Awesome

Awesome

Words are things I tend to use everyday when I am speaking.  I also use many of them when I am at a keyboard responding to a message that I have no desire to reply to, yet I know I will use words like “Please stop sending me emails” which inexplicably tends to increase my emails.   The younger ones have abandoned the use of words as emojis now seem to better represent their words.

As our vocabulary decreases our use of images is increasing at an alarming rate.  There is now a website, “Emojipedia”, that houses every emoji created.  This regression in wordplay only makes me smile. 🙂   

The fear I have, as I lie in bed wondering what the correct image to use in a text to explain that I don’t remember where I put my car keys, exposes my lack of understanding appropriate communication in the 21^st century. 

This wordy introduction leads me to today’s concern of improper use of proper words as our laziness of language is nearing a pandemic rate.

I will illustrate this with an historical examination of the word “Cool”.

Wine Tasting is a trendy activity that many people do to fill in the many hours we must populate on an average weekend.  Butchers tried to leverage this trend by promoting raw Meat Tasting, at their less than hygenic  meat counters, but the occasional salmonella outbreaks, quickly diminished the popularity of this activity.

I sat at a local winery with friends, to observe the wine tasting experience.  Because I was driving, I could not sip, just sit and watch others prepare to use words like “floral, body, fruity, dry sweet and perhaps Beaujolais as they handed a twenty dollar bill to the sommelier for three sips from the many bottles offered.  For the cynical ones, who criticize everything they see, allow me to tap into your negative approach to life.  If you think wine tasting is dull, imagine the word to describe watching wine tasting.

When one non-driver made the selection of a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Pinot Grigio and a Reisling, the wine expert looked at my friend and said. “Awesome Choices sir!”

Were those choices really “Awesome”??? Was that the correct word to describe picking 3 different grape choices?  Should the sommelier offered a corresponding emoji to support the awesomeness of this three wine selection? 

To me man landing on the moon was a rather awesome event.  The birth of a child is more than an awesome experience.  For you more science oriented ones, the discovery of the polio vaccine or insulin might rank high on the awesome scale. I submit that choosing three wines to taste doesn’t even meet the criteria for fabulous, let alone awesome.

Which awkwardly brings us back to the word for “Cool”.  Through generations being “Cool” was a status many aspired to be.   As the time passed the word for being cool changed, as being called “Cool” became an uncool word.  In the Jazz Age “Hep Cats” was the ultimate description of the coolness of the ones admired.   “Hep” was replaced by “Hip” to better describe the coolest people you knew.  During the 1960s the word “Groovy” dominated the conversation to label the coolest of the flower power, transformational decade.  Songs were written about this cool word.  “Feeling Groovy” by Simon And Garfunkel and “Groovy Kind of Love” done by the Mindbenders (A very groovy name for a band) and later done by Phil Collins to keep the grooviness alive, were testimonials to the word “Cool”.

One very awkward moment in the 1960s was when Frank Sinatra would insert the word “Groovy” into his Cole Porter songs to appear cool to the younger audience.  Not Cool!

Cool became ironic as one generation used the word “Bad” to mean “Good” but really meant Cool.  Michael Jackson named his album “Bad” to capture his coolness though other things were discovered about him that made him properly uncool or basically a “Bad” person.

The next generation began the laziness of word usage as Radical became the cool descriptor, however this was shortened to “Rad” because it was easier to text.

Phrases versus words did occasionally creep into our language to describe the coolness of others.  You will have to have a conversation with your grandparents, which is still a cool thing to do, to get their take on those phrases. 

The Bees Knees, The Cat’s Meow, Jim Dandy, Nifty, a Lulu and a Dilly came and went as the older ones acknowledge the coolness of their time.

This journey through the coolness of time, brings us back to the word “Awesome” that currently dominates our quick unthinking description of cool.  It is overused and because of our lack of creativity (blame Covid) we have been stuck with our awesomeness for far too long.  My request to all is come up with a better word for today to best describe our current coolness.  Now because I am no longer cool, perhaps this word already exists, but only the cool ones know what is.  I suppose that is how it should be, I just pray that it is a word and not some emoji.

Thanks for your awesome attention this month’s blog and if perchance, you thought this was rather awesome, please let me know.

Cue the Blong…Let’s Talk exposing my lack of understanding current communication standards