# When will the word "cool" be lame? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689 "2010-12-19T06:13:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rex\_Goliath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rex\_Goliath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Goliath)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/1 "2010-12-19T06:13:11Z")
Things have been cool a lot longer than they’ve were ever groovy. Do you think cool is headed the way of keen any day soon, or will it continue to rock the free world for the forseeable future? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/2 "2010-12-19T06:18:30Z")
More importantly, when will the word “lame” be cool? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/3 "2010-12-19T06:43:51Z")
It transcends transient slang. It has a clear, specific meaning (even if there can be plenty of disagreement about what is worthy of the word), and there’s isn’t really anything better to replace it with. Language is fluid, though, and none of it lasts forever, but I’d guess that it has a good 50-100 years left in it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/4 "2010-12-19T06:45:37Z")
[The trend for “cool” is up over “groovy” or “lame”.](http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=lame,groovy,cool&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/5 "2010-12-19T06:57:09Z")
[Mod mod]Changed “world” to “word” in title[/Mod mod] ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/6 "2010-12-19T07:22:18Z")
Ugh, “groovy” was never cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/7 "2010-12-19T08:57:33Z")
Maybe when jeans go out of style. People have been wearing them in the name of fashion for how many decades now? It’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/8 "2010-12-19T12:14:19Z")
Hopefully, it will be joined in the lame enclosure by “sucks” and “dude” on the same day. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/9 "2010-12-19T13:13:59Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Ugh, “groovy” was never cool. > > 🙂 Yeah, did anybody actually use that word? I remember they used it a lot on TV trying to sound trendy IE The Brady Bunch, Groovie Goolies etc. but I don’t remember real people using the term. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/10 "2010-12-19T13:38:00Z")
One of Paul Simon’s few missteps as a songwriter was “The 59th Street Song [Feeling Groovy].” Damn shame, it’s a great tune, but … damn, no, not groovy. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/11 "2010-12-19T14:35:00Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Yeah, did anybody actually use that word? I remember they used it a lot on TV trying to sound trendy IE The Brady Bunch, Groovie Goolies etc. but I don’t remember real people using the term. The minute the media picks up the slang, it ain’t cool no more. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/12 "2010-12-19T14:39:32Z")
What’s funny to me is that “cool” sounds lame when anyone a generation older than you uses it, as if they are trying too hard–I think it’s lame when my mom says it, and my students think it’s lame when I say it–but we all grew up saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/13 "2010-12-19T16:00:04Z")
Nowadays the kids are using ‘straight’ instead of ‘ok’. I felt sick one day and my homeboy came up and asked “are you straight?” and I was like “WTF?”. True story. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/14 "2010-12-19T16:13:31Z")
I hope never, because I use it when most people around me would use “awesome.” I **hate** “awesome.” Stop saying “awesome,” please. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/15 "2010-12-19T16:14:38Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > What’s funny to me is that “cool” sounds lame when anyone a generation older than you uses it, as if they are trying too hard–I think it’s lame when my mom says it, and my students think it’s lame when I say it–but we all grew up saying it. What’s even funnier to me is I \*feel \*lame when I say it to people a generation younger than me. I \*feel \*like I’m trying too hard. Yet I don’t feel at all lame if I say it to an age mate. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/16 "2010-12-19T19:33:13Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > What’s funny to me is that “cool” sounds lame when anyone a generation older than you uses it, as if they are trying too hard–I think it’s lame when my mom says it, and my students think it’s lame when I say it–but we all grew up saying it. It’s easier to pull off “cool” by using it as a response - no matter how old you are. “Yeah, we’ve got five of those left in stock.” “Cool.” I can easily imagine it being lame when a geezer tries to use it as an adjective in a sentence, like, “These new jeans are _cool_.” Often times they’ll put too much emphasis on the word cool in a given sentence. Instead, it’s a lot more cool to say “cool” as disaffected and unenthusiastic as possible. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/17 "2010-12-19T19:51:58Z")
I think cool is here to stay, and I’m cool with that. I think **drastic\_quench** is right- there _is_ a geezery way to say cool, but I’ve heard people my mom’s age (60s) say it without it sounding weird at all. I’d wager that if one took note of all the cools one heard in a week, it would be peppered throughout most demographics and situations. If I were to do that, I don’t think I’d even catch all the cools, it’s just so natural sounding to me. It would be like trying to catch all the instances of “stuff”, or even the affirmative use of “sure”. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/18 "2010-12-20T03:15:45Z")
I still kind of miss “tight,” which means “cool” and was popular about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/19 "2010-12-20T17:22:39Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Nowadays the kids are using ‘straight’ instead of ‘ok’. I felt sick one day and my homeboy came up and asked “are you straight?” and I was like “WTF?”. > > True story. Dude, it’s Generation Txt now. Yer homie asked, “r u str8?” It doesn’t matter if he was speaking to you face to face or not. homeboy? Back in the mid-60s, my sister was fond of the word “marvy”. “Cool” is so much cooler than “marvy”. My dad was fond of “hot dog!” as an expression. As in, “Hot dog! That quarterback threw a great pass!” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689/20 "2010-12-20T18:10:07Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > I hope never, because I use it when most people around me would use “awesome.” I **hate** “awesome.” > > Stop saying “awesome,” please. I will never give up that awesome word. And I will single-handedly bring groovy back from the grave, because it’s far out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-the-word-cool-be-lame/564689.md?page=2)