Photo By Gage Skidmore

Nick-na-Nick-Nick-na-Nick-Nick-Nick NICKELODEON

Although cable television was a rare occurrence in my house while growing up, I still knew what my favorite Nickelodeon shows were and watched them whenever I got the chance. So here’s my “5 cents” on which cartoon shows I remember the most in no particular order.

1. Inspector Gadget

Although this isn’t technically a Nicktoon, it was aired on Nickelodeon (primarily in the 1980s when Nick was still outsourcing their cartoons). The theme song was catchy despite the only words being “Inspector Gadget” and “Go Gadget Go.” They eventually made a movie out of the 2 season long series which wasn’t nearly as good as the cartoon. The basic premise was that Inspector Gadget was always trying to stop “Claw” but Penny and her dog, Brain, seemed to do all of the work and get none of the credit. I have to admit it was fun to watch what kind of gadgets would come out of his hat at his command of “Go! Go! Gadget!” Today Inspector Gadget is a favorite to dress up as at costume parties. Refresh your memory on the opening theme song below:

2. Doug

Doug was the first original Nicktoon and I thought this was a great show. The characters all had great names: Doug Funny, Porkchop, Patty Mayonaise, Skeeter. And even though the characters were blue, and purple, and green… their personalities and characteristics were easy to identify with. Doug’s most lasting legacy has probably been “Quailman.” Why anyone would base a super hero on a quail is beyond me, but it was this kind of humor that made the show awesome. Quailman is another favorite character to dress up as for costume parties.

3. Rugrats

Photo By Genesis Dearest

Rugrats followed Doug in the same year (1991) but continued to air up to ten years after they stopped making new episodes of Doug. Rugrats practically became the face of Nickelodeon. You could buy any kind of merchandise with them on it. They eventually ended up making several movies. This is probably one of the most influential cartoons on pop culture of our time. These were the most famous babies without even being real. Tommy, Chucky, Phil and Lil were always going on adventures with their dog Spike and being terrorized by sinister toddler Angelica. Even though the plot was almost always the same, there was something about this show that made you want to watch long after you stopped being a kid.

4. Rocko’s Modern Life

I wasn’t a very big fan of this show, but it seemed to be on ALL the time whenever we went to visit my cousins (who actually had cable). This was definitely one of those shows that didn’t really have a plot. You couldn’t tell what half of the characters were and weird stuff was always happening. Maybe if I had been older I would have understood the sexual innuendos. It was about the day to day life of a wallaby named Rocko and his friends, Heffer and Filburt. It took me a very long time to realize that Heffer was a cow, which now that I think about it is pretty obvious. Filburt was a turtle. Rocko also had a dog named Spunky and was always trying to deal with the grouchy Big Heads.

5. Hey Arnold

Photo By Alexandra Tinder

MOVE IT FOOTBALL HEAD! This was probably my favorite show to ever be on Nickelodeon. A modern day version of the Peanuts gang, Arnold and his friends were always dealing with the day to day struggles of growing up in today’s society. Arnold lived with his crazy grandparent’s in a boarding house with crazy tenants and his pet pig. He was also the secret crush of Helga the bully. It seemed that everyone in this show had outlandish hairdos, but at least their hair and skin color was normal. I felt like each episode was new and different. I don’t think I ever watched one that I didn’t enjoy. The funny thing is that for the longest time, I thought Arnold wore a kilt!

What were your favorite Nicktoons?

Runners up included: Angry Beavers, Cat Dog, and Ahh Real Monsters. Comment below and share your Nicktoon memories!

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to the rss feed or following us on twitter. And don’t forget to give us some love on StumbleUpon! If you think this post could have been better, contact us about writing a guest post!

• Jonathan Taylor Thomas
• Captain Planet
• Land Before Time
• Troll Dolls
• Bill Nye the Science Guy

Photo By hugovk

Number One Songs from Billboard Hot 100

Below are the #1 songs from each year of the 80′s according to the archives of Billboard Hot 100. Even if you were just a baby in the 80′s, I know that you will recognize at least some of these. I’m not necessarily saying these were the “best” because that’s practically impossible; there is a lot of great music from this decade. This is just to give you a taste of some good old songs you might have forgotten. Don’t let the titles of the songs fool you– make sure you actually listen to it (I was skeptical of the list I put together at first). And even if you still don’t remember the songs, there is nothing like a classic 80′s music video!

“Physical” is my favorite music video out of these, but most of the rest are tied for 2nd. Check out how different George Michael looks from “Careless Whisper” to “Faith.” Oh and of course… Prince in a bathtub?!

Which 80′s songs  or music videos were your favorite? Personally I would have to say “Girl’s just want to have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper haha.

1980-Blondie: Call Me

1988- George Michael: Faith

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to the rss feed or following us on twitter. And don’t forget to give us some love on StumbleUpon! If you think this post could have been better, contact us about writing a guest post!

