“Omigosh! That’s so awesome!” “I went on vacation to the Florida Keys and it was awesome.” “That panini sandwich is awesome.” “The view from the top of the Ute is awesome.” When did everything become so awesome?
The word ‘awesome’ is an adjective born around 1598, and now ’80s hair band rocker Bret Michaels gets to tell 25 hand-picked color-treated honeys that they too are “awesome.” Yes, I’m aware that having any part of the reality show “Rock of Love” has, in fact, made me dumber. Yet, I’ve been quite aware of the overuse of this word as of late. Is it just me or is anyone else sick of “awesome?”
Was it Bill and Ted and their excellent adventure that set us all on the awesome track? Did they convert this word, which actually means: Expressive of awe, inspiring awe, i.e. terrific and extraordinary? Whoever did it is probably unimportant. I just think we could all benefit from digging a little deeper and expanding our vocabulary.
It’s slang, I know. There was a time that “cool” only meant chilly or described a set of colors. Cool has also gained an additional slang definition. So now what? Kill all slang? I don’t see that happening for anyone, myself included. I guess it would just be nice to see people stretch themselves to be more intelligent, or at least be aware of the way they sound.
Maybe it bothers me so much because it’s a word that is supposed to mean something so great, but slang made it passive. The word “cool” went from a lack of warmth in temperature or color to a term of positive goodness. How come the word “awesome” took a downturn? I hope it isn’t a sign of things to come.
I hate to admit it, but I’m absolutely guilty of contributing to the overuse of this word. However, I try and listen for it and when possible use a different adjective. Everything is not awesome. How about “great” or “amazing” or “terrific?”
I just brought this to the attention of a good friend and he felt like he couldn’t stop using it. Every time he opened his mouth he was spitting out accolades to awesome.
Global warming, soaring gas prices and redundant usage of adjectives — it’s a problem.
Perhaps being outside the Aspen bubble has raised my awareness of such slang. I don’t know if you knew this, but Americans are kind of lazy. We don’t always park farther away or pick up a book. The Urban Dictionary defines the word awesome in several different ways. My personal favorite is: “A ‘sticking plaster’ word used by Americans to cover the huge gaps in their vocabulary.”
Isn’t that sad? I like the actual definition of the word and find that it does have a place, but due to its overuse, it now seems trite when describing a place like the Maroon Bells. The Maroon Bells are, in fact, awe-inspiring; however, the feeling is lost because the sandwich I ate on my way there was also awesome.
Do you know what President Bush said to the pope when the pope finished his speech on the White House lawn? As they shook hands and traded spots at the podium our great leader said, “Thank you your Holiness. Awesome speech.”
Ouch.
It kind of hurts doesn’t it? It worries me when the president of the United States tells a religious leader that his speech was “awesome.” He wasn’t thanking Ozzy Osbourne, he was thanking the pope. I’d like to think that the president meant “awe-inspiring,” but something tells me he just really thought the pope was rad.
Overwhelming, grand, breathtaking, splendid, tremendous, remarkable and amazing all popped up as suitable synonyms for the word awesome. Granted, I might not describe a sandwich as grand, I’d like to think I could describe it as “yummy” if nothing else.
I now have an internal awesome alarm that goes off every time I hear the word. I want to quickly cover my own mouth or the mouths of others when I hear it. Maybe people could start putting up “No Awesome” signs. For instance, in addition to the sign at Carl’s that says, “Please, no cell phone use at the counter,” there could also be a sign that says, “‘Awesome’ not accepted here,” just to challenge people and their vocabulary a little bit more.
Try it. Can you go without “awesome” for a week? Maybe you could have an awesome jar and put a dollar in it every time you use “awesome” to describe something like a dessert or the fact that the laundry room was free. Stretch yourself to say what a “wonderful” and “relaxing” vacation you had while eating “decadent” food at the top of a mountain. Then maybe we’ll see that the view from the top really was awesome.
