What it is to be cool

[Snowflake]

Well, I think LoT is cool, but this is what cool is according to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_%28aesthetic%29)

To many, I am a square, man.

[€uroMeinke]

I dig that timeline of cool - but I think it's missing pieces

[BDBopper]

Who cares what Wiki thinks is cool! Cool is a state of mind. It's being a leader not a follower. It's why I wear retro clothing. I don't care what anyone else thinks about what I wear. I am going to wear my leather jackets and my cardigan sweaters and I don't care who tells me not to. I'm not going to wear clothes with designer labels painted on them, and a hat backwards because everyone is doing it. I am going to be my own man, with my own style, and my own razzamatazz. You dig? :cool:

[€uroMeinke]

Personally, I enjoy the envy, resentment, and perceived elitism of coolness, or as I prefer to coin it, swank.
:cool:

[wendybeth]

I'm the mom of a Tweener. I'm the epitome of uncoolness, at least for the next decade. Except when she needs money, of course.

[Capt Jack]

so the only thing cool now is hip-hop?

that is deeply disappointing

[mousepod]

C'mon Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?

[Strangler Lewis]

Personally, I enjoy the envy, resentment, and perceived elitism of coolness, or as I prefer to coin it, swank.
:cool:

That's hot.™

[Ghoulish Delight]

I dig that timeline of cool - but I think it's missing pieces
It's a wiki, edit it. :cool:

[ozron]

I dig that timeline of cool - but I think it's missing pieces

It also seems to be about ten - fifteen years off.

[3894]

Personally, I enjoy the envy, resentment, and perceived elitism of coolness, or as I prefer to coin it, swank.
:cool:

Swank is Jean Harlow in a bias-cut Madame Vionnet gown, trailing a velvet evening wrap behind her as she slinks towards you. Swank is light years beyond cool. That is the genius of swank and the LoT.

[Snowflake]

Well, I thought it was an entertaining read. I almost never take anything at Wiki at face value entirely (unless I've edited it ;) )

I thought it was funny that there was so much space devoted to it.

I was not swanky enough to know that the timeline was off by so much. So I guess it's time for subtraction of mojo.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The timeline's been edited out (you can still see it by going into the history of the page). I like the format, but the data's pretty stupid. Not only is it rather one-dimensional to consider HipHop and electronica the only forms of cool music left (someone hasn't seen the Coachella lineup), it rather narrowly defines music as the only cool-indicator in modern times. Lame.

[katiesue]

I'm the mom of a Tweener. I'm the epitome of uncoolness, at least for the next decade. Except when she needs money, of course.

I've been called an "Embarassment to Nature". My favorite one was "Mom, me and my friends know style. And you .... don't"

[MouseWife]

I've been called an "Embarassment to Nature". My favorite one was "Mom, me and my friends know style. And you .... don't"


Ouch. I think that is something you need to remind her of down the road.

Snowflake, no removing of mojo! Obviously interesting as it has responses, no? :D

Egads, cool. What is cool. Someone I think is cool is someone who doesn't judge others on their coolness and interests, etc. That's cool.

Oh, or, that's hot? {insert TM}

[blueerica]

Oh... the differences between hot and cool. Hot is more of an extreme, temperature-wise, so I always translated likewise. Once upon a time, I thought something being called "hot" was extremely out of the ordinary, something exciting... Thanks to Paris Hilton, and anyone else who overused the phrase, it now means... Lukewarm.

Cool is not having to worry about whether you're cool or not, and having the confidence to carry it off. That's cool.

[MouseWife]

Thank you, that explains the difference clearly. :snap:

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Cool is not having to worry about whether you're cool or not, and having the confidence to carry it off. That's cool.

Cool means never having to say you're sorry.

Or wait. Is that love? Or is that bull****?

[mousepod]

Cool means never having to say you're sorry.

Or wait. Is that love? Or is that bull****?

"Love means having to say you're sorry every fifteen minutes."
- John Lennon

...and he was cool.

[ozron]

I think each generation defines what is "cool" for them. I remember a time when Barry Manilow was cool. And Maynard Ferguson. And Abba.

Things are a little different for our kids. We were raised by parents who didn't get rock and roll. Our kids share that with us. Erin is big into Queen, Bowie, and Tull, and is going through a big Beatles phase right now.

Still, fashions change, and there will always be something to make parents say, "What is up with that?"

