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\n The 1995 teen movie Clueless popularized terms like “Whatever” \u2014 including the gesture \u2014 shown here in a still featuring Elisa Donovan as Amber.<\/p>\n
Screenshot by NPR<\/p>\n
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Screenshot by NPR<\/p>\n
Clueless<\/a>, the hit 1995 coming-of-age comedy about an entitled Beverly Hills teen who makes good, touched a generation \u2014 from the plaid miniskirts and knee-high socks worn by the lead characters to their colorful use of slang.<\/p>\n The movie \u2014 which went on to spawn a musical, a TV series and countless internet memes \u2014 didn’t introduce expressions like “as if!,” “totally,” “buggin'” and “whatever” (preferably while making the “w” sign with thumbs and forefingers.) But it helped to popularize them.<\/p>\n “It is pretty remarkable that some of these phrases are still part of our vernacular,” said Jen Chaney, a TV and film critic and the author of As If! The Oral History of Clueless<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now Chaney has collaborated with the language learning platform Babbel to release a glossary<\/a> of the most memorable expressions from Clueless to mark the movie’s 30th anniversary this month.<\/p>\n Beyond “Valley speak” <\/p>\n Some of the terms in the glossary (including “as if!” and “whatever”) are steeped in “Valley speak<\/a>” \u2014 a social dialect most commonly associated with affluent teens in California’s San Fernando Valley. According to Chaney, Clueless director and writer Amy Heckerling got many linguistic ideas for her film from hanging around with teens at Beverly Hills High School. “She spent time talking to actual kids,” Chaney said.<\/p>\n But the glossary shows there’s a lot more to the language of Clueless than Valspeak.<\/p>\n There are tongue-in-cheek euphemisms like “hymenally challenged” \u2014 a politically correct way of saying someone’s a virgin. According to the glossary, the phrase, which was coined by Heckerling, “parodies the trend of using politically correct or euphemistic language to soften or reframe sensitive topics.”<\/p>\n There’s lots of use of retro language, such as “in on the heavy clambakes” \u2014 meaning being in the loop or an insider on the party scene. The glossary states the term comes from a 1970s jive-talk dictionary Heckerling found in a library. (Jive-talk is a form of slang associated with Black jazz musicians.)<\/p>\n![\"Not](\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2014\/05\/30\/ap880046187113_sq-bf1a15d5ba2eda87b6c89b21f423c33510c4e89d.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg\")
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