View Full Version : "Awesome"
Can anyone tell me, without being annoying, why a lot of those middle-aged people keep describing everything as "Awesome"? It's: "That apple pie was Awesome" or that "Peach cobbler was Awesome" or: "That roast beef was not only yummy & scrumptious, it was Awesome!" Mainly, it's matrons in their early 50's or late 40's that proclaim everything they get satisfaction from(mainly food) to be "Awesome". To me, it is so....trite. Does it have something to do with their change of life? Just wonder if there is a correlation. Think your responses over, before you comment. We don't want things to get ugly. Thanks.
No more annoying than "cool" or "sick" or any other word used too much that it loses its punch.
I think if probably started out as a 20-something term which is now simply aging along with you. Nothing to do with change of life--just generational lingo. But just put it in the same camp as "groovy," "sweet," "outtasight," "fab," "neat-o," "bad," "cat's pajamas." Doesn't bother me at all, unless one person uses it constantly (like DH, who is way past early 50).
It's an annoying over-used word.
There are a lot of annoying words. I can't stand the word 'padded'. I see it in books all the time "she padded across the floor" and I threw the book across the room. No one uses that word in normal conversation.
I also don't like when people use the word 'God' in exclamation.....especially when they don't believe in God but they can't seem to leave His name out of a simple sentence like "Oh God, it was a great movie".
I think it has been determined that the #1 most disliked word is "moist". It doesn't bother me but that word always shows up on disliked word lists.
Miss Cellane
5-20-14, 7:06am
I've been hearing "Awesome" for at least the past 30 years. So if someone 50 years old is using it, they may have started using it in their 20s, when it might have sounded fresh and new.
The last time I heard "Awesome" was from my 16 year old nephew, when he caught sight of the restaurant buffet line at Easter.
In my area, awesome is mostly used by the younger folk, in their teens and 20s. While my nephew used it in relation to food, I've heard cars described that way, and snowboarding tricks, and a home-made water slide, and a sunset.
There was time when I was convinced that word is used only to confuse poor foreigners who keep mistaking it for awful :doh:
I think it's just like any other word that comes into fashion and becomes overused. It looses it's common, neutral meaning and is often used so much that it sneaks into active vocabulary of people who find it annoying when they hear it. In my native language we call them 'parasite' words ... not sure if that expression is used in the same meaning in English as well but I think it's quite accurate.
goldensmom
5-20-14, 8:31am
Overused, misused just as the word 'like', 'amazing' or any other word used repetitively and/or out of context. I am a grammar person and have been since elementary school. If a child says 'this ice cream is awesome' I will say, 'mountains are awesome and sunsets are awesome but the ice cream is very good'. If an adult says 'this ice cream is awesome', I just cringe. I figure that the child is still learning but the adult is old enough to know better language use but doesn't speak it.
In answer to your question 'Does it have something to do with their change of life?'. I don't think so as I hear the particular word 'awesome' used by all age groups as noted above. Side note: I will endure 'like, awesome, amazing, etc.', repetative and misused over the profuse profanity (especially among the young) that I hear when I am out and about.
All of my younger co-workers (20-40s) use this word extensively. It irks me when I hear it in business settings as it sounds like high school lingo to me but them I'm approaching OLD.
awakenedsoul
5-20-14, 11:20am
Maybe they're just complimenting the chef. I do a lot of baking and cooking from scratch, and I really appreciate it when someone enjoys the cakes, cookies, or meal that I made. It makes me feel good. Baking bread and desserts from scratch takes a lot of time and energy. They taste much better than packaged foods, though. (Well, I think they do...)
I guess I'd rather hear someone be enthusiastic than listen to complaining or gossip. (Which is another tendency in middle age...)
...
I guess I'd rather hear someone be enthusiastic than listen to complaining or gossip. ...
Amen to that!
All I know is I think it's awesome to be able to discuss the relative awesomeness of the word awesome. It reminds me of high school when my friends and I would meet and rap about the way coolest stuff ever. I thought that was groovy but in retrospect it was more than that. It was awesome.
