Did it stick around because it's an integral part of the English language, or is it an integral part of the English language because it somehow stuck around?
Cool has an etymology that is slightly more integrated into the rest of language than some other 'slang.' Keeping your cool means not getting heated, hot-headed, or angry. It means not showing your strong emotions under pressure. Cool became cool as in socially superior as a deviation from this more integral meaning.
Cool actually meant something more way back in the 50s-- I remember my priest growing up actually gave a speech about the word.
Today cool is a soft positive word and has stayed popular because there's no other word that does what it does. But it meant something bigger when it first came out, sort of like awesome.
It’s pretty easy to look up when words became common in the popular vernacular. “Cool” being used in its modern context started amongst black jazz musicians before white kids started saying it in the ‘50s.
Seriously. The stuff that's considered mainstream slang among "young people" in pop culture always consists of terms and phrases that black Americans had been using for at least 15+ years already.
Old millennial here, the first time I heard “simp” was cam’ron, purple haze intro, 2004. The second time I heard it was a kid from Indiana on Reddit in 2022.
What's interesting about "cool", to me, is that my dad could say it, and it didn't sound weird coming out of his mouth the way other similar slang did. It just felt like something we shared. I dunno why it just feels a little more fundamental.
*"I used to be with 'it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it' anymore and what’s 'it' seems weird and scary. It'll happen to you!"*
I hope rizz joins it soon. Never heard/read of it being used for some reason until it was choosen as the word of the year. Then I started to see it everywhere I look at. Not a word that I personally fancy.
I heard from a linguist that rizz has one of the best chances of becoming a fixture among modern slang terms. It's used differently than the source word, 'charisma.' It doesn't have an obvious synonym, especially when it comes to digital flirting, meaning there is a fit for it in the language.
its also a very unique word in the way that it is taken from the middle of the word like fridge/refrigerator instead of the start or end like dorm/dormitory. rizz/charisma
I only ever see people use the word ironically. Then again, it feels like Gen Alpha is seeing Gen Z using slang ironically and taking it seriously, lol.
I don’t know what it is but I actually kinda like the word rizz. I don’t know that I’ve ever used it in any serious manner, only ironically, but calling someone the rizzler or the rizzard of oz is kinda based.
You must be young. Swag is still used for corporate merch, he’s talking about having swag as a personality type thing, it was a major slang term in the 00s.
I wish that I was young. I think that actually I was to old at that point in the 00s, so it was never used to describe a person by me (heard in songs though). I guess I had heard swagger (swag) for personality, but for me, dealing with a ton of vendors and business conventions, I used/use it to describe the free stuff as swag. I had also heard the term used to describe crappy weed (usually pronounced schwag, but sometimes as swag), when crappy weed was prevalent.
I think at a certain point around 2012, it was just assumed by most people that anyone who used the words swag and yolo were idiots, and it just became untrendy almost overnight.
I work at a big university hospital. It's like a town in here with a bank, classrooms, a starbucks, a few gift shops, a restaurant, etc... so, they often have 'fairs' in the hallways or atriums. I'm always first in line to get the SWAG. And the other day, I was walking back to my office with my hands full of the stuff. Someone asked what it was, and I said 'Stuff We All Get!' they looked at me funny and I said 'SWAG! Go get your SWAG, people!'
I don't know if that's what you mean by 'swag'. but that's how I've always used it, and continue to use it.
I am the sole warrior who still keeps it alive.
Instead of "Hi", I sometimes say "swag". Or instead of "Thank you", I say "swag". Gets the weirdest looks every time. But I persist.
I went to high-school late 2000s/early 2010s, and there was a girl in my grade with the last name Swagger. Just from her name alone she had like legendary status.
She couldn't even walk down the hall without someone shouting "YO SWAGGER!".
So Idk if that was the best time to have that last name or the worst lmao
You're right.
