Dr. Erica Brozovsky of the PBS series Otherwords explained the etymological origins of the word “cool”, noting how this word has transcended multiple generations over the course of a century.
Most slang words come and go, but there’s one undisputed king that’s over 100 years old and still as relevant as ever… and that’s cool.
Brozovsky also spoke to how the word’s linguistic flexibility led to such staying power.
Cool has a lot of usages, and they’re almost all positive. It can mean laid back and confident, trendy and fashionable, impressive, or awe-inspiring. It can be a verb, as in “cool it,” or a state of forgiveness, like “are we cool?” An intensifier, like a cool million bucks. Or just a term of approval, as in wanna see a movie? Cool.
