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The Great Grunge Hoax of 1992


A stack of Baffler Magazines
The New York Times, November 15, 1992.
The New York Times, November 15, 1992.

When the New York Times Style section unknowingly printed a phony glossary of “grunge speak” in 1992, having been fooled by a member of that particular subculture, it was The Baffler that first reported that prank: “When the Newspaper of Record goes searching for the Next Big Thing, and the Next Big Thing piddles on its leg, we think it’s funny.”

“I’ve already started calling my torn jeans ‘wack slacks.’ I’d like to be a little ahead of the curve for a change.”

—Calvin Trillin, “You Don’t Have to Wear ‘Wack Slacks’ To Be Hip,” Newsweek, Feb. 17, 1993

“How irritating!”

—Penelope Green, New York Times Style section editor