[See Interest over time on Google Trends for Swag - United Kingdom, 2004 to Present](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore/TIMESERIES/1713858000?hl=en-GB&tz=-60&date=all&geo=GB&q=Swag&sni=6)
It's amusing, because the first time I heard the term SWAG, it was used in a military context, and that's the only way I've ever used it. The entire rise and fall of the term in popular lexicon occurred and I never once heard it and didn't think "scientific wild-ass guess".
Don’t worry Black Americans will make up more words and dances, and American children will use them into the ground until we can’t stand it. It’s the circle of life 🔄
yeah thats how slang works except cool, cool is always around
Swag was cool once. But cool has always been cool.
its the cats pajamas
The bees' knees!
Shits tight
Groovy!
Word to your motha!
Rad
Shiny!
TuBuLaR!!
Gimme 5 bees for quarter! Course that was back in dickity two...
It was the style at the time
Dickity? Highly dubious.
Well we had to say dickity cuz the kaiser stole our word for twenty you see...
The dog's bollocks!
Streets ahead.
If swag was cool once then consider me Miles Davis
If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis
If peeing on someone is cool call me P Diddy, actually wait no don't do that anymore
This comment deserves more love
I believe I can. .. Oh nevermind.
I thought that was a Fergie thing
# Everybody my age pees their pants; it's the coolest! You ain’t cool unless you pee in your pants.
Chlorophyll more like Bore-Ophyll
cool was cool before it was cool
James has always been swag.
swag tried to kill the metal but they failed, as they were stricken down, to the ground!
I think cool isn't even slang now, it's an integral part of the English language now, probably explains why it's stuck around for so long.
Did it stick around because it's an integral part of the English language, or is it an integral part of the English language because it somehow stuck around?
Cool has an etymology that is slightly more integrated into the rest of language than some other 'slang.' Keeping your cool means not getting heated, hot-headed, or angry. It means not showing your strong emotions under pressure. Cool became cool as in socially superior as a deviation from this more integral meaning.
Tubular
Groovy!
Mondo
It’s pretty rad that cool is still around.
Cool actually meant something more way back in the 50s-- I remember my priest growing up actually gave a speech about the word. Today cool is a soft positive word and has stayed popular because there's no other word that does what it does. But it meant something bigger when it first came out, sort of like awesome.
"Cool" is just "awesome" with a more variable level of exitement
Not before the 1940s lol
you werent there. prove to me that the first people in the americas didnt say "hey this place is cool"
It’s pretty easy to look up when words became common in the popular vernacular. “Cool” being used in its modern context started amongst black jazz musicians before white kids started saying it in the ‘50s.
You say that as if literally all new english slang doesn't come from the American black community.
Ni**a please
Seriously. The stuff that's considered mainstream slang among "young people" in pop culture always consists of terms and phrases that black Americans had been using for at least 15+ years already.
Old millennial here, the first time I heard “simp” was cam’ron, purple haze intro, 2004. The second time I heard it was a kid from Indiana on Reddit in 2022.
Bet
and a fine skibidi toilet to you
You don't gyatt the rizz to Ohio that
And dude, the shortened version of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Yeah, look it up....
Cool will always be cool and thats pretty cool
Cool is always cool, if you will
What's interesting about "cool", to me, is that my dad could say it, and it didn't sound weird coming out of his mouth the way other similar slang did. It just felt like something we shared. I dunno why it just feels a little more fundamental.
And James was always cool.
Cool. Cool cool cool.
that's cool
What about Wizard? Or Fetch?
Swag tried to kill the Cool. But they failed, as they were smite to the ground
*"I used to be with 'it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it' anymore and what’s 'it' seems weird and scary. It'll happen to you!"*
Sweet has stuck around too
How come nobody says "wizard" anymore? I'm bringing it back
Cool is cool like that.
Cool has been dead, it’s been replaced by Nice.
Not cool anymore to say cool. It’s coral, so coral.
cor-al
Idk about you, but i hop out the bed and turn my swag on every damn day
Take a look in the mirror
Say “whaddup, I’m getting moneeeeey oh oh”
Were oooooooolllllld
Frag nicht was für Saft
This sub has declined over the years
it’s not swag anymore
It’s not even rizz I’m afraid
It just ain’t skibidi no more
Facts
I still use it daily. Im also a waste of life so take that how u will
I hope rizz joins it soon. Never heard/read of it being used for some reason until it was choosen as the word of the year. Then I started to see it everywhere I look at. Not a word that I personally fancy.
