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by ghaff 2 hours ago
As a native English speaker, keen feels like a very 1950s TV word. Don't know if that's actually true but feels like that way. I expect you're more likely to hear like cool today are some more contemporary word.
3 comments

Brits still use the word somewhat frequently, though I haven’t bumped into many of them in the last ten years.
Keen is definitely a word but when used to describe a person it’s often a bit of a backhanded compliment… you don’t really want to be keen.

Saying "I'm keen to do x" or "he's keen to do y" is a fairly common normal usage but having said that, wouldn't normally be my first choice of language as a millennial, maybe does sound a bit old fashioned

Right, as far as live exposure, I associate its usage with UK/AU/NZ expats in my western US, academic R&D microcosm.
Yeah, I guess I can also see it as more of a Britishism (etc.) currently.
I'm also a native English speaker, sounds perfectly normal & commonplace to me.
“It offers fewer words for the people directly around you, but more for belonging at a distance” - the further I get into this article the more it just seems like sampling bias as a narrative.
It's a wordy (/AI?) way to say it, but I took it to be commenting on our lives being more 'abstract'/digital than they were, so naturally a lot of our language is less physical.

Oughtn't really affect emotive language like 'keen', though.