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From Beatlemania to Trudeaumania, the 1960s were a time for icons and iconoclasts alike. Canadians were thinking big: the Trans-Canada Highway officially opened, the Alouette satellites went into orbit, the World's Fair came to Montréal, and St. Paul, Alberta, built the world's first alien landing pad! As the Quiet Revolution was unfolding in Quebec, Marshall McLuhan was shaping the way we think about media. And two years before its 100th birthday, Canada finally raised the very distinctive red-and-white maple leaf flag. Read on for some of the words that the 1960s produced.

Apollo suit

Definition: spacesuit worn by astronauts on the Apollo space missions

Note: The Apollo suit was specially designed to allow astronauts to fly in space and walk on the moon. The suit weighed 82 kg on Earth, but only 14 kg on the moon.

bad trip

Definition: unpleasant or disturbing psychedelic experience resulting from the use of a hallucinogenic drug

bed-in

Definition: two week-long non-violent protests (one in Amsterdam and one in Montréal), in which John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in a hotel bed and talked about peace

Related terms: love-in (gathering of people who promoted love and meditation to protest a social or environmental issue); sit-in (protest in which people sat on the floor or ground to obstruct everyday activities in universities, government buildings, etc.)

beehive

Definition: women’s hairstyle that resembled a beehive

boob tube

Definition: television set

Synonym: idiot box

Note: Boob refers to a foolish or stupid person and tube refers to the cathode-ray tube used in old television sets.

dork

Definition: dull or socially inept person

Synonym: dip stick

flower power

Definition: counterculture movement that centred around peace, love, freedom and drugs

fuzz

Definition: police

Synonyms: heat, pigs

Note: The origin of fuzz is uncertain. It may derive from fuzzy, which in the 1930s was a criminal slang term for “incompetent” and “unmanly.” Or, fuzz may come from the word fuss, meaning that the police are fussy or hard to please. Another theory suggests that fuzz refers to the sound of the field radios commonly used by police.

go-go boots

Definition: square-toed boots with short, square heels that were often paired with miniskirts

Related term: go-go dancing (originated in the early sixties when women got up on tables to dance the twist)

granny glasses

Definition: small wire frames suitable for sunglasses or prescription glasses, sometimes tinted pink or blue and worn by men or women

Synonym: Ben Franklin glasses

grass

Definition: marijuana

Synonyms: dope, Mary Jane, pot, wacky weed, weed

groovy

Definition: great, wonderful

Synonyms: boss, cool

hippie

Definition: young person who rejected the established culture and advocated peace, love, political change and a liberal lifestyle

Synonym: flower child

let it all hang out

Definition: to be relaxed and totally uninhibited; to act or speak freely

love beads

Definition: one or more long strings of beads worn by hippies as a symbol of peace and love

Note: The love bead trend evolved from hippies' fascination with Indian and Native cultures.

miniskirt

Definition: very short skirt

Note: Miniskirts have come in and out of style since the sixties—interestingly enough, short hemlines signal a booming stock market.

mop-top

Definition: hairstyle popularized by the Beatles that looked like the hair had been cut along the edge of a bowl

Synonyms: Beatle cut, fringe

Nehru jacket

Definition: hip-length tailored coat with a mandarin collar named after Jawaharial Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India

old lady

Definition: one’s mother, wife or girlfriend

Related term: old man (one’s father, husband or boyfriend)

outta sight

Definition: excellent, superb

Synonym: far out, out of sight

pillbox hat

Definition: round flat-topped woman's hat

The Establishment

Definition: group or elite holding power in a government, organization or society

Synonym: The Man

tie-dyeing

Definition: hand method of dyeing that involves tying small portions of fabric tightly before dyeing, resulting in irregular patterns

turn on

Definition: take drugs

Test yourself with this quiz: Circa 1960–1969.