The word...."cool"

[Dan Murphy]

Not the temperature 'cool', you know, the other 'cool', like, 'that's cool'.

It seems that that word 'cool' has transcended the decades. I can recall my folks using the term some back in the 50's. I and all the kids I grew up with in the 50's and 60's certainly used 'cool' all the time, referring to how neat things were, how fun things were. I still use the word' cool' to reference those things today, 'hey, that's cool.'. My two kids, Vince and Natalie, adult 'kids' now, 46 and 43, similarly have used the word, over their lifetimes, including now. And now the grandkids are giving us 'the cool'. This is 'cool', that is 'cool'.

This word, 'cool', as a word describing low temperature, has been used forever. But a change started in the 30's, like 90+ years ago.....

From the National Endowment For The Humanities.....

But starting around the 1930s, cool began appearing in American English as an extremely casual expression to mean something like ‘intensely good.’ This usage also distinguished the speaker, italicizing their apartness from mainstream culture.


The long story if you care to read https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/how-did-cool-become-such-big-deal-0


Now I'm pretty sure that there is nobody here over the age of 110 nor under the age of 10 (I think you are supposed to be at least 13 to be on the dis). Do you use the word 'cool'? Your kids? Your parents,, grandkids?

Do you have any other really long-time used words, used over the decades, similar to 'cool' (not necessarily similar meaning to 'cool', just long time used words)?

 

[mjkacmom]

My H says cool dozens of times every day, awesome too.

 

[DVCjj]

My H says cool dozens of times every day, awesome too.

Ha. I do also. And I'm old.

 

[tvguy]

Never heard my parents say the word "cool". Kids in the 1960's said it, and my kids, who are 33 and 37 use it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I was born in the 1970s, and I do use the word cool.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I still use it, too much I’m sure.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Still in rotation on this end.

 

[goooof1]

COOL

 

[RedAngie]

In high school for a short while the preferred term was “superb.”

 

[luvthatduke]

Yep, I still say it, and DS says it too (Gen Z).

 

[Crescent_Lake]

#

 

[ronandannette]

Funny but now that I’m thinking about it, I almost never use the word without the qualifier “not”. As in “wow, that’s so not cool” for things that are mildly to moderately offensive.

 

[ElevationNotice]

It's Cool.

 

[amcnj]

It seems to me that “cool” was more commonly used around here a few decades ago. I’ll have to pay more attention to it, but it doesn’t seem that I hear it used very often any more.

I think I hear “neat” and “awesome” more now.

 

[Babs Johnson]

About 15 years ago my kids were using “kewl” in texts and e-mails.

 

[_19disnA]

Some words seem to change their meaning overtime. One I can think of is the word 'drop'. If I 'drop' someone as a friend, meant someone I no longer associate with. In the music business 'drop' seems to now mean 'releasing a new record'. Found that funny since if a record label in the past 'dropped' someone as an artist meant their contract had been terminated.

Meltdown used to be a term for when a nuclear reactor had a major malfunction. Parents now seem to use that term when their small children misbehave where in the past they called it a temper tantrum. Another trendy one is 'sick' apparently slang for something good which is clearly not what it used to mean.

 

[Micca]

I guess "Hot" still works? Louis Armstrong had a "Hot 5" band back in the 1920s, likely part of Jazz lingo.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Instead of 'cool,' the kids and teens around my way say, 'sick.' As in, "that's a sick ride," usually followed by, "bro."

 

[Meriweather]

groovy

I never use slang words, at least that I know of. Never used or use cool or groovy.

 

[Dan Murphy]

This was @Dan Murphy 's question.

He asked if there are others, not for examples of the same.

I can't think of one but I'm trying.

Fetch?

IYKYK

This was part of the question also, @Crescent_Lake.

Now I'm pretty sure that there is nobody here over the age of 110 nor under the age of 10 (I think you are supposed to be at least 13 to be on the dis). Do you use the word 'cool'? Your kids? Your parents,, grandkids?


Interesting replies so far.