What it is to be cool

[alphabassettgrrl]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

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]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

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]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

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]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

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."

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

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]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I wasn't trying to be pedantic

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

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

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

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

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]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

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.