[BDBopper]

Ahh who cares. All I know is that (starts singing) "I'm in with the In Crowd....We got our own way of walking! We got our own way of talkin' Yeah!!" :)

[Ghoulish Delight]

All I know is that I was never considered, and never considered myself, anything remotely close to "cool" until I finally learned to stop giving a sh*t. After that...I can't say I was "cool", but the term stopped really mattering to me, and as a result I seemed to get along more comfortably with a lot more people and in a lot more situations.

[MouseWife]

Same here. Hard to teach this to the kids, sometimes. But, eventually they get it. Luckily mine seem to get it early.

What a hardship when they don't.

[Not Afraid]

I've never been cool. But I like to pretend I am. ;)

[lindyhop]

What about groovy?




:D

[€uroMeinke]

Cool is not Prada, nor Dada; The Stones at Altamont, or Pavarotti at La Scala

Rather

Cool is a passion and a place of inner peace, where one takes sincere pleasure in all indulgences spawning self confidence in fashion, art, and taste.

It can't be copied, adopted, or emulated but must come from within, for a pig dressed in Versache is still just a pig.

[Kevy Baby]

I think refrigerators are cool.

[Not Afraid]

I think refrigerators are cool.

You mean that football player, right?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

A while back I wrote on why Disney will never be cool (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=1658).

Can Wikipedia really nail down what everything is?

[Strangler Lewis]

a pig dressed in Versache is still just a pig.

Versace.

Pronounced as the English word Ver-sace'

Per Nome in Showgirls.

[Strangler Lewis]

A while back I wrote on why Disney will never be cool (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=1658).

Can Wikipedia really nail down what everything is?

Yeah, but that cool loner always has a private passion, be it painting, blowing his horn on the fire escape, taking care of his crippled little sister because mom drinks or tending pigeons on the roof. He just keeps what moves him private and presents a cool exterior to the outside world. So you can be a Disney geek and still be cool.

[€uroMeinke]

Versace.

Pronounced as the English word Ver-sace'

Per Nome in Showgirls.


And why, if I wore it, I would not cool at all
;)
(oink)

[Kevy Baby]

I think refrigerators are cool.

You mean that football player, right?I am actually stunned that you know of him.



That's totally cool!

[Not Afraid]

And there ends my football knowledge. ;)

[Strangler Lewis]

And there ends my football knowledge. ;)

I doubt that. Which supermodel recently denied being pregnant with Tom Brady's child?

[Not Afraid]

I doubt that. Which supermodel recently denied being pregnant with Tom Brady's child?

I have no idea.

[thecorndogwalker]

I doubt that. Which supermodel recently denied being pregnant with Tom Brady's child?

this is going to be so gay that I know this (but since I am) i might as well answer it..

isnt it Gisele Bunchen,,(Dicaprio's x)???

[alphabassettgrrl]

Swank is Jean Harlow in a bias-cut Madame Vionnet gown, trailing a velvet evening wrap behind her as she slinks towards you. Swank is light years beyond cool. That is the genius of swank and the LoT.

Oh, my, yes.

All I know is that I was never considered, and never considered myself, anything remotely close to "cool" until I finally learned to stop giving a sh*t. After that...I can't say I was "cool", but the term stopped really mattering to me, and as a result I seemed to get along more comfortably with a lot more people and in a lot more situations.

Yep. Much better to stop worrying about it. That was my senior year of high school and I wish I'd learned the secret earlier.

I've never been cool. But I like to pretend I am. ;)

What? I think you're cool. :)

Being cool is not something I worry about. I've been "other" for long enough that it doesn't matter anymore. It's really hilarious that at 37 I'm more "mainstream" or "normal" in appearance than I've ever been with some trepidation. My life appears normal until you get to know me. I used to wear my oddities on my sleeve and lately I play it closer to home. I'm not sure if I like this better or not.

[Kevy Baby]

I think someone who doesn't think themselves cool and doesn't try to act cool, is typically cool. Anyone who *knows* that they are cool, definitely isn't.

Or did somebody already say that? I'm too cool to go back and look.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I think someone who doesn't think themselves cool and doesn't try to act cool, is typically cool. Anyone who *knows* that they are cool, definitely isn't.Eh, there's a total duality to the word "cool." There's the side that's all about acting cool, looking cool, getting attention and being the cool kid, often at the expense of having sympathy for (and from) others. And I think that's more what the wiki entry is about. Whether you like it or not, there are invariable aspects of any society which divide the in from the out. That's not to say that being "in" is the best choice, but it's there.

