how did the term 'plastic' start?

Question

at my school there are quite a few people we call 'plastic' and I was wondering does anyone know how that sterotype came about.

I was wondering if was because of the film mean girls, do you have any other ideas?

Answer 1

Plastic is an artificial material that is cheap and easy to come by.

"Plastic" people are fake (ie pretend to be what they're not), cheap and easy. Just like plastic:)

Answer 2

plastic was a word coined inthe 60's to describe people who are phoney or artificial.derived from the fact that most useless toys and knicknacks are made out of plastic these days.

Answer 3

Plastic means artificiality or superficiality

Answer 4

Latin plasticus: "moldable"

artificial: seeming artificial and unnatural
a plastic smile

adapting easily: adapting easily and readily to change

able to be molded: able to be shaped or modeled

biology adapting to conditions: capable of adapting to
conditions during growth or development

artificial; unnatural.
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/plastic?view=uk

FORMATIVE, CREATIVE
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=plastic

Inferior or not the real thing
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Plastic

artificial or insincere in character.
Example - a plastic smile.
soft, lithe.
http://www.wordsmyth.net/live/home.php?script=search&matchent=plastic&matchtype=exact

Having the qualities of sculpture; well-formed:the
astonishing plastic beauty of the chorus girls.

Easily influenced; impressionable. Marked by
artificiality or superficiality; synthetic, a plastic
world of fad, hype, and sensation.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/65/P0356500.html

being able to create, esp. within an art form; having
the power to give form or formal expression: the
plastic imagination of great poets and composers. Fine
Arts. pliable; impressionable: the plastic mind of
youth. a plastic smile. lacking in depth,
individuality, or permanence; superficial, dehumanized,
or mass-produced: a plastic society interested only in
material acquisition.
http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/plastic

Capable of being influenced or formed; "the plastic
minds of children"; Used of the imagination;
"material...transformed by the plastic power of the
imagination"
http://www.ultralingua.com/onlinedictionary/?service=ee&text=plastic

Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, - used
also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.

Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of
matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator.
http://www.onelook.com/?other=web1913&w=Plastic

Appearing in English first in the 16th century, this
sense of "plastic" was applied to everything from
modeling clay to the "plastic," or highly
impressionable, nature of political opinions among
voters.
http://www.word-detective.com/021402.html#plastic

Answer 5

I think it was because of Mean Girls I didn't hear people calling themselves or others as that until that movie

but maybe its some sort of Barbie doll reference

Answer 6

I think it really predates that movie. I am OLD and I have heard it being used for a long time. Myself, I prefer the term "tupperware" to describe them -- been using THAT one since my husband left me in 1978, to describe his new wife!

Answer 7

It's been used since the 60s, my Pops used it to describe fake hippies.

Answer 8

It's an old term, meaning fake, cheap, and easily replaced.