- This dance came from the 1989 movie "Weekend at Bernie's" where two young men carry around a corpse, Bernie, and pretend that he is still alive. The flopping motion of Bernie in the movie inspired the creation of the dance "The Bernie" which imitates the loose, dead weight movement of his corpse. The dance was made popular through an online video where a Southern man created his own song to go along with the dance.
The Bernie
noun Word formation type: Novel Creation
The Bernie is a type of dance where a person bends at the knees, leans slightly backwards, and drops their arms behind them like a dead weight. They then proceed to flop their arms around in a jellyfish-like fashion while stomping their feet and sometimes bobbing their head.
Etymology : Addition of the article 'the' to the name 'Bernie'. Bernie refers to the character in the movie "Weekend at Bernie's"
Source : Youtube.com; August 2011
Last modified: 2 December 2011