[sharkjacobs]

I agree with the sentiment, it is good to care, it is admirable and perhaps virtuous to care.

But it is not cool to care. Cool does mean detached, offhand, poised, aloof, unperturbed. That's why it's called "cool".

We don't need to hijack the term and pretend that it's cool to be enthusiastic and dorky and to talk too loudly when we get excited about something. The point is that those things are good even if they're not cool.

[rdiddly]

The term has been around since the 1930s, and like all old slang that started out niche and went mainstream, it has been generalized and had its meaning diluted to the point of near-meaninglessness. There are readings of it where it and its opposite could describe the same thing, i.e. uncool and cool are the same. (Easy test to gage meaninglessness.)

I use it as a generic marker of approval or assent similar to "OK."

"We're moving the meeting to Tuesday."

"Cool."

[Throaway199999]

No, that's myth that we "uncool kids" fall into without realizing it.

Cool means you are confident. You're unbothered by what other people say because you have faith in yourself, you like yourself.

It does not mean "I don't care about anything." It just so happens that the average person doesn't care a lot about "things," so the average cool person doesn't either.

[tehjoker]

cool means you appear confident, attractive, and socially effortless even if there is effort behind the scenes. the meaning has been stretched to mean "socially desirable" which is a slightly broader category

[ryandrake]

This is awesome. A bunch of nerds arguing about the precise definition of "cool." Could there be a more HN worthy comment tree?

[tehjoker]

Just because I know what it is doesn't mean I can do it.

[Throaway199999]

Confident, attractive and socially effortless are all highly socially desirable traits in a friend or mate. This is obvious to anyone who isn't socially problematic. I can tell you've never been cool!

Who's stretching the definition of "cool?" Cool is a social convention, not a scientific term.

The bottom line is, "people" don't like being around anxiety-riddled individuals with social hangups. They like people who are "cool."

The worst thing you can do if you want to be cool, is get upset about how other people are telling you you aren't.

[tehjoker]

who's trying to be "cool"?

[Jtarii]

So if someone enthusiastically shows me some crazy game mechanic they made and I say "that's cool", I am using the word "cool" incorrectly?

[skeeter2020]

"cool!" (especially for the uncool) has always meant something that resonates emotionally with you - keep using it that way.

"cool..." means the flat, disconnected response - we don't need any more of that.

This post is definitely about the former, and we can double down by not letting the wet blankets in the comments use the latter to tell us "you're doing it wrong".

[HardlyCognizant]

No, you are using it ironically. The connotation of a word is entirely contextual.

[squigz]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cool

"7 informal: b: very fashionable, impressive, or appealing in a way that is generally approved of especially by young people"

[hnthrow0287345]

This kind of cool is just a phase. After a certain age, it really just looks like you don't want to try living life.

[derstander]

> Cool does mean detached, offhand, poised, aloof, unperturbed.

Cool is from “Old English col "not warm" (but usually not as severe as cold)”. If you’re using it to mean detached you’ve already accepted that words can change meanings (add, remove, or modify) over time. ;)

[card_zero]

Sangfroid, even.

I wonder what criticisms could be leveled at the virtues of proactive energy, passion, and incessant curiosity. I notice that they make me feel slightly nauseous. This is something I'm curious about. What really is a dork?

[balamatom]

>What really is a dork?

Someone who might not be very smart per se, but whose mind has not yet been murdered and replaced by a sort of mandatory prosthesis made out of complex conditioned responses (after the operation, they'd be more properly an ork).

Yeah, turns out the uncanny valley effect works in both directions.

[aquariusDue]

Found the dork 8)

j/k we're all dorks here

[balamatom]

Nah, the majority of y'all are jocks or worse.

[jodrellblank]

> What really is a dork?

Well, it's not a whale penis. https://whalerescueteam.org/is-a-whale-penis-called-a-dork/

[autoexec]

That article has several pictures of whales, but not a single photo of a whale penis (or a dork).