“I have replayed the messages as you wanted”, said my colleague from the build team. I said “Cool” and went back to my desk. On my way back to my seat I just started wondering “Why did I say cool? What was cool about replaying messages?” A thread was initiated in my mind on this usage of the word ‘cool’. Over the next few days I noticed myself and people around me using this word very frequently, almost to the extent of an average of a dozen times a day during the working hours of the office.
The first person to be scrutinized was me. I used this word almost as a substitute to OK or a Yes. Whenever someone did something and I approved their doing it I said ‘Cool’. ‘Cool’ here meant an acknowledgement. Whenever something worked as per my wish I said ‘cool’. This cool meant ‘Good, I like it’. As I noticed this usage of cool as an acknowledgement was mainly done by the Indian colleagues of mine. The English men never used them in this context. Their version of cool in these cases was ‘Cheers.’ ‘Have you sent the mail?’, ‘Cheers’, ‘have you finished that?’ ‘Cheers’. Although I found this ‘Cheers’ quite cheerful, a friend of mine was not so cool about it. He thought saying ‘cheers’ early in the morning only reflected the bad boozing habits of British! I did not think this was a cool thought but did not attempt to correct him. Making him lose his cool over a cool subject was not a cool idea!
The other term associated with cool is attitude. ‘He has a cool attitude’, ‘He is cool’ indicates that the person in question is not rigid and is easy to handle. Cool clients, cool managers, cool professors are hard to find, especially the latter two. Managers, Professors lose their cool very easily. The reason for them to lose their cool is mainly the cool attitude of other people around them i.e. the cool attitude of subordinates, students. In other words one might say one being cool is the cause for other losing cool.
The other general usage of cool is when you refer to something which is trendy, like a cool cap, a cool pair of glasses, or a cool bag. Possessing something which is not normal, which is stylish is considered to be cool today. Every teenager these days wants to look cool, be cool. They think sporting an attitude of don’t care is cool, wearing jazzy clothes is cool, having a weird hair cut is cool, skipping classes is cool, driving fast is cool, making fun is cool only to realize later that these are not only not cool but are also stupid. Having said so much about cool I just thought to make a cool search on the net. For those of you guys interested, here is the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)#Cool_defined. The link/meaning is not as cool as the word itself. Check it out…
Pondering over the cool subject for sometime now, I just think how the meaning of cool has changed over time and usage. The ‘cool’ we learned in English lessons was something which meant cold, chilly. If we were asked to frame a sentence for cool it would be like ‘we had a cool weather yesterday’, ‘cool winds are forecasted’ etc. We never used them as frequently as we do now. I wonder what kids of today will frame sentences for cool. They might be like ‘I wanna cool watch’ ‘That bag is cool’. The usage of the word ‘cool’ itself is considered cool and is used by the new ‘cool’ generation. Just imagine how an English professor would respond to the ‘cool ‘usage of the word ‘cool’ by a ‘cool’ boy having attended a ’cool’ party
Boy: I went to a cool place yesterday
Professor: Really? A cool place?
Boy: Yes it was. Never been to a place so cool!
Professor: Is it Mumbai? Mumbai is cold like never before
Boy: No I went to this cool place filled with cool people having a cool time
Professor: Place was cool?
Boy: Yes
Professor: People were cool?
Boy: Yes
Professor: Oh I get it. You switched on the AC, so the place gets cool. People get cool because of the AC, but…………….how will the time get cool??
I know this was a PJ. But just to think how words change meanings over times!
Talking of words which had different usage in earlier times I remember an article which I had read a couple of years back. It is about the embarrassing situation that occurs with the word ‘gay’. Today the meaning which directly comes to mind when you hear/read the word ‘gay’ is homosexual. Think of the old poems which you read in schools, old essays, and old classics. Gay means happy, bright, lively or in new terms ‘cool’. Just imagine the kind of situation that might happen in a conversation between two people belonging to different times when the word ‘gay’ is used. Professor finds the boy happy and bright and says
Professor: You are smart and gay. I like you.
Boy: But sir, I am not gay
Professor: off course you are
Boy: Sir I am NOT
Again a PJ. But just to think how words change their meanings over times!
I think being cool is being open, not rigid on one’s view points. I do not think possessing new electronic gadgets, showing carelessness is cool in any way. I am not cool, to be frank. I like things to be done with perfection and am a little fussy about it… Never the less I would like using the word ‘cool’ for one main purpose if not for anything; situations where I neither want to lie nor want to hurt (In Kannada we have a saying haavu saaybaradhu, kolu muriyabaradu) like for instance when my friend asks me how her new bag is, I wouldn’t want to tell her it is gaudy, it is bad; but I wouldn’t want to lie either, so I can tell ‘Its cool’. So, now you know what to comment if you don’t like this article, don’t you?
