Drive-Time Rants, Celebrity Tributes, and Generation Slang Showdowns

Ever had one of those mornings where every driver on the road seems determined to test your patience? That's exactly how this Monday began — at 5 AM with a parade of inconsiderate drivers that had me wondering if it was an omen for the week ahead.

The passing of Loni Anderson prompted a heartfelt reflection on why her character in WKRP meant so much to me growing up. Far from the blonde bimbo stereotype many remember, Jennifer Marlowe represented something revolutionary: a woman who was intelligent, capable, successful AND embraced her sexuality on her own terms. She offered a template for womanhood that many of us aspired to, even if our paths ultimately led elsewhere.

We dive into a viral story about parents allegedly abandoning their 10-year-old at an airport in Spain over documentation issues — a tale that raises immediate red flags. How does someone make it through security only to discover visa problems at the gate? This TikTok-originated story with over 320,000 views deserves our skepticism in an era where engagement often trumps accuracy.

The generational slang showdown between Gen X and Gen Z reveals fascinating cultural divides. Do you know what "bogart" means? How about "delulu" or "riz"? Our teenage vocabulary becomes a time capsule of our youth, with words like "gnarly," "wicked," and "tubular" marking specific moments in cultural history. What slang word did you overuse as a teenager that would baffle today's kids?

We also touch on the mysterious tragedy of four elderly relatives found deceased beside their wrecked car in West Virginia while on a religious pilgrimage, and I share my excitement for the approaching fall season — complete with a brunette wig as my personal harbinger of cooler weather to come.

Share your teenage movie memories and favorite slang terms from your youth in the comments! And if you're a writer looking for a platform, reach out about contributing to anamericanist.com.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Monday Morning Traffic Rant
• 0:52 Tribute to Loni Anderson
• 1:33 Dubious Airport Abandonment Story
• 4:03 Generational Slang Showdown
• 7:22 Tragic Road Trip Mystery
• 9:36 Weekend Recap and Sign-Off

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Oh Lordy, I hope to drive in today with all the idiots. The effing a-holes out on the streets this morning at five in the morning is not indicative of how the rest of the Monday is going to be. Oh my gosh, I mean, I encountered one a-hole after the other on the way in this morning, goodness gracious. All right, we need to get on with the unusual stories of the day. I guess this one, well, the first one I want to talk about briefly is rest in peace, lonnie Anderson. So she was one of the very first characters on TV that I saw and thought, huh, I want to be like that. Now, at first glance you might think why did you want to be like a blonde bimbo? Well, if you are true WKRP fans, you know that she was not a blonde bimbo on that show. She was highly intelligent and smart and successful, all right. But and she was also a sex symbol and I wanted to be just like her. Okay, obviously that didn't turn out. But moving on to the next, rest in peace, lonnie Anderson. All right, Moving on to the next, I think this next story is fake news, because somebody also pointed out oh, there's two comments.

Speaker 1: 1:28

How does she even get through security. Now we're going to talk about these parents who supposedly left their child at the airport because 10 year old child at the airport, because they didn't have the correct documents. Okay, I find this hard to believe. I think it's fake news. And so Freedom Enterprise wants to know how did they even make it through security? Then Another person replied Kevin. Yes, I agree, kevin. All right, we need to. Let's read about this, shall we? I think it's fake news. All right, an unnamed, so they don't even have a name. They're not naming anybody. An unnamed mom and dad prepped for takeoff. Their kid was left as they cast off.

Speaker 1: 2:08

An unnamed mother and father allegedly abandoned a 10-year-old boy at an unidentified airport in Spain after realizing they didn't pack all of the tots necessary travel documents. Unwilling to miss their flight, the jet setters boarded the Airbus, leaving their son in the airport terminal where a family member would eventually, hopefully retrieve him. I find this hard to believe. I don't believe this for a second, but yet here it is written like a real story in the New York Post. The kid told police that his parents were on the plane on their way to their home country for vacation, said Lillian, a purported air operations coordinator at the plane station where the incident occurred. She detailed the chaos to over 320,000 TikTok viewers. Her claims, however, have not been verified. So she's doing this for what Viewers? To get likes on her TikTok video? Shameful. If this is the case, shame on you, lady. The explanation given to the authorities was that the child was traveling with an expired passport from Spain and needed a travel visa, and Lillian speaking Spanish in the clip. Since he didn't have a visa, they left the kid in the terminal and called a relative to pick him up. Bullshit, I call I. Just how do you these people? They travel back and come on, your child doesn't have a visa. I don't believe that for a second. I'm not even going to go finish reading that story. You can go finish reading it if you'd like.

Speaker 1: 3:43

All right, next up, gen Z and Gen X square off in a slang showdown. Do you know what slay, tubular, bogart and more mean? This is also from the New York Post and I'm not going to read this whole story, but somebody took the streets and asked the different generations if they knew what the slang meant. So we're going to scroll down here and just read a couple of them, okay. Gen X slang gnarly.