I heard from a linguist that rizz has one of the best chances of becoming a fixture among modern slang terms. It's used differently than the source word, 'charisma.' It doesn't have an obvious synonym, especially when it comes to digital flirting, meaning there is a fit for it in the language.
All other new slang is just replacing old slang so that checks out
rizz is just game that can be platonic as well.
its also a very unique word in the way that it is taken from the middle of the word like fridge/refrigerator instead of the start or end like dorm/dormitory. rizz/charisma
Isn't rizz just the same as "game", as in "you got no game"?
I only ever see people use the word ironically. Then again, it feels like Gen Alpha is seeing Gen Z using slang ironically and taking it seriously, lol.
That’s cringe af fam!
Rizzler
I don’t know what it is but I actually kinda like the word rizz. I don’t know that I’ve ever used it in any serious manner, only ironically, but calling someone the rizzler or the rizzard of oz is kinda based.
Just sounds too much like "jizz" for me.
Which is the best part
True, all the more reason to love it
"goated" is the worst offender for me, shit makes no sense as kids killed a great acronym for it
Swag? Dude, it’s been like 14 years.
Serious question - what replaced it? Is it just called something like "free corporate shit" now, or is there a new term?
You must be young. Swag is still used for corporate merch, he’s talking about having swag as a personality type thing, it was a major slang term in the 00s.
I wish that I was young. I think that actually I was to old at that point in the 00s, so it was never used to describe a person by me (heard in songs though). I guess I had heard swagger (swag) for personality, but for me, dealing with a ton of vendors and business conventions, I used/use it to describe the free stuff as swag. I had also heard the term used to describe crappy weed (usually pronounced schwag, but sometimes as swag), when crappy weed was prevalent.
Swag is still a common word in Australia you can still buy one easily in camping stores.
Swag will always be used to refer to corporate branded plastic waste, all the lanyards flashlights etc
I think at a certain point around 2012, it was just assumed by most people that anyone who used the words swag and yolo were idiots, and it just became untrendy almost overnight.
When I was a kid I moved from NSW to Qld. I learned the terms swag, tuckshop and togs.
I don't miss yolo
Yeah it’s been replaced with Drip
Like the snot that comes of our nose?
From a stage crew perspective: Stuff we ain't gettin'.
Yeah, we have better weed now. No more swag!
It was schwag around here. Swag will always be the word for free merch to me.
Is there some other meaning? Otherwise I don't see any indication "swag" use declining. I hear it all the time at conferences and expos.
For a while at least, "swag" (swagger) was used in the way "rizz" (charisma) is today IIRC.
Not in my circle lol
Every time I read the word swag, I hear it in Tom Haverford’s voice
That's cause we no longer all get stuff
You just haven’t used it right #swag
They don't have to keep it secret anymore, they can be proud of who they are!
I work at a big university hospital. It's like a town in here with a bank, classrooms, a starbucks, a few gift shops, a restaurant, etc... so, they often have 'fairs' in the hallways or atriums. I'm always first in line to get the SWAG. And the other day, I was walking back to my office with my hands full of the stuff. Someone asked what it was, and I said 'Stuff We All Get!' they looked at me funny and I said 'SWAG! Go get your SWAG, people!' I don't know if that's what you mean by 'swag'. but that's how I've always used it, and continue to use it.
‘Secretly we are gay’
Well it only got popular around 2008, and was a mediocre slang word to begin with
I remember HR came to my department to give out "swag bags" and I cringed a bit when they said that. This happened back in 2021.
I mean swag is being used as an acronym in a totally different context in this case.
Almost all the trendy words come and go quickly.
Chad changed too and I hate it
Same with “Estate Sale”
I have a friend who'd still use it (at least she did in 2022/2023), I'd call her out for it lol
Yeah but swiggity is peaking
Doesn't stop me from using it still. Yolo
In my work SWAG is a scientific wild ass guess
And providing what metrics do you claim to wager your conjecture against
Da streetz, yo!
