How Well Do You Know Beatnik Slang?

By: J.P. Naomi
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
How Well Do You Know Beatnik Slang?
Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

Catch you at the hootenanny tonight? I'll be there gettin' dixie friend! Take this quiz now to test how well you remember some of the best beatnik words and phrases of this generation!
If someone tells you not to 'blow the jets,' they don't want you to ____________.
Lose your money
Get angry
Keep your cool, don't blow the jets! Imagine the sound of military jets flying overhead.
Laugh in church
Get married

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The one who pays the bill is known as the _______.
Good guy
Savior
Angel
The "Beat Generation" was introduced by Jack Kerouac in 1948.
Bachelor

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She really "bugged" me last night.
Spoiled
Bothered
To bug someone, is to annoy or bother them. This word has survived the beat generation into present day!
Surprised
Caught

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To her dismay, men might refer to a single girl as a _______.
Chicken
Chick
That's a fine lookin' chick! A 'chicken' is said to refer to an engaged girl, while there is yet another word for a married woman.
Plucked Chicken
Bird

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You "dig"?
Understand
After giving instructions or telling a story, a person might say, "You dig?" or more like, "Ya dig?"!
Smoke
Dance
Drink

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No one really likes to take a trip to "Germsville"...
Atlanta
Los Angeles
The hospital
It's easy to understand why a hospital was referred to as "Germsville" in the beat generation... lots of germs can be found there.
School

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If someone wants to take you to a "flick" tonight, where will you go?
Restaurant
Country bar
The ballet
The movies
You want to catch a flick tonight at 8:30 p.m.? There's a flick with Sean Connery I really want to see.

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Get on "the horn" and tell everyone about this party!
Move
Telephone
John Kerouac is considered the pioneer of the Beat Generation alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
Computer
Loud speaker

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"Handcuffs" didn't always refer to a police arrest... it held this meaning as well:
Parents
Some teenagers felt like they were restricted from hanging out with their friends at night, thereby earning their parents the code name "handcuffs."
Beards
Parties
Cars

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Do you have "George change"?
A different cassette tape
Pants I can borrow
Change for $1
"George change" refers to change for a George Washington bill - also known as a dollar.
A cigarette

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Beatniks refer to college or university as an ________ tower.
Icck
Ivy
Beatnik was a media stereotype. It was popular throughout the 1950s and into the mid 1960s.
Iron
Orbs

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Rock and Rollers, or people who love rock n' roll were called _________.
Dummies
Groovies
Muscle cats
There is a Beat Museum in San Francisco. It is operated by Jerry and Estelle Cimino.
Pads

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If you run into your "used-to-be," better hope you're looking good!
Crush
Ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend
Someone you used to date is called a "used-to-be" - plain and simple.
High-school sweetheart
Brother's friends

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It's Friday night; let's go get "dixie fried!"
High
Fried chicken plates
Drunk
Dixie Fried was also a song written in 1956 by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin. It reached #10 on the Billboard charts that same year.
Girls

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When someone says you are "everything plus," what does this mean?
You've got a few extra pounds on you
You're better than good-looking
That chick didn't just have pretty blue eyes, she was everything plus.
You're wild and crazy
You've been studying too much

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What is the beatnik term for someone who is a bar regular?
Hanging paper
Gin mill cowboy
With a gin mill meaning a bar, a gin mill cowboy is one who frequents the bar!
Hot rod
The Lama

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The _____ is known as the leader of the group.
Kookie
Lama
You're likely the 'coolest' among your group of friends if they know you as the Lama.
Leather
King

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If you order 'moo juice' at a restaurant, what will the server bring you?
Beer
Orange Juice
Soda pop
Milk
Moo like a cow, of course! "Moo goo" on the other hand refers to butter.

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The beatnik term for an apartment is a ______.
Dorm
Grounds
Hot spot
Pad
She got a pad all to herself after her roommate moved out. This word is still commonly used, as in "bacherlor pad" - a single man's home.

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Otherwise known as sunglasses, this is the beatnik term...
Stables
Slides
Rods
Shades
"Beat" was slang for "beaten down" or downtrodden - though Jack Kerouac gave it another meaning of "beatitude."

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To "know your ______" means to be aware, or to do things well.
Stuff
Beans
Groceries
University professors have to really know their groceries in order to teach an intense course!
Time

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That joke was pretty corny - in other words, it was "off the ______".
Cob
Fun fact: Ed "Big Daddy" Roth used fiberglass to build his Beatnik Bandit in 1960. Today this car is in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.
Farm
Hook
Beat

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When you've got a decision to think about, take some time to "______ it out", then let me know.
Think
Ponder
Noodle
To "noodle it out" is to think things through before making a decision. To noodle is to mull over, think about, or ponder.
Consider

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Whatever you do, stay out of "Squaresville iron"...
Socially awkward situations
Jail
If you go to Squaresville iron, you may end up in a Squaresville peep as well - that's a police line up!
Court
Traffic

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Some beatniks referred to a wedding ring as a _________.
Handcuffs
Tourniquet
Tourniquets stop blood from pouring out of a wound. In a similar fashion, beatniks referred to this as having a tight hold on a spouse.
Washington
Hot rod

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A suave boy might try to take his girlfriend to the drive-in movie, commonly referred to as the _______.
Hot spot
Pucker palace
No one ever really watches the movie anyways! The pucker palace was a place where couples could have a little privacy outside of their parents' pads.
Nadaville
Flick place

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Before you go to bed, be sure to "blast the Edison" or...
Close the window
Say goodnight
Brush your teeth
Turn off the lights
Thomas Edison, born in 1847, invented the electric light bulb. He died in 1931 at the age of 84.

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If she's "swinging like sixteen," she's _______.
Hungry
Sleeping
Really wild
She was having such a great time at the party, she was swinging like sixteen.
Violent

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Ask the ________ for another round at the bar.
John
Mazda
Juiceman
The juiceman, or bartender, pours juice, or liquor, for a juicehead, or person who drinks.
Grave

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Beatniks use this phrase for a nice automobile...
Hot rod
A nice automobile can be a hot rod or a cool rod. Don't get it confused with a fuzz rod though... that's a police car.
Sweet ride
Stereo Flow
Fuzz rod

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Dad park's his car in the ________ when he gets home from work.
Slide
Wild
Stable
The stable was the beatnik word for garage. Put your hot rod in the stable.
Rags

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That _______ is an amazing jazz musician!
Chicken
Cat
The soundtrack of the beat movement was modern jazz music. It became what is known today as Bebop.
Bird
Bunny

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Could you spare a 'kick stick'?
Bottle of water
Cigarette
A box of kick sticks was a box of cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes and marijuana was popular among the beatniks.
Beer
$10

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Don't forget your "Mickey Mouse" before you leave the house.
Briefcase
Purse
Keys
Wrist watch
Beat, Beat, Beat by William F. Brown was a hip collection of cool cartoons about life and love among the beatniks.

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Studious kids hunker down at the "cooney roost" after class each day...
School
Library
Most other beatniks would rather be cruising around in their hot rods and checking out the whistleburg - the center where lots of girls are sure to pass by.
Gym
Dinner table

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You Got:
/35
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