The word Californication

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This word was made familiar by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Before they made the song, the word was pretty obscure.

According to This Entry in the Urban Dictionary...

Californication: The process by which the American television and film industry, for the most part based in California, spreads their own highly sexualized, consumer-driven version of American culture that heavily emphasizes sex, violence, celebrity, and youth as virtues to be extolled and goals to be achieved...

On the other hand, callifornication is beautiful fornication.

Different folks use it to mean different things (positive, or negative). Making love in a hot tub, or on the beach. Or...the total moral decay of Amurica!.

And it was the name of a mildly entertaining series on Bravo, or some cable network, starring David Duchovny.

I NEVER heard that world when it wasn't referring to the song. I find the song lame & extremely OVERPLAYED. How come it's the only RHCP song that ever gets played anywhere I go

Californication also refers to the exodus of people leaving California because of high costs of living and high taxes. The places they move to (PNW, Utah, Colorado, and Texas in particular) gain in terms of culture and diversity, but housing and rent costs go up in those places as well.

I recall hearing the term long before either the Showtime series, or the Chili Peppers song. Folks in Colorado complaining about the state becoming "Californicated".

California....the most beautiful state in the union. The place doesn't deserve all this bad press. Hollywood is only one small part of a state that is nearly 500 miles long and whose GNP was third highest in the world.

An additional meaning of Californication is moving into a locale from Cali, and then expecting that culture to conform to your Californian culture. For instance, expecting a rural area to be as liberal as what you left behind in California. That never goes over well with anyone.

Also, when property values go up, often the locals can't afford to own a house any more in the californicated place. That never goes over well, either.