Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for September 06, 1998

Transcript:

evolution of a hip, ironic catchphrase this week: 'everybody wang chung tonight' everybody wang chung tonight! 1986 'everybody have tonight' is released and becomes a moderate hit. the utterance of its lyric 'everybody wang chung tonight' at first simply refers to the ridiculous song. everybody wang chung tonight! fall 1986 the phrase now is a slightly sarcastic way of saying, 'let's have some fun', but the implications have not yet risen to the level of full irony. everybody wang chung tonight. 1987 the phrase reaches its first spike in ironic significance, as it now implies either (i) that absolutely no fun is being had at all, or (ii) that fun is being had, but fun should be mocked. 1988 as the song fades from pop culture memory, the phrase's use sharply declines, and it goes into its first hibernation. everybody wang chung tonight. 1993 the phrase now enjoys a semi-retro comeback with enough time passing for the fermentation of a potent nostalgia-irony mix. it is now a time-filler phrase meaning absolutely nothing. everybody wang chung tonight 1994 however, its overuse causes a swift burnout and it quickly becomes a frowned-upon statement in any context. "everybody wang chung tonight." 1995 yet its very uncoolness creates a quick boomerang effect as the phrase powerfully re-enters the zeitgeist as a faux-dorky meta-ironic phrase. ... is a new show on fox everybody wang chung tonight! ha ha ha 1996 when the phrase is co-opted to promote a lame sitcom, it is instantly abandoned and enters its third and current period of disuse. "everybody wang chung tonight." ...? what new, hyper-ironic meanings of the phrase will be discovered and used by hipsters of the future? only time will tell! retro-ironic vision of the future next week the richly layered '50s/'70s/'90s retro-irony of the historic camp catchphrase 'sit on it.'