I’ve noticed an interesting recent phenomenon – the use of the word “awesome.” Awesome used to mean extraordinary. Mind boggling. Amazing. The parting of the Red Sea. Man landing on the moon. Man leaving the moon and cleaning up after himself.
Now “awesome” is bandied about 15-20 times a day, per person.
That new episode of Two and a Half Men? Awesome. That YouTube video of the monkey sniffing it’s own butt and falling out of a tree? Awesome. Coldplay? Really awesome. They used to be only slightly awesome but now they work with Brian Eno and they’re totally awesome.
All I can say is (to use another burned out catchphrase) really?
Aren’t compliments supposed to mean something? Can we all agree to cut back our awesome intake to 5 times a year? I don’t think anyone will really be offended. I mean, Coldplay, they have to know they aren’t awesome, right? And the YouTube monkey. Well, that was 6 years ago. For all we know that monkey suffered severe brain damage and that, my friends, is totally not awesome.
Here are some underused words to describe something that one has positive feelings for that I’d like to see work their way back into the mainstream:
Good.
Nice.
Fine.
Adequate.
On par.
Neat.
Pretty good.
Acceptable.
Above average.
All these words are free and available for use. Try some of them out occasionally. They’re really… errr… awesome?
