I would like to propose Anti-Awesome Day. For one day, no one would be allowed to say awesome. If someone says awesome, he or she must donate ten bucks to his or her favorite charity.
Recently, I went to a restaurant and ordered a burger and the waiter said awesome, really coming down on the awe part. How can a burger be awesome? How can all the things people say are awesome be awesome? We live in a world of awesome inflation. Things used to be good. Now they’re awesome. Awesome has lost all meaning. It would be like totally awesome if we were to have an Anti-Awesome Day.
Jack Orion
Anti-Awesome Day will come a month after Anti-Genius Day.
August 7th, 2012 4:59 pm
Tommy CostaRica
Awesome is passe like “outta sight”
August 7th, 2012 5:47 pm
Kommon Senze
This would have been more apropos 20 years ago. Awesome still gets used (or over-used), but the term that is truly overused nowadays is ‘totally.’
Every day, I hear people say things like “that’s totally ridiculous” or “that’s totally on point” or “that’s totally impossible.” Totally doesn’t add anything to any of those statements, other than an emphasis that reads like a guffaw.
August 7th, 2012 6:04 pm
CohnZohn
Kommon Senze, Thanks for your comment but when I am at the restaurant the server does not say totally after I order, the server says awesome. Awesome is very much in play and I’d like to take it out of play.
August 7th, 2012 6:14 pm
Dale in the UK
Totally awesome, Lowell. Outta sight. (Look, ma, anachronisms all.)
August 7th, 2012 6:27 pm
loneraider78
A waiter needs to understand the people he/her is serving. To earn a good tip one must be appealing to the patrons. In this case, sighting your age and dress, I wouldn’t went with “delightful” or “delectable” or simply “delicious” or “very good”.
I’m betting this waiter didn’t think the tip you left was very “awesome”.
August 7th, 2012 8:42 pm
Jack Hammer
Awesome article Mr Cohn : )
I must be honest, I had never heard of the locale at which you are vacationing before reading your piece last night. Sounded so good I told my wife that we should look into taking our family, consisting of 3 boys under the age of 9 next year.
August 7th, 2012 9:54 pm
CohnZohn
Jack Hammer, You’ll love it. We’ve taken Grant here since he was a little guy.
August 7th, 2012 10:19 pm
Robert
Lowell,
You are so right that “awesome” is totally over used. Last year my wife and I were vacationing in Orlando. We were in Epcot one day and decided to ride one of those water raft attractions late in the afternoon. Another family of four were in the same raft. The father asked me where we lived and I said Sonoma County. He said “awesome.” He asked anther question and when I answered he again replied with the word “awesome.” This pattern continued until the ride started. When we were all drenched by a waterfall he yelled out “awesome!” We did not mind as it was a warm afternoon. When the ride ended I asked how he liked the ride and he responded with an emphatic “awesome.”
By the way, we enjoyed the ride. It was indeed awesome.
August 8th, 2012 12:15 am
Phil Brown
Zeus striking your enemies down with a lightning bolt is awesome.
Everything else, not so much.
Phil Brown
August 8th, 2012 7:48 am
latopia
I’ll see your awesome and raise you epic.
August 8th, 2012 7:52 am
MJ
Awesome is so early 1990s. The problem now is the “you know what i mean?”. Also, as a radio listener, the “uhhhs” that people use to bridge the gap between two sentences can be excruciating to listen to. Few weeks back happened to be driving out of town on a Saturday morning and “hooked on golf” was on KNBR, only thing I could find, and one of the hosts was “uhhh”-ing after every sentence he spoke. You could count 40 of them in a minute. Talk about Chinese water torture treatment to the extreme.
I’m fine with awesome as a descriptive term compared to these other choice phrases.
August 8th, 2012 11:23 am
mbabco
I count 12 uses of awesome in the blog. That’s $120.
August 8th, 2012 11:46 am
B-Rad
How I love to hear their current vernacular spoken by the younger generations.
Then, my dining experience will be complete as soon as the hostess seats
that ubiquitous tiny tyke screaming at 140 decibels at the table next to mine.
August 8th, 2012 1:13 pm
Bob In Portland
Agree, Lowell. I’ve noted a lot of “awesomes” coming out of the mouths of waiters in the last year or two. I’ve heard it said with so much enthusiasm that it is a little scary. No one should get that excited about what I’m eating. Perhaps waiters are now trained to say that.
August 8th, 2012 6:55 pm
Johnc
I went to the Angels-Oakland game yesterday. It was the rubber match best of three. A’s won 9-8. There were 24 hits in the game and 10 home runs…five by each team..it was …..totally awesome!!
August 9th, 2012 6:07 pm
NancyR
The beach volleyball performance by team USA Misty and Carrie winning gold was totally AWESOME! Sorry, you talking about anti Awesome day made me think of everything that really is AWESOME! Like seeing Bolt run!!! Seeing the fastest man on the PLANET!!!!! And those rubber band boned bouncing gymnists!!!
Seems like we are in the season of the real meaning of awesome during the Olympics….
August 9th, 2012 6:17 pm
Lou Sylvestri
I am sick of hearing “Awesome” enough already!
August 12th, 2012 7:10 am
John Sousa
Lowell, have you ever been Five Guys Burgers and Fries? That will answer your question.
August 16th, 2012 8:15 am
CohnZohn
John Sousa, yes, one time. how are you?
August 16th, 2012 9:18 am