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Can you understand all this Sixties slang heard in Dragnet?
Try not to freak out.
When Dragnet returned to television in 1967, the world was a much different place. The pioneering police procedural first aired in the 1950s.
Jack Webb revived the show — and his iconic character Sgt. Joe Friday — following the Summer of Love. By that point, Boomers had come of age. Psychedelic music was invading the radio. The hippie movement was in full swing.
Dragnet not only tapped in the zeitgeist, but it also mined the generation gap for its themes. The show often preyed on the fears that the Greatest Generation (Sgt. Joe Friday and his partner Bill Gannon included) had for the "kids these days," a.k.a. Boomers. Today, it all sounds quite familiar.
That also means the Dragnet packed in a lot of youthful Sixties slang, especially in the episodes "The LSD Story," "The Big High" and "The Big Departure." Let's see if you can translate it all.
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Shipley asks "Did my father fink on us again?" What does "fink on" mean?
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What does "square" mean?
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What does "fuzz" mean on the back of Blue Boy's jacket?
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What is "bread"?
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What is a "Black and White"?
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What does he mean by "love grass" here?
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What is a "bum trip"?
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What does "Sherlock" mean?
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What is a "travel agent"
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What does Gannon mean when he says "caps"?
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When characters "swooped the scene," what did they do?
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Friday and Gannon hear that Blue Boy has been "Chewing the bark off a tree." Is that a euphemism for something?
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What do the police call this in "The Big High"?
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Which of the following is NOT a slang term used by Sgt. Friday for LSD in "The LSD Story."
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Can you understand all this Sixties slang heard in Dragnet?
Your Result...
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Nostalgia
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