Then there's the other side of "cool" which falls in line with what you're getting at. It's an internal definition and changes from person to person.

[AllyOops!]

I doubt that. Which supermodel recently denied being pregnant with Tom Brady's child?

Why, it's Gisele Bundchen. Ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan is carrying his sprog. (It's about damn time my weekly readings of Us Weekly, Star, In Touch & Life & Style paid off!) Having said that, Tom Brady is a skeeze and I'm a Dallas fan. :)

[AllyOops!]

Good golly, they have Polish Cool on Wiki. I'm a total polak in both nationality & nature (I'm actually part polish with a really polish last name that nobody ever spells right). It's about time we got associated with cool instead of riding around on submarines with screendoors & our army invading on carousel horses.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Eh, there's a total duality to the word "cool." There's the side that's all about acting cool, looking cool, getting attention and being the cool kid, often at the expense of having sympathy for (and from) others. And I think that's more what the wiki entry is about. Whether you like it or not, there are invariable aspects of any society which divide the in from the out. That's not to say that being "in" is the best choice, but it's there.

Then there's the other side of "cool" which falls in line with what you're getting at. It's an internal definition and changes from person to person.

I think the first kind of cool is decidedly uncool though people seem to like it. I much prefer the second kind of cool, both for myself, and in who my friends are.

I've rarely been in the "in" crowds and I don't care. My husband says that makes me sound bitter but I can't see it. It's a fact that I generally wind up in smaller groups and the people who are the centers of the big groups don't interest me. I find people who do interest me and we have a great time.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I think the first kind of cool is decidedly uncool though people seem to like it. I much prefer the second kind of cool, both for myself, and in who my friends are. But the first has nothing to do with what individuals find "cool". In that case, the word "cool" has an entirely different meaning, they're simply homonyms. Whether you personally ascribe to it or not, the fact remains that there are certain things, transient as they may be, that at any given time are defined by society as "cool", individual tastes aside. These things don't define individuals, but they define trends and societies. It doesn't matter if I lived in LA through the 80s and didn't surf/thought it was boring. The fact remains that surfing was "cool".

[€uroMeinke]

But the first has nothing to do with what individuals find "cool". In that case, the word "cool" has an entirely different meaning, they're simply homonyms. Whether you personally ascribe to it or not, the fact remains that there are certain things, transient as they may be, that at any given time are defined by society as "cool", individual tastes aside. These things don't define individuals, but they define trends and societies. It doesn't matter if I lived in LA through the 80s and didn't surf/thought it was boring. The fact remains that surfing was "cool".

Yes, but in those "what is cool" situations - there usually is a newer synonymy for cool used to describe it - so it's cooler than cool - Boss, Rad, Groovy, Bitchen, Phat, gnarly, etc. thus "cool" is sort a secondary generic.

But if we want to get pedantic, we can just argue that cool is about temperature.

[Strangler Lewis]

But if we want to get pedantic, we can just argue that cool is about temperature.

Things might not have gotten out of hand if Daisy had simply said to Gatsby, "You always look so temperate."

[Not Afraid]

I like the idea of looking temperate.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Yeah, but that cool loner always has a private passion, be it painting, blowing his horn on the fire escape, taking care of his crippled little sister because mom drinks or tending pigeons on the roof. He just keeps what moves him private and presents a cool exterior to the outside world. So you can be a Disney geek and still be cool.I meant, Disney geekism itself isn't cool. One can't be detached and be a geek at the same time. In fact, any geekiness isn't detachedness. Of course you can do that and then go put your cool front up elsewhere...

[Ghoulish Delight]

But if we want to get pedantic, we can just argue that cool is about temperature.

I wasn't trying to be pedantic, really. I just see a difference between the, "I'm comfortable with who I am and define my own coolness" vs. the, "What particular pop-culture phenomena does a society and generation share as a whole that guide large social ebbs and flow." Whatever term you want to use ("cool" falls in and out of favor, but it's always around and certainly covers the most ground of any other word), the latter is both interesting to ponder and far easier (still not easy, but easier) to pin down and quantify/qualify seeing as it's shared vs. personal.

[€uroMeinke]

I wasn't trying to be pedantic


Oh - I'm just being snarky (set badness level at 60%)

the latter is both interesting to ponder and far easier (still not easy, but easier) to pin down and quantify/qualify seeing as it's shared vs. personal.

