington DC and lived ten blocks from the White House and one block from the Black Panther headquarters. I had a different experience. Neither of us went to Woodstock but as we were reminiscing we realized that the slang, slogans and phrases which sprung up during that era like mushrooms after a summer rain represented a cultural phenomenon that reached across America.

Here are some examples of our favorite slang, slogans and phrases that represented the hippie movement and were in evidence at that summer weekend in upstate New York in 1969.  

Power to the People: Used as a rallying cry against repression by the ruling class and the government as represented by the Nixon administration.  The Black Panthers used the slogan “All Power to the People” to defy the rich, ruling class domination of society. Idealistic students used it to protest the war in Vietnam. It is still used today by some aging hippies in the greater Bay Area

The Establishment: Referred to the “older” generation, that is, anyone over 30 who held bourgeois values and were in positions of authority including but not limited to government leaders, members of corporate America, parents and teachers.

Pigs: Cops or any law enforcement representative (and also any man or boy who did not understand the need for peace and love in our society) who abused his power and acted with disrespect and sometimes violence to repress youth, women and minorities.

Bourgeois: This French word meaning “middle class” was used by the counter culture to describe and dismiss their conventional, unimaginative and selfishly materialistic parents and others in authority who upheld the interest of the capitalist class- and paid for their college or prep school tuition and their macramé supplies.

Right On: Voiced by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar and resurfaced as a key phrase in the hippie lexicon—it meant, Yes! Do it. You go, chick/dude.

Chicks and Cats: Guys and gals, girls and boys, ladies and gentleman-this is a beatnik hold-over that became verboten with the rise of the women’s liberation movement known as “women’s lib,” but was in full bloom at festivals like Woodstock.

Square: This word was part of the African American patois and/or the beat period and segued into the word “straight.” It meant un-hip, un-cool and referred to those who were not engaging in the activities of peace and love.

Straight: Was not at all related to its current usage as the opposite of Gay. Straight meant extremely un-hip, up-tight, un- groovy and out of touch with what was happening. Hip was dressing cool with serapes and ethnic jewelry, using patchouli oil ,(also know as Bear Grease) burning incense and candles, checking your daily astrology forecast and throwing the I Ching. Straight people did none of these things.

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out: Timothy Leary, an icon of the 1960s counterculture, created this adage in hopes of promoting the benefits of psychedelic drugs. His hope was that LSD would assist people in detaching from social convention and explore the inner reaches of their psyche.   

Flipped Out: This phrase was originally used to describe someone who was having a bad acid trip but also referred to someone who was reacting with consternation to a challenging life event. People who flipped out were often told to “smoke a joint and calm down.”

Nam: Everyone knew that “the war” meant Vietnam and Vietnam meant “the war.”

Canada: Was a code word for “If I get a low draft number, I’m getting out of here so I don’t have to fight in a war I don’t believe in.”  

Hell No, We Won’t GO: This slogan was chanted by hundreds of thousands of people who were against the war in Vietnam.

We Shall Overcome: This song could be sung at any moment, by any group about any issue that was potentially oppressive.  Most people knew only one verse of this song.

Back to the Land: Everyone at Woodstock was planning to live on a farm or in a commune. Many wanted to start a commune on some piece of land that someone else owned—usually someone’s father, or girlfriend’s ex-husband.  

What’s Your Sign? This was a commonly asked question and defined how people learned about each other. There was a huge interest in astrology at this time.

My Old Lady: This phrase referred to one’s girlfriend or wife. For instance, “Gotta go, man, I’m meeting my old lady.”  Everyone used this phrase including 15 and 16 year olds kids.

My Old Man – Referred to one’s boyfriend or husband, as in Joni Mitchell’s love song, “My Old Man,” or “I’m making my old man a macramé planter to celebrate the new moon in Leo.”

Make Love, Not War and Drop Acid, Not Bombs - Common phrases and slogans used to protest America’s decades long aggressive military action in Vietnam.

The Man: This was frequently used to describe people who represented the establishment including the police, the government, or corporate power. It referred to a white male.

Free Abortion on Demand – During the Woodstock-era, abortion was illegal in most states other than New York. “Free” meant that the procedure should be a part of Medicaid for women who could not afford it.

Groovy – Originally a musical axiom, this adjective evolved into a general description of anything that was hip, fun, cool and free. “Man, Jimi Hendrix is groovy.”

A number of activities will commemorate the Woodstock festival and the slang and slogans that accompanied it. Some of which include the Summer of Love concert, Woodstock Ventures and Sony Music’s creation of Woodstock.com, and the movie entitled Taking Woodstock. Have fun strolling down memory lane and be sure to turn on and tune in to the verbal vibes!

Peace and love,

Angela