What is Cool?
What is “cool?” Does it have to do with temperature or someone’s personality? Is it a slang word or a proper English word? And most importantly, how is it decided that something or someone is cool? Cool is a word that can have many different meanings, can be used as slang or proper English, and can be subjective when it comes to using it. I use the word in a couple of ways, but not all are in the Oxford English Dictionary, likewise, the Dictionary recognizes meanings of cool that I did not even know.
When I think of the word cool, I immediately think of it much the same as my peers would: a desirable image that excites the mind. Something cool can be a person, place, or thing. Cool is desirable because it is exciting. Cool is something I want to be a part of. Thinking of cool, I imagine an attractive, rich young man wearing all the latest fashions and surrounded by four or five beautiful women, also wearing sexy attire, who all think he is the greatest thing to walk the Earth. Or I imagine a professional snowboarder doing an incredible trick that amazes all the fans. I think of any situation I would love to be in. I get a feeling of greatness when I imagine myself in cool situations, as if I am standing tall, arms akimbo, and everyone is admiring me. Cool is something we want to associate with – possibly due to the feeling of greatness caused by being cool.
This definition of cool all depends on what excites a particular mind. Cool can be different for other people. I think snowboarding is cool, but someone else might think theater is cool, while another thinks toenails are cool, or whatever. It is up to the individual whether or not something is cool. We all have different minds, so all...
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...that it is cool in temperature, emotions, or color. This person would have to clarify his or her meaning. The ambiguity of the word cool is further heightened with my first definition. It is hard to tell just what kind of cool someone is talking about. Also, my first definition – a desirable image that excites the mind – somewhat has to do with energy, but it is not low in energy like all the other meanings of cool. If it is exciting the mind, it is raising the energy and then cannot be truly thought of as cool. This is probably why my first definition is not in the OED.
Cool is a word that can be used as an adjective, verb, and even a subject (when it refers to a truce). Cool also has several meaning, and using cool usually requires clarification. Because of these ambiguities, it is up to the person using cool when he or she should use it and in which way.
The poem “We Real Cool” is the story of young kids, possibly teens, who are rebellious, uneducated, and arrogant. It states: “We real cool. We left school. We lurk late. We strike straight. We sing sin. We thin gin. We jazz June. We die soon.” (l.1-8) The poem talks about the pool players and their lives. It seems as though the pool players are school aged because the poet says, “We left school.” (l.1-2) This line shows how they have no interest in school or learning. Since they choose to ditch school, they are most likely uneducated or immature therefore, their behavior throughout the poem, is not too surprising.
The poem, We Real Cool, by Gwendolyn Brooks speaks through the voice of a young clique who believes it is “real cool.” Using slang and simple language to depict the teenage voice in first person, Brooks’s narrators explain that they left school to stay out together late at night, hanging around pool halls, drinking, causing trouble, and meeting girls. Their lifestyle, though, will ultimately lead them to die at a young age. But, despite an early death, the narrator expresses that they are “real cool” because of this risky routine. Through her poem, Brooks’s shows the ironic consequence of acting “cool”: it leads to death.
The Coolidge scholarship provides that little bit of rain. Rain that will allow me to grow into the doctor I seem to be stuck dreaming about, rain that can wash the weight of questioning how I will pay for college off my shoulders, rain that will make the clouds of impending debt seem less likely; the Coolidge scholarship is the break I need to make it in this world.
A person’s vocabulary is not limited to the specific words he uses. Vocabulary extends to different phrases used. For example, adding different sentence adverbs, such as “frankly”, “in fact”, and “obviously”, to the beginning of a sentence changes the tone of the speaker’s message. “I enjoy a challenge” is a simple statement, but its tone is perceived differently when changed to “Obviously, I enjoy a challenge”. The tone is more matter-of-fact, possibly less polite, to the speaker’s audience. This case can also be seen with the overuse of the phrase “I feel like”. In Molly Worthen’s article “Stop Saying ‘I Feel Like’”, she analyzes today’s overuse of “I feel like” among college students. This phrase has the power to change a fact into an opinion. “Global warming is an issue” loses its definite meaning when it is changed to “I feel like global
Cool girls originated when the glamour of early Hollywood took America by storm. These women became famous during a time when women began to gain freedom and
Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Harper, 1995. 740.