I remember telling my daughter (as a teenager) about those awesome times and she agreed that it was rad. She always was an awesome girl.
Awesome thread dude! Like, as one of those 50 year old "matrons" from The O.C., it's, like, soooooo totally gnarly and rad of you to , like, bring this topic up.
It's funny because here in LA/SoCal the "hip" word du jour is "chill". Everything is "chill". When my sister was looking for a room to rent we counted how many times in one ad the word :chill" was used. The house is "chill". The roomies were "chill". Even the freakin' dog was "chill". So while I realize "chill" is the current generations "awesome" it totally, like, ya know, drives me crazy. definetly not awesome or cool :-)!
I take it back - I guess I'm not a matron as I'm neither married, have kids or am dignified :-)!:
matron (ˈmeɪtrən) —n: 1. a married woman regarded as staid or dignified, esp a middle-aged woman with children.
Wanted to ad that while awesome doesn't really drive me crazy there are certain words that do - generally pretentious, snobby business type lingo tag lines. For example "Lets dialogue" instead of lets talk. "Team Members" instead of employees. Etc... Lots I can think of that I really dislike.
Overused, misused just as the word 'like', 'amazing' or any other word used repetitively and/or out of context. I am a grammar person and have been since elementary school. If a child says 'this ice cream is awesome' I will say, 'mountains are awesome and sunsets are awesome but the ice cream is very good'. If an adult says 'this ice cream is awesome', I just cringe. I figure that the child is still learning but the adult is old enough to know better language use but doesn't speak it.
In answer to your question 'Does it have something to do with their change of life?'. I don't think so as I hear the particular word 'awesome' used by all age groups as noted above. Side note: I will endure 'like, awesome, amazing, etc.', repetative and misused over the profuse profanity (especially among the young) that I hear when I am out and about.
+1
It's like Totally Awesome Dude!
- MtnLaurel b. 1970, high school class of '88
blame Spicoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5rIuJPTt0
It's like Totally Awesome Dude!
- MtnLaurel b. 1970, high school class of '88
blame Spicoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5rIuJPTt0Sean Penn's greatest performance!! Besides "Bill and Ted's Most Excellent Adventure" with Keanu Reeves. It was most excellent, cha.. :-)!
"It's all good."
I admittedly have to cringe when I hear some oldster who hasn't quite parted with the good old days say, "Far out".
Now that was awesome! Thanks for the Fast Times clip. :cool:
"It's all good."
I admittedly have to cringe when I hear some oldster who hasn't quite parted with the good old days say, "Far out".
Bummer.
Cool. That's still ok to say I hope, being really old as I am.
Cool. That's still ok to say I hope, being really old as I am.
Yes, I hope it's still ok, too, "matronly" as I am....heck, even menopausal..I use that all the time! Bwahahah!
I say Bummer, Far out, neat, and cool all the time! And I'm not giving it up! :~)
Sad Eyed Lady
5-20-14, 8:40pm
It's an annoying over-used word.
There are a lot of annoying words. I can't stand the word 'padded'. I see it in books all the time "she padded across the floor" and I threw the book across the room. No one uses that word in normal conversation.
I had to laugh when I read that. I seem to come across that all the time in books and it always irks me! And it is almost always in reference to a female. As you said, "she padded across the floor" - good example. Just the other night I read it for the umpteenth time and I always think "WHY?" Why do they use this term - why can she just walk across the floor? A shared irk, Float On!
Blackdog Lin
5-20-14, 10:55pm
My life tends to be awesome, but sometimes things are a bummer. These terms will never go out of style. Well, with me anyway, 'cause I'm kinda cool.
Packy: how the hell old are you anyway? Did you comment on Facebook today on something sick? Ooh, that's sick?
Same thing, different terminology.
(And CathyA: oh, the memories you brought back to me! Tubular, dude.)
I think we need to bring tubular back. It's a very cool word.
I use all of that, although I have mostly broken myself from saying groovy.