I'd say it's interesting to debate, but not easy to pin down as these things are almost always defined by their subculture - which often arise to oppose another subculture. I think it's through that process we reveal that there is no "objective cool" and does in fact distill down to the individual level

[Not Afraid]

There are so many thing that are generally classified as "cool" that I don't think are cool at all. It' so subjective.

[€uroMeinke]

There are so many thing that are generally classified as "cool" that I don't think are cool at all. It' so subjective.

Indeed - just like Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
;)

[Not Afraid]

Or, Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and, above all things, Love.

[Strangler Lewis]

Oh my, look at the time. We'll just be going now.

[blueerica]

I love you guys.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'd say it's interesting to debate, but not easy to pin down as these things are almost always defined by their subculture - which often arise to oppose another subculture. I think it's through that process we reveal that there is no "objective cool" and does in fact distill down to the individual level

I agree to a point, especially when you're trying to give a definition for what's cool now (forest for the trees and all that). But historically, the picture, on the large scale, becomes clearer. Surfing was cool in the 80s. Bell bottoms were cool in the 70s. Green Day was cool in the 90s. Whether I as an individual ascribed to it as cool at the time isn't important on that scale.

It will never be definitive, and even in hindsight it's a moving target depending on how large of a segment of society you're looking at. But it's kinda like quantum physics. It's true that once you filter down to the level of an individual atom, the physics of Mr. Newton no longer apply. But that discovery has not invalidated classical mechanics in the least, it's still a valuable tool for working on the scale that most of us work most of the time. They're both referred to as "physics", and they both share some characteristics, but they are distinct concepts. Not very different than what I see as two distinct definitions of cool.

[Not Afraid]

Surfing was cool in the 80s. Bell bottoms were cool in the 70s. Green Day was cool in the 90s.

I don't think those things are necessarily "cool" (with the exception of surfing) but more "popular" - which isn't necessarily cool. The two shouldn't be confused.

[Alex]

I'd argue that cool is only definable in the rearview mirror. That in the now we are all just fulfilling our own personal preferences and then 10, 15, or 20 years later we can look back and decide which of those many activities, trends, subcultures, etc., were actually the cool ones.

At the time you'd probably pick disco as the winner based on popularity but 20 years later it is cooler to have been into punk.

I do agree that popular and cool don't have much overlap. Because we all know, instinctively that being cool is reserved for an exalted few. Therefore if it had mass involvement it can't have been cool. However, being cool also requires being ahead of the curve, being a trendsetter not a trend follower. So the cool among us are doing things that few people do now but in five years everybody will either be doing or will claim to have done (the total claimed population of Woodstock: 2.6 billion; number of people who voted against Reagan in 1984: 98%).

So, since in the rear view mirror that which was cool eventually ends up looking like that which was popular, even though the cool phase preceded the popular phase, as we move to trends closer to contemporaneous periods we are tricked into confusing the currently popular with the currently cool. When in fact, what is now popular will be mocked as a bunch of sheep in 4 years when VH-1 does a nostalgic look back on 2007.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I don't think those things are necessarily "cool" (with the exception of surfing) but more "popular" - which isn't necessarily cool. The two shouldn't be confused.

Good point, I find it interesting how age plays a role. Since I'm older than GD, I would have put surfing as cool in the 70's as opposed to the 80's, probably has to do with when someone went to HS.

[Alex]

And where I came from, surfing wasn't cool at all. The kids driving to the Oregon Coast to surf were considered poseurs.

Well, one of the surfing girls was considered cool, but she was also the school door knob so that may have muddied the issue.

[€uroMeinke]

Cool only exists in the context of a subculture. Surfing may have been cool in the 80's in your cultural experience, but certainly not in everyone elses. (I would have pegged it in the 60's myself when all the Beach Blanket Bingo movies were made)

I think we need a name for the philosophy of cool - Morality gets ethics, Beauty, Aesthetics - Coolics? There's got to be a better term.

[lindyhop]

Cool only exists in the context of a subculture. Surfing may have been cool in the 80's in your cultural experience, but certainly not in everyone elses. (I would have pegged it in the 60's myself when all the Beach Blanket Bingo movies were made)

Surfing, Beach Boys, 60's, absolutely.

But what would all the surfers I drive by every morning on my way to work think?

[€uroMeinke]

Surfing, Beach Boys, 60's, absolutely.

But what would all the surfers I drive by every morning on my way to work think?

From the examples above - that 20 years from now their culture will consider them cool ;)