Sideswipe: June 14: Beatnik dictionary

Much like millennials, beatniks are a media constructed stereotype. Young and artistic types in the late 50s and early 60s who reject conventional society. Photo / Supplied

Jive jargon for hepcats ... you dig?

Much like millennials, beatniks are a media-constructed stereotype of young and artistic types in the late 50s and early 60s who reject conventional society. The Beatnik Dictionary defines beatnik as "one who lives like there's no tomorrow" and has some other hip lingo ...
Are you writing a book?: You're asking too many questions
Big wheel: A well known, well respected person
Come on snake, let's rattle: Let's dance
Cop a breeze: To leave
Cooking with gas: Doing something really well
Cruisin' for a bruisin': Looking for trouble
Earthbound: Reliable
Germsville: Hospital
Interviewing your brains: Thinking
Pearl diver: A person who washes dishes for a job
Shape in a drape: A well-dressed person
Zonked: Intoxicated

Easy tiger, best not overreact

Back in the mid 50s, as a pupil at Pasadena Intermediate, Ted remembers the school being told that a tiger had escaped from the zoo and they should all go straight home.

"Living in Westmere at the time and walking home like most of us kids did back then, we were told not to mess about in the bush at the bottom of Motions Rd or fossick around at the tip. Being obedient kids we all arrived home, unafraid of any stupid tiger to parents unconcerned (and probably unaware of the situation).

If this were to happen today, the school would go into lockdown mode, helicopters overhead, armed police, frantic parents and finally a very dead tiger ... It turned out the tiger was hiding in bamboo no more than 2m from us, halfway up the Motions Rd hill. It was found by zoo staff with the comment that the poor animal was probably more frightened of us than us of it."

Are you drinking that beer or studying it?

Photo / Supplied

Anthony Bourdain on craft beer culture: "I would say that the angriest critiques I get from people about shows are when I'm drinking whatever convenient cold beer is available in a particular place, and not drinking the best beer out there. You know, I haven't made the effort to walk down the street 10 blocks to the microbrewery where they're making some Mumford and Sons IPA. People get all bent about it ... I was in San Francisco, and I was desperate for beer, and I walked into this place. I thought it was an old bar. And I sat down, and ... noticed there was a wide selection of beers I'd never heard of. Which is fine.

"But I looked around: the entire place was filled with people sitting there with five small glasses in front of them, filled with different beers, taking notes. This is not a bar. This is Invasion of the Body Snatchers ... A bar is to go to get a little bit buzzed, and pleasantly derange the senses, and have a good time, and interact with other people, or make bad decisions, or feel bad about your life. It's not to sit there analysing beer." (Via Thrilllist.com)