Monday, January 30th 2006
That’s cool
Here’s a pretty cool story:
“Cool” remains the gold standard of slang in the 21st century, as reliable as a blue-chip stock, surviving like few expressions ever in our constantly evolving language. It has, despite the pressures of staying relevant and trendy, kept its cool through the centuries - even as its meaning changed drastically.
Some cool professor from our cool school adds:
Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at the University of California at Berkeley, said the word should have faded away at the end of the fifties. Instead, it was adopted and redefined by hippies, followed by surfers, rappers and techno-geeks.
“Click here for cool stuff,” Nunberg says of its current incarnation. “There’s some question whether this is reinvention or retro.” he says.
And here’s a pretty cool fact:
As the centuries passed, cool took on new meanings. By the 17th century, the word helped define a woman’s ability to allay a man’s passion through sex.
Now that is totally rad cool.
Geoff Nunberg is cool, and Berkeley is cool, but Geoff Nunberg isn’t at Berkeley. In fact, he’s at Stanf*rd. Maybe the AP reporter is a Golden Bear…
Comment by Stefano — 1/31/2006 @ 10:58 am
Whoops, my bad - seems Prof. Nunberg now has an adjunct appointment in SIMS at Berkeley as well as his Stanf*rd gig (translation: looks like we’re trying to hire him away from the Farm). So he, and we, are cooler than I realized.
Comment by Stefano — 1/31/2006 @ 11:27 am