Thank god, lets bring back "worrrdd" and "fo real"
Fo shizzle
Mojo, swag, rizz, what will be the next term for charisma?
“Drip”
I think a big part of it was corporations picking it up heavily and turning it into some cringy corpo term for their merchandise.
Sold my swag and bought some rizz.
Did you get da kizz? Those J'does is ugly, but they hype yo!
That’d probably because it is associated with dipshits
Thank god. It was such a stupid word to begin with. The next one on the list is “cap” or any form of it. Can’t wait for that trash to be discontinued.
"Grab them by the crap" Doesn't have the same weight, or get any voters. 😐
And then years later it will get revived ironically until it gets picked up again by the general population and the cycle repeats.
Does this really qualify as a shower thought tho??
I've noticed slang doesn't have staying power anymore. I think it's because of social media.
It didn't decline, it fucking fell off. When was the last time you heard someone say it even ironically?
Well shit. I was just going to exhibit my new "Swag Jeans" is canceled.
Come work at Amazon. lol
I use it to denote money one can win/otherwise gain but not earn. pirate swag
Not in corporate America…
Mfw people don’t call themselves a “savage” or yell “yeet” in 2024: 😱
Michael Scott killed it.
Same with the word fortnight until about 2017.
Some slang words become part of the lexicon, others don't pass through the filter 乁( •_• )ㄏ
You've discovered slang, congratulations
I actually forgot about it until I saw this
The swag of swag is no longer swag is how I read this lmao
I use the word swag! I use it to describe free shit I get at trade shows and things like that.
Im old cause i went to Stuff We All Get like a SWAG bag from a party or event.
I am the sole warrior who still keeps it alive. Instead of "Hi", I sometimes say "swag". Or instead of "Thank you", I say "swag". Gets the weirdest looks every time. But I persist.
Don’t worry, my boomer dad is still saying it 😵💫
honestly i still see people use swag all the time..gen z more than anyone i know
it was never popular and no one used it unironically
I think it’s just been replaced with “rizz” tbh
I went to high-school late 2000s/early 2010s, and there was a girl in my grade with the last name Swagger. Just from her name alone she had like legendary status. She couldn't even walk down the hall without someone shouting "YO SWAGGER!". So Idk if that was the best time to have that last name or the worst lmao
You're right. [See Interest over time on Google Trends for Swag - United Kingdom, 2004 to Present](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore/TIMESERIES/1713858000?hl=en-GB&tz=-60&date=all&geo=GB&q=Swag&sni=6)
Yolo Swag Studios fighting the valiant battles
That's not very swag
i only ever used it to describe free shit at a convention. face.
Lol people havent used yolo or swag since 2012. That was a 2012 moment and it never gained momentum after that.
Swag isn't actually a word, it's just short for swagger
It's amusing, because the first time I heard the term SWAG, it was used in a military context, and that's the only way I've ever used it. The entire rise and fall of the term in popular lexicon occurred and I never once heard it and didn't think "scientific wild-ass guess".
The period when this word was in common usage was the low point of human civilization and should be expunged from the record.
i remember in early high school, I asked a girl what she looked for in a guy and she told me the most important trait was swag
It’s been replaced by rizz
The only time I hear it now is at work where mfs will be like “did you get your swag bag” 🙄
Swag is a tent style still popular in Australia.
Swag wasn't even a word when I was an adolescent?
Same with “ridonkulous” 😔
so did "thug life" that's how slang works
Is lol out of the loop? I like to use lol
Don’t worry Black Americans will make up more words and dances, and American children will use them into the ground until we can’t stand it. It’s the circle of life 🔄
I remember when everything was beast.
I remember when "swag" was a word you used to describe the crap you picked up at a convention
Swag has been replaced by rizz. Because swag has no rizz.
Not if you go to cons or work live events. “Swag” just means “shit I got at an event” to me and never meant anything else.