Speaker 1: 4:16

So according to Surfer Today, gnarly originated from the word gnarled, meaning knobbly rough and twisted, especially with age. Well, that would be me, okay. Especially with age. Well, that would be me, okay, all right. It first came into usage way back in the mid 18th century and kept its literal meaning for more than 200 years before it was appropriately appropriated by California surfers in the 1970s to describe something completely different. The slang word subsequently became a Gen X staple after it was used by Sean Penn's surfer stoner character, jeff Spicoli, in the 1982 team smash fast time at Ridgemont High. But did you? But do you know what it means? Answer gnarly can mean either difficult and challenging or excellent and cool gnarly dude.

Speaker 1: 5:04

So I have two questions of the day for you. Number Number one when you were growing up, what was the movie to watch, what was the teen movie to watch back in the day? Do you remember oh gosh, oh, it's escaping me right now. Oh it's, oh my gosh, I'm going to have to. I'm pausing it. Oh my gosh, okay, sorry y'all, I had to pause it for a second to go look up this movie. Do you remember Porky's 1982? I barely remember the scene. I remember the most is, I guess the boys in the shower looking through a peephole? Okay, I don't even want to know. Okay, you don't want to. All right, moving on, we need to go back to the story. Okay, bogart. I don't know what Bogart means. Let's see what that means.

Speaker 1: 5:51

Popular gen x slang was word baffled the gen z participants who took part in our quiz. Okay, blah, blah, I don't, even, I'm not. What is I never heard of bogart, however, the word actually inspired by hollywood icon humphrey bogart, who often kept a cigarette in his mouth without smoking it. Okay, yeah, but is shape-shifting? No, I don't. Tubular, I know Bodacious, I know Grody, I know.

Speaker 1: 6:15

Now for Gen Z, what does Stan mean? The original of this popular Gen Z slang word dates back to the year 2000, long before Zoomers held culture sway, inspired by Eminem's song Stan released the this year. It's a term used to describe a devoted and possibly deranged fan. Okay, and then they use the word slay serve riz. I'm not even going to tell you what I think about when I hear the word riz. Uh, delulu, I don't. What is delulu? What the hell is that? I don't know what that is either, so you can go finish reading that. So my other second question is when you were a teenager. What slang word did you use all the time? I think I use the word wicked a lot to describe like something totally awesome. Oh, that's wicked dude. I think I use that a lot. I know.

Speaker 1: 7:04

All right, moving on, this is a strange story from the New York Post. I don't know what. They don't tell us what happened. Maybe it was just a crash, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 7:13

New York grandparents who vanished on religious road trip found dead an embankment in West Virginia. A family of upstate New York grandparents who went missing while on a religious road trip were found dead next to their car in West Virginia on Saturday, next to their car. So what? They got out of the car. The four elderly relatives, identified by authorities as Dr Kishore, devon, 89, asha, devon, 85, shailesh, devon, 86, and Gita, devon, 84, were on a road trip from Buffalo to the Palace of Gold, a historic Hindu site in Marshall County, west Virginia. When they disappeared Tuesday. They were found dead next to their wrecked Toyota Camry along Big Wheeling Creek Road on Saturday. So they wrecked the car. We don't know how bad it was wrecked. Apparently it was wrecked pretty good. Sheriff Mike Dougherty said their bodies were found along a steep embankment around 9.30 pm. First responders were on the scene for more than five hours. The group was last seen around 2.45 Tuesday.

Speaker 1: 8:35

It is unclear exactly how the four, who are all of Indian descent, are related. Oh well, but how did they die? Maybe they just surely they didn't all just have heart attacks, it's? I don't, it's weird, I don't know. All right, so you got the questions of the day and I guess that's it for me. Did you have a good weekend? We had a good weekend. We had, we had the grand camp, but we only had them for a limited hours. We had him from like nine to one. Normally we have him like ten to four, but he had a pool party to go to later that day. Goodness gracious, his social calendar is more than ours. All right, let's see what else is going on. I guess there's nothing else going on.

Speaker 1: 9:18

Go read my blog, anamericanistcom. I'm trying to keep that up on a regular basis and if you know anybody that would like to contribute writing on a regular basis, please send them my way. I also write for the Victory Girls. I'm going to be writing for them pretty much all week and that's it. Oh, oh, oh. I'm ready for fall to happen, so much so that I'm going back to brunette. In fact, I'm wearing a brunette wig. Today the temperatures are cooler here in Alabama, so I think I can wear a wig. Today. It's a little bit more bearable, All right, but I'm so excited I want fall to get here, so I'm wearing brunette. All right, I gotta go. Thanks for listening. Y'all Love you Bye.