"Effreybuddy CHIIILLLL"
Posted on 02/10/2006 11:47:57 AM PST by mlc9852
NEW YORK (AP) -- Groovy is over, hip is square, far out is long gone. Don't worry, though - it's cool.
"Cool" remains the gold standard of slang in the 21st century, as reliable as a blue-chip stock, surviving like few expressions ever in our constantly evolving language. It has kept its cool through the centuries - even as its meaning changed drastically.
How cool is that?
Way cool, say experts who interpret slang for their messages about society.
"Cool is certainly a charter member for the slang hall of fame," says Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of popular culture. "Cool just sits back and keeps getting used generation after generation and lets the whole history of the language roll off its back."
Thompson estimates he uses the word 50 times a day "as an egghead professor" because no other word quite does the job. He says its versatility helps explain its staying power.
It is the all-purpose word for OK, good, great, terrific and every gradation in between, often pronounced nowadays as "kewl."
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
"Effreybuddy CHIIILLLL"
I was cool before cool was kewl!
I am still cooler than you.
"sucks" has hung in there for quite a while too. You even hear it in the mainstream nowadays.
That's kind of strange when you think about what's being referred to.
I think it's an example of how the meaning of words change over time and become accepted. Of course, I don't think that is always a good thing.
Adn thanks to Paris Hilton, the opposite word "hot" now also means nearly the same thing.
I always liked listening to Maynard G. Krebs...
Nazi. < /Godwin's Law >
I had forgotten about Maynard. LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.