In the period of 1949-1950, the band recorded twelve compositions with the “cool” sound that were included in the album Birth of Cool which was released in 1954. That “cool” sound gave a push for the work in the next few years. Another album Boplicity clearly showed the evolution of the sound: the tempo was more slowly but the compositions still had such bop characteristics as the light style of drumming, keeping the beat with the help of bass, and the playing in unison at the beginning of the
Desperately, people turn to use some words loosely. Take note when you are talking with people and you hear them using reminiscent words such as smart, pretty, beautiful, intelligent, or love in sentences. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the word Love due to the fact that love turns to apply in all the other words that people use loosely. There are numerous definitions of the word love, but I will pick one from Dictionary.com that states: A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. It’s obvious that a large majority of people are content when they hear the phrase “I Love You”. On the other hand, when a person says I love you, it can be misinterpreted effortlessly. One question I
In the story “Be Cool to the Pizza Dude” by Sarah Adams talks about the importance of treating others equally no matter what the person is like or looks like. This also includes being kind and cool to the pizza dude. Adams also talks about how being cool to the pizza dude is a practice of equality, she believes that her measurement as a human being, her worth and her pride she takes in her job or someone else's comes with respect for others.
Whether it has been the adding of the phrases such as "bling-bling" to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003 or the addition of the term "crunk" in the 2007 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, rap culture is leaving its mark on the English language. Words such as "hood" (neighborhood), "crib" (a place of residence), and "whip" (car) have become commonplace within everyday conversation. Or even more commonly used phrases such as "what’s up" (hello), "peace out" (good-bye), and the popular "chill out" (relax) are frequently used in television shows, movies, and even
In “We Real Cool” written by by Gwendolyn Brooks, Brooks adds to the meaning and tone of the poem by showing a theme that doing rebellious things gets you no where in life, even if it is considered “cool”. Brooks’ poem is about a group of people who do bad things like “leaving school” and “lurking late”. In the end of the poem, they say “We die soon”. In “We Real Cool”, Brooks is communicating that even if you’re “cool”, bad behavior ends up hurting you more that helping you. In the beginning of the poem, Brooks follows up after saying “We Real Cool” with “We Left School”. This helps establish the tone of a lostness because the narrorator is revealing that the only way he/she felt they could ‘be cool’ was to leave school with his ‘group’. Continueing
The life of Cooley didn’t seem too abnormal or anything. Cooley did though, have very new and different ideas than most the sociologist we have talked about thus far. For example, his view encourages students to believe in life as a creative process of which the human will is a fundamental ingredient. As the book stated it, he was rational, social, and progressive. He seemed to teach motivational phrases that belong on a posters like, “One’s reach, so to speak, should exceed one’s grasp.” He believed that the person is not an effect of the social order, but instead they are an effective cause as well. Cooley had extreme empathy for everyone from every nature and struggle, which is unique to him and his studies. However, he did fail to come into
There will be a group of “cool” kids in every environment you’re in. You see them everywhere you go. You wonder how you can be as cool as they are. Well in this essay we’ll be going over the steps you need to take to be one of the cool kids, both girls and guys! We’ll be talking about dress, slang, pop culture, habits, and just overall ora of being. Let’s start with the guys.
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Most people view creativity in a simplistic view of artistic abilities. As the definition stated by google, creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of artistic work. Creativity is a thought as gift or something people have to work at; a skill, but in today’s generations of society, creativity is in everything we do. It’s no longer a skill acquired, but a natural process we use on a daily