| Dear
AC,
In the movie "Go" a girl says "Don't get 818 on me."
What does that mean?
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
In the movie Go, which tells several related stories about Los
Angeles and Las Vegas, Claire (Katie Holmes) doesn’t want to go
along with her friend Ronna (Sarah Polley) to see a drug dealer. That’s
when Ronna insults her by saying "Don't get 818
on me."
While it might not mean much to the rest of the country, residents of
Southern California will recognize the number as the telephone area code
for the San Fernando Valley, home of the infamous Valley Girl.
So why is it so bad to be a Valley Girl? Since the 1970s,
this term has described a superficial and not-very-smart teenage girl
from that area who spends all her time shopping at the mall. In 1982,
the top 40 song Valley Girl, by Frank Zappa and his 14-year-old
daughter Moon Unit introduced this cultural phenomenon to the world at
large.
In the song, a teen whines about clothes, sex, braces and hanging out
at the then famous Sherman Oaks Galleria Mall, where Moon Unit herself
reportedly learned to talk the talk. For better or worse, Valley Girl
introduced Val-speak (as the special slang was called)
to the rest of the country, and American teenage girls quickly picked
up its annoying phrases, such as tubular (excellent),
grody to the max (totally disgusting), and gag
me with a spoon (that makes me ill).
Examples of Valley Girls can be seen in movies like Fast
Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Valley Girl (1983). But
the species didn’t die out in the 1980s, which makes it possible
for the joke to work in Go, released in 1999. Valley
Girls have appeared in countless Hollywood films since their
debut twenty years ago, perhaps because of the proximity of the Valley
to Los Angeles. Even Cher in Clueless (1995) is similarly shallow,
shopping obsessed and airheaded, though the story takes place in nearby
Beverly Hills and she considers the Valley to be another country.
If you're worried that
this portrayal of women is sexist, check out Bill and Ted's Excellent
Adventure (1989). This early Keanu Reeves movie showcases the equal
stupidity and shallowness of Valley Boys (though that
term is rarely used).
As to the usefulness of the term 818, it probably wouldn’t
mean much to people who don’t live on the West Coast. But Val-speak
is unlikely to ever completely disappear from mainstream teen language.
Your pal,
A. C. Kemp |
