The Collins English Dictionary has declared that “mogging” is the Word of the Year. Sure, this announcement is a none-too-subtle attempt to pimp a product rather than actually deliver some sort of important news, but since Collins is something of an also-ran when compared to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary, I’m willing to cut some slack. Besides, I’m just glad that dictionaries are still in existence this far into the 21st century.
But back to mogging. For those not hip enough to know (and this would include me), Collins says that mogging is employed “in a playful and ironic way when someone is upstaged.” Further, Collins notes that the word’s usage increased by 210 per cent during the past year. How was this figure determined? Beats the hell out of me.
But all this did cause me to reflect on the subject of slang in general, and the question of why some words stay with us and others slide into obscurity. While watching the 1973 dystopian sci-fi romp Soylent Green in a run-up to Halloween (spoiler: it’s people), I was struck by the use of the term “turkey” to refer to someone who is an idiot. While the word was slung about frequently 50 or so year ago, now “turkey” merely means the type of bird that most of us eat on Thanksgiving. Other ‘70s slang which has fallen by the wayside: far out, bummer, out of sight, cool beans and to the max.
But it seems that some slang terms will never go away. Case in point: “cool.” According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the term was first used to connote hipness during the ‘30s. It spread from the American jazz community, which was centered in Harlem. Saxophonist Lester Young was allegedly the first person to say, “I’m cool” and mean, “I’m OK, I’m good, I’m fine, I’m relaxed.” In 1938, singer Cab Calloway published The Hepster’s Dictionary, which explained that an uncool person was “not wise to the jive…an icky, a Jeff [or] a square.”
As was often the case, an item from Black culture made its way into the mainstream, and “cool” was adopted (some would say appropriated) by white teenagers in the ‘50s. And hippies used the term during the ‘60s. Now, as has been the case for the past several decades, everybody says “cool.” Even your grandpa. But maybe, just maybe, that mean “cool” is no longer cool. You dig me?
Ticket Alert
Robyn Hitchcock’s 2024 memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left pretty much sums up his musical career. Yes, we are nearing the end of 2026, but Hitchcock has continued to swirl along in the thrall of psychedelia since the summer of love. If you attend his concert at the Heights Theater on Thursday, February 11, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
After some ups and downs which we won’t go into right now, San Angelo’s Los Lonely Boys seem to be back on track. The band is set to perform on Friday, February 19, at the House of Blues as its renaissance continues following the release of the aptly named album Resurrection.
American (despite the British spelling) rockers The Neighbourhood just achieved a milestone, with their song “Sweater Weather” named as Spotify’s “most playlisted” tune. It was also recently announced that “Sweater Weather” has surpassed five million streams on Spotify, making it only the third composition to hit that mark, just behind The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” Check out The Neighbourhood on Saturday, March 6, at Toyota Center.
You have to wonder (well, at least I did) how a Swedish metal band ended up with the name Meshuggah. The story goes like this: When the band formed in the late ‘80s, one of its members came across a dictionary of American terminology, and in that book he found the Yiddish word meshuggah, which roughly translates as “insane.” The guys in the band thought the word had a rough, intense sound to it, so the name stuck. Those crazy bastards will perform at the Bayou Music Center on Friday, April 30.
Concerts This Week
Regarding the sound of a distorted electric guitar cranked through an incredibly powerful amp and lots of speakers, Pete Townshend once said, “I used to adore the fact that it hurt.” If you understand that statement and if it resonates strongly with you, don’t miss guitarist J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. tonight at the House of Blues.
Old-timers may find it humorous that John Summit is performing on Thursday at Toyota Center. If you know, you know. When considering Summit’s career – he went from being a CPA to a DJ, produced a number of EDM records and, in the process, became something of a BFD – I am reminded of the lyrics from Alan Sherman’s song “Harvey and Sheila” (sung to the tune of “Hava Nagila”): “She shopped at A&P / He bought a used MG / They sat and watched TV / On their RCA.” I mean, WTF? LOL!
Summit’s show kicks of a string of concerts at the currently being renovated / still under construction / and so are the streets around it Toyota Center. On Friday, the Mexican mega-stars of Maná roll in with their “Vivir Sin Aire” (“To Live without Air”) tour. Then it’s Doja Cat and her tour “Ma Vie” (“My Life”) (my, but we’re getting international here) on Saturday.
Wrapping up the weekend, it’s all those Jonas Brothers on Sunday. Their trek is billed as “The Burning Up Tour All Over Again.” Huh? By way of explanation, the Jonas PR department explains that the current outing “is a celebration of the fans who have been there from the beginning and those who have discovered the Jonas Brothers along the way – a chance to experience the music, energy and excitement of one of the band’s defining moments, all over again.” Sticking with the multi-lingual theme, maybe the “Filthy Lucre Tour” would be more appropriate?
The duo They Might Be Giants has enjoyed a somewhat unusual career path. They gained initial fame during the ‘80s as alt-rockers trafficking in songs with a satirical bent. By the late ‘90s, TMBG found greater success with a series of rocking children’s albums. Shortly after that, the band (having expanded from its initial two-man format) raised its profile in a major way, contributing the theme song “Boss of Me” to the sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.” More recently, TMBG landed on the Great White Way with the Tony-nominated SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical. Catch a band that is truly an American original next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Heights Theater.
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