I am in the process of helping an older friend find good home care workers. One of the agencies I called today seems like it might be a nice fit for her, and when the owner and I were ending our conversation I said something...cannot remember what it was...and the guy said 'awesome'. My friend will choose what is best for her, but had the research been for me, that little awesome would have sealed the deal.
Awesome comments here! Oops--I meant interesting. And yes--"Dude" is another one. It is typically used by a different class of people, but there is some overlap. Dude, that was Awesome! If I were a recruiter in HR, interviewing potential hires, people who began a sentence with "Dude" would probably be removed from consideration. The reason is, I've encountered enough "dude-sayers" over the years to develop a negative stereotype and to prejudge them.
Packy, I work in that realm and HR people do remove applicants from consideration for all sorts of things that happen during an interview, and calling the person dude is only one of many. And, that is because it exhibits a lack of professionalism, pretty much aside from preconceived notions, so I think you can give yourself a break about your aversion to dude. I dislike it when my clients use it, too.
That said, I like most of casual use of language does not bother me at all, especially since I find myself using most of them at some time or another. At least I do not say far out anymore.
And yes--"Dude" is another one. It is typically used by a different class of people, .What class is that? It's is/was a common word here in my SoCal beach community.
Well Dude, I guess you could say that those SoCal beach community people are in that class. Hope that clarifies it. Let's just call them "dudesayers", from now on.
What class is that? It's is/was a common word here in my SoCal beach community.
Indeed. I grew up skateboarding and surfing (I spent several years essentially living at Black's Beach and Swami's), "dude" still sneaks out, and if I avoided hiring anyone who said it because of "class of people" issues I would have missed out on hiring some world-class talent over the years.
I've been watching some old reruns of Ironside and occasionally one of them says "You dig, man?" haha
Well Dude, I guess you could say that those SoCal beach community people are in that class. Hope that clarifies it. Let's just call them "dudesayers", from now on.Like, I totally get cha. We're totally on the low down with the down low and chill here in the SoCal. When you said "class" I assumed you were talking about a certain socially and financially disadvantaged group of people compared to others. Here the rich dudes are just as likely to say dude as the poor dudes.
My kids often slip "dude" in to conversations with me by mistake, i.e. "Dude, I've been working so many hours this week... uh.. sorry! I mean, Mom.. " Hey, I don't mind being "dude." Maybe I should ask my son if GS.2 should call me "Grand-dudess" or something.
rosarugosa
5-21-14, 7:25pm
I only use "awesome" preceded by "f*cking," a la the Thrift Store Song.
Indeed. I grew up skateboarding and surfing (I spent several years essentially living at Black's Beach and Swami's), "dude" still sneaks out, and if I avoided hiring anyone who said it because of "class of people" issues I would have missed out on hiring some world-class talent over the years.Ah the infamous Blacks Beach :moon:. Living here in Surf City, USA (where even the surfing dogs say "dude") it's a pretty common thing - probably like saying "guy" is in Canada - "hey guy, it's all aboot the hockey don' cha know, ah?" While I would be very turned off (yet another word I hate) by a job applicant who used certain words during an interview, I wouldn't out right disqualify them.
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1412&d=1400719172
shadowmoss
5-23-14, 9:59am
I work with a 20's something rock musician in his other job who always calls me Dude. Which is funny as I'm an almost-60 female.
I went to the VA hospital yesterday (and lived to tell about it!) and the young Asian female doctor I saw said "Dude?" in a questioning (and slightly shocked) way to me in response to a comment I made. Cracked me up because I thought about this thread.
rodeosweetheart
5-23-14, 11:47am
"Mainly, it's matrons in their early 50's or late 40's that proclaim everything they get satisfaction from(mainly food) to be "Awesome"."
Wow, what a sexist and ageist thing to say, Packy!
I work with a 20's something rock musician in his other job who always calls me Dude. Which is funny as I'm an almost-60 female.
Ha! Yeah, my 10-yr-old grandson inadvertently calls me "Dude" once in a while, too!
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