Awesome? Not
- Abusage: improper or incorrect use of language; bad usage (dictionary).
Certain words insinuate their way into our vernacular and, thereby, our lives. I’m unsure who starts it or how it happens.
One word that has become popular for the last two generations, at least — the adjective du jour, it seems — is ‘awesome.’
Many in my children’s generation use it, and a lot of people a generation younger do. Clearly there is a place for it, and certain things, including people (the best of any subset) deserve being characterized as such.
I subscribe to a few journals/magazines. One contains a regular offering called ‘The Awesome Column.’ It’s designed to be simultaneously humorous, entertaining and informative. The writer is an intelligent, wickedly witty fellow who will sometimes write a piece that justifies the adjective, but often I think the title to be a bit of a stretch, an example of reach exceeding grasp (apologies to Robert Browning). No offense intended to him or others of his ilk.
As are the majority of times others use the word.
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The people who employ ‘awesome’ are not necessarily dullards. In fact, some are 120 plus watt bulbs in a 100-watt world. So it is not for lack of sufficient vocabulary that they make their pronouncement. Is it intellectual indolence? A desire to seem sophisticated? To fit in?
The problem, of course, is that, with overusage, anything, be it word, seasoning, or other, can become hackneyed and tiresome, and lose the zest its user likely intends.
Worse yet, is the issue of abusage (see definition above).
While I realize this to be subjective, and a gray area, I feel much of the time ‘awesome’ is uttered, said object of the modifier is, in fact, considerably less than awe-inspiring.
Perhaps I’ve become jaded and inured with age. I don’t impress easily.
As far as the derivative noun, it’s defined as this: ‘an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear or wonder produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, etc.’
Until some point in the future, when ‘awesome’ loses some of its cachet, it might be well to pause momentarily before uttering or writing the word to see if there may be an apt synonym.
For, as Mark Twain observed, ‘The difference between almost the right word and the right word is really a large matter; it’s the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.’
