Fact-checking the vocabulary of Stranger Things 3

This is something I enjoy doing at an amateur level, apparently (Season 1, Season 2), though it does mean that I watch each episode with pen and paper nearby, ready to take notes (pen and paper is actually my phone’s Keep Notes app).

Butthead. Merriam-Webster says the first known use of this word was in 1973. Then Back to the Future used it a few times in - guess when? - the summer of 1985, right when season 3 begins! So this is probably right on, or close to.

Dingus. This one is harder to track since it has a primary meaning of ‘doodad’ dating way back to 1873! But looking at specific examples from the Movie Corpus, 1994 is the earliest example I can see of the insult usage. So I am not sure this one checks out even if it feels right. Did we really not use ‘dingus’ as an insult until the 90s??

Mom and pop store. I was suspicious of this one the way I would be suspicious of someone saying ‘brick and mortar store’ back in the 80s - did we describe it this way if there wasn’t an opposite (online or big box store) yet? The Movie Corpus has a couple of hits for mom and pop ‘groceries,’ ‘diner,’ and ‘establishments’ in the 70s and 80s so…maybe.

Telemarketer. The corpora show ‘telemarketer’ being used in the 70s and 80s as a descriptor for a company, not an individual: “The FTC has sued Federal Sterling Galleries, a telemarketer in Scottsdale, Ariz., for allegedly peddling photographs of artworks as authentic prints…” (TIME Magazine in 1989). Another maybe!

No sh**, Sherlock. The internets say this has been around since at least the 1950s. The movie corpus doesn’t have an example in its database until 1997. Sigh, another maybe.

Bada**. I was skeptical of this one in Season 1 but I did some more checking just now and it’s accurate! It has been around since at least hte 1950s and there are lots of examples of it being used in movies in the 70s and 80s.

Bi***in’. Totally accurate! Corpora have many, many examples of this word being used as an adjective in movies in the 80s. It SOUNDS like the 80s, doesn’t it?

Priss. Very accurate and, kind of like bi***in’, a word that really has an 80s feel about it.