The first person to be scrutinized was me. I used this word almost as a substitute to OK or a Yes. Whenever someone did something and I approved their doing it I said ‘Cool’. ‘Cool’ here meant an acknowledgement. Whenever something worked as per my wish I said ‘cool’. This cool meant ‘Good, I like it’. As I noticed this usage of cool as an acknowledgement was mainly done by the Indian colleagues of mine. The English men never used them in this context. Their version of cool in these cases was ‘Cheers.’ ‘Have you sent the mail?’, ‘Cheers’, ‘have you finished that?’ ‘Cheers’. Although I found this ‘Cheers’ quite cheerful, a friend of mine was not so cool about it. He thought saying ‘cheers’ early in the morning only reflected the bad boozing habits of British! I did not think this was a cool thought but did not attempt to correct him. Making him lose his cool over a cool subject was not a cool idea!
The other term associated with cool is attitude. ‘He has a cool attitude’, ‘He is cool’ indicates that the person in question is not rigid and is easy to handle. Cool clients, cool managers, cool professors are hard to find, especially the latter two. Managers, Professors lose their cool very easily. The reason for them to lose their cool is mainly the cool attitude of other people around them i.e. the cool attitude of subordinates, students. In other words one might say one being cool is the cause for other losing cool.
The other general usage of cool is when you refer to something which is trendy, like a cool cap, a cool pair of glasses, or a cool bag. Possessing something which is not normal, which is stylish is considered to be cool today. Every teenager these days wants to look cool, be cool. They think sporting an attitude of don’t care is cool, wearing jazzy clothes is cool, having a weird hair cut is cool, skipping classes is cool, driving fast is cool, making fun is cool only to realize later that these are not only not cool but are also stupid. Having said so much about cool I just thought to make a cool search on the net. For those of you guys interested, here is the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)#Cool_defined. The link/meaning is not as cool as the word itself. Check it out…
Pondering over the cool subject for sometime now, I just think how the meaning of cool has changed over time and usage. The ‘cool’ we learned in English lessons was something which meant cold, chilly. If we were asked to frame a sentence for cool it would be like ‘we had a cool weather yesterday’, ‘cool winds are forecasted’ etc. We never used them as frequently as we do now. I wonder what kids of today will frame sentences for cool. They might be like ‘I wanna cool watch’ ‘That bag is cool’. The usage of the word ‘cool’ itself is considered cool and is used by the new ‘cool’ generation. Just imagine how an English professor would respond to the ‘cool ‘usage of the word ‘cool’ by a ‘cool’ boy having attended a ’cool’ party
Boy: I went to a cool place yesterday
Professor: Really? A cool place?
Boy: Yes it was. Never been to a place so cool!
Professor: Is it Mumbai? Mumbai is cold like never before
Boy: No I went to this cool place filled with cool people having a cool time
Professor: Place was cool?
Boy: Yes
Professor: People were cool?
Boy: Yes
Professor: Oh I get it. You switched on the AC, so the place gets cool. People get cool because of the AC, but…………….how will the time get cool??
I know this was a PJ. But just to think how words change meanings over times!
Talking of words which had different usage in earlier times I remember an article which I had read a couple of years back. It is about the embarrassing situation that occurs with the word ‘gay’. Today the meaning which directly comes to mind when you hear/read the word ‘gay’ is homosexual. Think of the old poems which you read in schools, old essays, and old classics. Gay means happy, bright, lively or in new terms ‘cool’. Just imagine the kind of situation that might happen in a conversation between two people belonging to different times when the word ‘gay’ is used. Professor finds the boy happy and bright and says
Professor: You are smart and gay. I like you.
Boy: But sir, I am not gay
Professor: off course you are
Boy: Sir I am NOT
Again a PJ. But just to think how words change their meanings over times!
I think being cool is being open, not rigid on one’s view points. I do not think possessing new electronic gadgets, showing carelessness is cool in any way. I am not cool, to be frank. I like things to be done with perfection and am a little fussy about it… Never the less I would like using the word ‘cool’ for one main purpose if not for anything; situations where I neither want to lie nor want to hurt (In Kannada we have a saying haavu saaybaradhu, kolu muriyabaradu) like for instance when my friend asks me how her new bag is, I wouldn’t want to tell her it is gaudy, it is bad; but I wouldn’t want to lie either, so I can tell ‘Its cool’. So, now you know what to comment if you don’t like this article, don’t you?
