“Peace”, or “Peace Man”, accompanied by V-fingers out or “Peace Out” with two closed fist pumps to your chest were slang used in the 1970ʻs that meant, chill or relax or good-bye, respectively. Although our nation has experienced wars that date back from the 18th century with the American Revolution, 19th century with the Civil War, 20th century with World War 1 and 2, to today with the War on Terror, it is only natural that the nation has taken comfort in a term like “Peace”, defined as “: a state in which there is no war or fighting: an agreement to end a war: a period of time when there is no war or fighting.” (Merriam Webster: Peace)
Americans have gone through centuries of war, but the era that showcase Americans promoting the word “peace”, for the purpose of this assignment, will focus on itʻs different uses during the 1960ʻs. So much so that slang using the word peace also was used as a “greeting or farewell”. (Merriam Webster: Peace) In times of war, violence, murder, and devastation are surreal that the human mind has a tendency to resolve turmoil, seek tranquility, pursue harmony in personal relations and end hostilities and find mutual concord between those who have been in war. In one source, the variations of the word “peace” defined and used in eight different ways shows the level of wanting peace by giving it more meanings or definitions for its repetitious use in daily language. As noted in “Slang Terms of the 70ʻs”, here are some ways peace was given more definite definitions like:
Peace - relax "chill"
Peace - peace and dont forget the two fingers
Peace - goodbye. see you later.
Peace ,Love and Granola - as a green peacer (another 70's term) all my friends and would say peace,love and granola, when we were leaving
Peace Out - it means gotta go
Peace Out Home Free - It means goodbye friend or goodbye person
Peace, Man! - Meaning "Hello." Or "Good-bye." Although, it's associated with Hippies of the 60's, there were plenty of us