Response Essay 6: Cool

Central argument:  Being cool is a balance between “submission and subversion.”

From what I believe, a cool person is a person with a lot of “swag.” “Swag” is the new word in our generation, and someone who walks and talks in a “cool” way is considered a person with swag. According to Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, cool is a balance between “submission and subversion.” I believe that the meaning of cool is flexible, and the meaning changes in accordance with the people, and their generations.

            Bornstein talks about how the word “cool” is a “paradoxical fusion of submission and submersion.” The meaning of cool has its own flexibility, as mentioned in the article. The “Greek” had their own definition of “cool,” and so does modern society. This change in the meaning of the word does not only apply for “cool,” but many other words as well. Bornstein has his own definition, and it is completely different from what I think of the word. For the people in my generation, the word “cool” is just thrown around, and used to describe almost anything that impresses a person. Personally, I use the word cool anytime I can replace “good,” “excellent,” or anything close to those words. Whereas, if I used the word “cool” to describe something to my grandparents, they would not understand it because it only applies to our generation, and the older people who try to stay hip. The use of the word changes in many cases, and the other cases that affect the meaning of the word is with the people, and their generation.

            I only started using the word cool when I was around seven, or eight. That was the time when I started falling in love with hip-hop, and all the other famous aspects of pop culture. That was when I started thinking that using the word “cool” was cool. I was influenced by pop culture, and started to emulate how my idols spoke. I continue to do that and I have recently upgraded to the word “swag.” There are so many changes that happen over the years, and one of them is in language. Famous people often influence the changes in language, and people adopt them, and it quickly becomes a part of the way we normally speak. For example, Nigahiga and Chester See, who are YouTube stars, released a song called “Bromance.” The song not only captured a majority of the young people, but also influenced the use of the word “bromance.” Which is the kind of love shared between best friends. It is because of times like these that word “cool” cannot have a definite meaning.

            People are easily influenced by what is popular. Just this year I have learned many new words, and the new set of words just keep growing. I believe that it is not possible to give a particular definition to words that are influenced by pop culture because the meanings will keep changing with age, time, and the pop culture of different generations.