[dfabulich]

In the very footer of this page:

> Historical note: At the end of the 20th century when this was written, "cool" was an epithet of approval particularly among young, indicating trendiness, quality, or appropriateness. In the rush to stake our DNS territory involved the choice of domain name and URI path were sometimes directed more toward apparent "coolness" than toward usefulness or longevity. This note is an attempt to redirect the energy behind the quest for coolness.

It's 2020 and "cool" still has that same meaning, as an informal positive epithet. I believe "cool" is the longest surviving informal positive epithet in the English language.

"Cool" has been cool since the 1920s, and it's still cool today. "Cool" has outlived "hip," "happening," "groovy," "fresh," "dope," "swell," "funky," "bad," "clutch," "epic," "fat," "primo," "radical," "bodacious," "sweet," "ace," "bitchin'," "smooth," and "fly."

My daughter says things are "cool." I predict that her children will say "cool," too.

Isn't that cool?

[yellowstuff]

"Smooth" is definitely still current slang, with a meaning similar to "cool." And "smooth" came first:

> Slang meaning "superior, classy, clever" is attested from 1893. Sense of "stylish" is from 1922.

> A 1599 dictionary has smoothboots "a flatterer, a faire spoken man, a cunning tongued fellow."

It may be time to bring that one back. "Did you see Keith chatting up that girl at the bar? Total smoothboots."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/smooth

[thaumasiotes]

I would say the 1599 sense more accurately reflects the current sense of "smooth" than the 1893/1922 citations do.

[ggm]

Sophisticated used to mean false, as in sophistry: with intent to deceive. So a sophisticated wine, was an adulterated wine, that had something other than fermented grape juice in it.

[fouc]

TIL. I was quite surprised that sophistication used to mean deceptive/misleading behavior.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophistication

[thaumasiotes]

"Sophistry" still does.

"Silly" is the standard example of semantic shift over what people generally perceive to be a pretty extreme distance: https://www.etymonline.com/word/silly

[thaumasiotes]

Or water, presumably?

To the Romans, drinking wine merum (pure) was a sign of barbarity. They drank their wine diluted.

I don't see a mention of "sophisticated" above - was this just a fun fact?

[ahoka]

Roman wine was very strong, around 15-20% ABV. No wonder they added water to it (and sometimes lead as a sweetener).

[vxNsr]

I've never heard anyone use smooth the way everyone uses cool.

[bl4ckneon]

I second this. Linguistics and "slang" is pretty interesting in its own right. I believe that "cool" is more universally used. Usually smooth is used to describe an action that someone did, not really heard it being used in place of "cool".

(under 30 male, west coast USA perspective)

[eythian]

I tend to agree, smooth is IME also usually (but definitely not entirely) used sarcastically, when someone does something accidentally silly, like bumping into a glass door or similar.

(over 30 male, NZ)

[bandrami]

"cool" appears in Shakespeare and in the Coventry Christmas Play with the same meaning it's used for today.

[kerkeslager]

Minor correction: "fat" in your list of positive epithets is actually spelled "phat".

I enjoyed reading your list, it was like a trip down memory lane.

[teekert]

I knew that, because of Meet the Parents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkClkOqgt8k

[tasogare]

It is also very international: can be used in Europe and East-Asia with the same meaning, probably globally in fact. Heck, the Japanese government started a "Cool Japan" program few years ago, and it has been borrowed as 酷 (kù) in Chinese. That’s cool.

[marcosdumay]

The W3C is just betting on that URI outlasting "cool". It's a bold move.

[gooseus]

Pretty sweet, but I'd disagree that all of those epithets have been "outlived".

[SilasX]

I've always liked how "fool" is at home everywhere from the King James Bible to gangsta rap.

[ggm]

Goosberry Fool and Raspberry Fool are pretty delicious. As is Eton "Mess"

[wilsonrocks]

'Cool's cool.'

I don't have my hard copy here and Google is failing me but this is addressed by Terry Pratchett in (I think) Only You Can Save Mankind.

The context is some teen-agers talking about how it's not cool to say Yo, or Crucial, or Well Wicked, but Cool is always cool.

Would appreciate the full quote if somebody can find!

[Moru]

'Yo, Wobbler,' said Johnny.

'It's not cool to say Yo any more,' said Wobbler.

'Is it rad to say cool?' said Johnny.

'Cool's always cool. And no-one says rad any more, either.'

Wobbler looked around conspiratorially and then fished a package from his bag.

'This is cool. Have a go at this.'

'What is it?' said Johnny.

...

'Yes. We call him Yo-less because he's not cool.'

'Anti-cool's quite cool too.'

'Is it? I didn't know that. Is it still cool to say "well wicked"?'

'Johnny! It was never cool to say "well wicked".'

'How about "vode"?'

'Vode's cool.'

'I just made it up.'

The capsule drifted onwards.

'No reason why it can't be cool, though.'

[wilsonrocks]

Thank you - much better to have the text than my paraphrasing.

[User23]

Cool is Lindy[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Effect

[082349872349872]

Schroeder, Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws, points out there are probability distributions which follow the Lindy effect, and suggests they be used for project planning. ("the longer an engineering task remains unfinished, the longer it will probably take to finish")

[metalliqaz]

That's fetch

[arthurcolle]

The expression fetch, popularized by the 2006 American cultural meta-documentary and seminal work "Mean Girls" is in fact an abbreviation of the term "fetching", i.e. attractive in the British vernacular.

I have spoken.

[metalliqaz]

"Fetch" has become a perfectly cromulent word in its own right.

[bryanrasmussen]

fetch is perfectly cromulent, depending on your CORS settings.

[toomanybeersies]

"Sweet" is probably more common than "cool" in New Zealand, although it's usually tied into "sweet as", as in "that's a sweet as car" or "the weather is sweet as today".

[kristopolous]

"dandy" might have had a longer lifetime ~1800-1950 RIP.

[rthomas6]

Maybe we can resurrect it.

That would be just dandy!

[grugagag]

Dandy please don’t smooth that fly

[jorvi]

I'd say 'dope', 'fresh', 'sweet' are still alive.

[Macha]

"fresh" in the vein of "cool" was definitely already in the list of "dad phrases" when I was in school. I think the usage as shorthand for "breath of fresh air" such as used in product reviews is distinct. "Sweet" is getting there faster than "cool" is. "Dope" as cool never took off here due to a local meaning of "dope" as "idiot".

[rootusrootus]

I agree. And when I'm driving my Camaro, 'bitchin' still works.

[zelly]

Lindy

[qppo]

proper URIs are all the go

[gfody]

glitchin'

[phendrenad2]

That was so totally W3C validated URI yo.