Virginia Williams
Brooke Marcum
English
1-24-13 “For Your Information”

“FYI,” TMI”, and “Talk to The Hand”, were the most popular phrases of the 90’s. They were widely used by teenagers in every aspect of their lives. These three phrases are indicative of my generation because of their meanings, usage, and effects that they had on my generation. These three phrases made my generation what it is today and will for generations to come. The phrase “FYI” became popular through the widely televised show “The Simpson’s.” From there the phrase caught on among teenagers, other TV shows, and even fashion. Another popular TV show that used the phrase was The American situation comedy “Murphy Brown.” Murphy Brown was a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for, ‘’FYI,’’ a fictional CBS television news magazine. This phrase dates back to 1941, and along with many other ones it also showed up in corporate lingo. You would use this phrase when a ‘’know it all’’ person would try to correct you to which you would say,” FYI” to make them feel embarrassed in front of everybody.

The phrase “TMI” became popular through many tv shows. The first tv show to use it was Scrubs then Clueless and many more. You would use this phrase when somebody would tell you more than you needed and wanted to know. You would say this to the person who gave you every little detail of an event. I remember my mom asked me what me and my best friend were talking about on the phone so I told her what we were talking about, because I was always told that it is disrespectful to not answer your parents when they asked you a question. When my mom asked me I replied and told her then after I was finished she had a shocked look on your face, to which she replied, “TMI”.I smiled and said well you asked me what we were talking about so I told you.

The last phrase is “Talk To The Hand” it is an English slang phrase associated with the 90’s. It originated as a contemptuous way of saying one doesn’t want to hear what the person who is speaking is saying. It is often considered to be sarcastic or obnoxious. It was popularized by actor and comedian Martin Lawrence in is 1992 sitcom Martin. It was also use in popular movies like Beautician and the Beast, the second Austin Powers film, Austin Powers: The spy who Shagged me. It was used as a catch phrase of Dogbert in Dilbert.

In the movie Ali G Indahouse the introductory scene shows the protagonist Ali G telling a Spanish gangster to “Talk to the hand” the gesture was also used in the movie Terminator3: Rise of the machines. It was also used in 2 Broke Girls episode and the 90’s Horse party where the character Han Lee wears a t-shirt with the phrase “talk to the han”, in the musical Jerry Springer: the opera there is a song about the gesture in Act 1 named Talk to the hand.

There are many different ways of saying all three of those phrases you can be mean, funny, helpful, or straight up sarcastic. These phrases will always be the defining moment of my generation they will be passed down to my children then to their children and their children’s children and so on down the family tree. They will be used in school, at home, and in everyday life.