TOTES MAGOTES!
Happy Humpday, people! Yes, it’s time to tune into the coolest blog on the East Coast...or at least on my website, which is written in the East Coast 😊 Speaking of cool, let’s take a deep dive into the coolest definition of that word, and all the other real and made-up words and expressions that have pervaded our lexicon through the decades, shall we? Trust me, it’s going to be the cat’s meow.
COOL
There are so many definitions for this word, dealing with anything from physical temperature, to keeping one’s composure during a stressful time, and it’s one of the most timeless expressions, dating back to the 1930s, according to the inter-web. Lester Young, a tenor saxophonist on the jazz scene is widely acclaimed for creating the popularity of being cool (calm and in control). This was different than being HIP in those days, since that meant you were streetwise and aware of new trends and ideas. Now, if you were both hip and cool? Phew! That would be rad.
RAD
Okay, while not nearly as cool as, well, cool, RAD had its day, starting in the bright-neon eighties. Short for radical, it was a way to say something was hip, but in an “I’m rebelling against all previous, uncool expressions, so I can be unique” kind of way. Other glamorous examples from the decade of excess include grody to the max, totally, gnarly, and whatever, the latter of which also seems to be timeless among each generation of angsty-teenagers. This must be used with the appropriate amount of attitude, of course. WhatEVER!
SICK
This one also came about in the eighties, mostly from the surfing and skateboarding crowd, but interestingly, is not the first word to alternately stand for something good and not-so-good, depending on the conversation. BAD turned good in the 1920s jazz scene, used to describe some sick musical action. Of course, Michael Jackson somehow used bad to mean both extremes of the word in one song and album, but then again, what else would you expect from the King of Pop?
Side note: I got caught speeding while driving my girlfriend’s Toyota Celica on route 89 in Vermont, cranking BAD on the stereo and doing my best to moonwalk while driving. I think that was the actual acronym for the violation on the ticket: MWD. I paid the fine without complaint. Worth every penny.
BEE’S KNEES
Here’s a confusing one for you. This expression also began in the 1920s, and the definition runs the gamut of either using other nonsensical animal expressions like cat’s pajamas, or referring to shrewd business dealings, and even to the knees of world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Heck, there’s even a reference to the pollen collected on a bee’s legs, since it’s such a valuable commodity. I like that one, since, any effort at saving our pollinators truly is the bee’s knees!
FIRE
I’ll admit I felt really old the first time I heard my teenage granddaughter use this term several years ago. I was like, “What?” This was followed by the appropriate eye-roll/smirk/scoff combo of the newly-adolescent before she explained this phrase to me, as if I was a Boomer (I’m a way hipper Gen-X baby, thank you very much). Then, to prove I was onboard with the latest slang, I turned up the collar of my Izod shirt and said, “That’s totally gnarly.” I think her eyes continued rotating 360 degrees, but she eventually recovered.
DOPE
Yeah, don’t even get me started with this one. I’m still not sure how a word that can stand for someone stupid or an addictive substance is also considered a synonym for cool or fire. Then again, I am on the very fringe of the Gen-X generation, so maybe I’m a Boomer/X hybrid?
CRAY-CRAY
Leave it up to those Gen-Z kids to take a high-scoring Scrabble word and turn it into a catchy saying. I mean, saying something or someone is crazy is wild enough, but to ratchet that intensity up a few notches by shortening this word (dramatically decreasing the aforementioned board game valuation) and repeating it twice? Well, now that truly is craziness! And, of course, once its short-lived popularity took off, the OG folks who invented the slang couldn’t stand for the term to become so commonplace and had to show their ultimate coolness by shortening things further and calmly stating, “Yo. That was cray.”
SKETCH
This is a relatively new one, abbreviating the word sketchy to describe anything suspicious, from a creepy person to the level of freshness of the baked haddock at the rad new restaurant you tried the night before. We humans will do just about anything to save time and effort, won’t we? Is pronouncing that one extra letter/syllable really that much work? Or maybe we’re struggling to find new, unique ways to express ourselves? I will admit it does work well, though. When I hear someone say something was “totally sketch,” I picture something far worse than if they’d said the same thing was sketchy. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
FOR REALS
Hey, and here we have a saying that actually adds a letter! I suppose simply saying “for real” wasn’t impactful enough for the cool kids, so adding that “S” brings the required attitude. ‘cause, if you ain’t for reals, y’all a bit sketch, you feeling me? Just sayin’.
And what sort of trendy writer would I be if I didn’t wrap up this blog post by combining as many of these words and terms into one paragraph for your amusement? Sort of a lame one, right?
Although it would be FIRE for us to go on and on about this GNARLY subject here, we’re FOR REALS out of time. So, it would be so COOL if you’d hop on over to my nhwriter Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571589012782) and TOTALLY share your own RAD words and HIP phrases. It would be SICK, BAD, and CRAY-CRAY! But, hey, if you think my post is GRODY, you can just carry on with your SKETCH day. I mean, whatEVER, okay?
Thanks for making my day the cat’s pajamas by reading this week’s entry. Go on out and make it a great day, and whatever you are, be a good one!
-Dave
