Roaring Twenties words

The Twenties were really roaring by 1923. This is reflected in some of the words coined that year, according to Sol Steinmetz's book There's a Word for It. The Charleston dance craze began that year. Shimmy became a verb. Heebie-jeebies, wham, moonchild and fag entered our vocabulary.

Other words first recorded in print that year may suggest another time: aerosol, comfort zone, compartmentalization, debunk, mass media, media, mastectomy, microworld, robot, ultrasound.

That was also the year the country welcomed debunk, deplane, fundamentalist, hijack,  intro, junkie, moviegoer, muscle head, nonjudgmental, popsicle, posh, sleepwalk and spotlight into the language.

Americans that year were dancing, going to movies, beginning to fly in planes, enjoying the fruits of science and just having fun. The war was over. The Depression hadn't started yet. The new words hint at the kind of year it was a hundred years ago.