• Hanson
• Generation Y

Like generations before us, we had our own unique vocabulary.  The things we said shaped us to be who we are now. Take a look at my personal favorite words and phrases and see if any are yours too.

Talk to the Hand

Photo By mahalie

“Talk to the hand cause the face ain’t listening!” If you were real creative you included an “answering machine” message and beep. Perfect  for those annoying kids you never wanted to talk to, or when you were in a fight with your bff.

Duh

Photo By zen

This could be long (duuu-uuh) or it could be short (duh!). But its intention was simple– to make someone feel stupid. Who would have though that such a simple 3 letter word could mean so much?

Made You Look

Photo By ZeroOne

Hey, it’s your mom! Look free ice cream! Oh my gosh there’s an elephant in a pink tutu running straight towards us! It didn’t matter how ridiculous you got, you would do anything to make someone look just so you could say “MADE YA LOOK!” Cause if the Genie in Aladdin said it, it must be cool.

If I’m Rubber and You’re Glue…

Photo By Skwishy

“‘I’m rubber, you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks on you.” Great come back right up there with “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” Usually only used by the goody goodies; it never mattered how clever you were, words hurt.

Waasssup

Photo By ahhyeah

So what if this was made popular by a Budweiser commercial? If you didn’t use it you at least heard other people fail at trying. This is more of a novelty word than one used in real conversation.

Loser

Photo By Juan Noes

A great word for putting someone in their place. More degrading than “stupid,” it could be used in multiple ways including: “You’re such a loser,” “Loo-Serr,” and “Who’s a loser now?” It didn’t make for that good of a comeback, but using it certainly gave you a good bit of power. If you were considered to be a loser, though, it was a tough word to get any respect from using it.

Like

Photo From debaird

Mostly popular with the girls, using the word “like” every other word was practically a disease. Once you started there was no turning back no matter how many people laughed at you or looked at you like you were stupid. One time I tried telling a story without using this word and failed terribly. The only word worse than like is “um” (if that even counts as a word.)

My Bad

Photo By Shira Golding

This was a phrase for everyone who wanted to be cool (or subconsciously gangster). While girls had “like,” boys had “my bad.”  Both still remain somewhat in our vocabulary today. This became the new “I’m sorry”/”Excuse me,” but you never heard “my good.”

Phat

Photo By funkandjazz

P-H-fat. The older Y-Kids LOVED this word. Maybe it was because it was a word that sounded like a negative adjective, but really meant “awesome!” This is one word I will never understand.

Whatever

Photo By Amodiovalerio Verde

The key to this word was really exaggerating the last syllable so you really got  the “r” rolling. Great word for pretending like you didn’t care about something. Another word that was popular with the girls.

Insane in the Membrane

Photo By Hyaground

From the hit 1993 Cypress Hill song by the same name, this phrase was great for all things crazy and out of this world. This catch phrase came after the song, because who doesn’t like quoting lyrics?

Pinky Promise…

Photo By Aimless Brooke

Or “Pinky Swear” had ten times the agreement effect of “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Urban Dictionary defines this as: “An eternally binding act of hooking pinky fingers together in an attempt to seal the deal of a promise that has been made.” You always had to watch out for those kids who thought they could be clever and cross their fingers behind their backs.

Shut Up

Photo By pollas

Grown ups hated when you used this word. The only word they didn’t want to hear more was “stupid.” But how did they expect you to get people to be quiet without using a strong word? Plus it was fun saying a “bad word.” This was also a word you could use on your peers when they were being annoying or saying things about you that you didn’t want to hear.

Cool

Photo By technokitten

This phrase will never go out of style. To be considered cool was one of the highest honors you could have as a kid. But the best part about this word was that you didn’t have to be cool to use it. When “awesome,” “great,” or “hot dog!” just wouldn’t cut it, this word was a piece of cake to dish out. There was not limit to the number of things that could be cool or be considered cool. Even when things weren’t impressive at all but you felt like you had to show some emotion you could get by with a simple, “cool.”

Pass It On

Photo By saaam

While this was more of a game than a phrase for me, it was definitely memorable. It was sort of like a game of telephone played at the lunch table. One person would come up with complete nonsense to say followed by “pass it on.” It didn’t matter if you wanted to play or not, you were obligated to continue the chain. It was similar to passing notes, except it wasn’t intended for anyone specific, and was much more annoying.

Bonus Phrase:

Loser, Loser, Double Loser…

Photo By troubled-diva

The granddaddy of them all had half of these words combined: “loser, loser, double loser, as if, whatever, get the picture, like duh!” There wasn’t really a point to this except it was clever and (if no one had ever seen it before) mesmerizing. To get a refresher on the hand motions and all click here. How fast could YOU say it?

How about you? What were your favorite words or phrases to say as a kid?

• No Related Post