<p>I cringe every time I hear either of these words, whether it be spoken on tv when talking about a singer, a speech, a book, a candidate, or my friends talking about their children, their jobs, their spouses, etc. Kids and adults alike abuse both, imho! There, I said it, I feel better.</p>
<p>Do you feel they are overused in that other words would be better, or that just not that many things deserve to be described as awesome and amazing and it should be reserved for moments of greater importance? (or have I totally missed your point?)</p>
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<p>I actually love it when my friends or kids find things “awesome” or “amazing” in their lives and share that with me. Bring on the awesome!</p>
<p>But I don’t like it if the words are used to describe ordinary, everyday happenings, or just as something to say. If it’s sincere, and the person is describing something wonderful in their lives, I don’t mind a bit, even though the words are usually a bit of an exaggeration.
My son is getting married next year. I think it’s awesome. :D</p>
<p>Like, I definitely agree with you because, like, I get tired of, like, hearing those same words over and over, like, one person was like, “that was awesome” and the other person was like, “Yeah, totally amazing”, and like, when I hear that I’m like, “I’m like tired of hearing those same words like, over and over, like, do you know what I mean?”</p>
<p>What is up with the disdain of “Awesome” and “Amazing”! This is the second message board with a thread about these words that I have seen in the past couple of days. So what is it about these words that people have a problem with?</p>
<p>The kids had a swim coach a few years ago who was always telling the kids they were amazing and awesome. She had very good results. The kids lapped it up and swam like demons. I’m a fan. I don’t talk that way, usually, myself, though, not my personality.</p>
<p>Awesome can get on my nerves. I agree that a movie or performance can be amazing, but awesome should be reserved for something at a higher level. I had a regular B&B guest (in her seventies, no less) and every week she had some awesome new movie/book/whatever to tell me about.</p>
<p>Gnarly, dude.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize there was another thread about the two words. But I think they are over used and lose their weight or importance, and used when other words could be better. I would reserve both for really outstanding. Moonchild, I agree with you. Fishymom, where’s the other thread, I’d like to read it.</p>
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I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either of those words but rather, the overuse of the words by some people. When they’re overused their significance and basic meaning of the words, which are meant to indicate an extreme level of those descriptions, gets diminished. It seems that some people will use the word ‘awesome’ rather than the word ‘okay’ or use the word ‘amazing’ as a standalone description of a person or thing with no other context (my prof is amazing, the dinner was amazing, the concert was amazing).</p>
<p>Another example - “brilliant!”. This is a similar apex type of word that’s often overused by the British. When an American uses the word it has much more significance and it would get one’s attention about an unusual extreme in the context of its use. But a British person will use the word to describe that a meal tasted good, or they had a good outing, etc.</p>
<p>All of the words are okay but their overuse and misuse diminishes the significance of the words. Like, totally.</p>
<p>Edit - cross-posted with Threekids.</p>
<p>I think they are way over-used, especially right here on CC. Every kid’s ECs or SATs are “amazing.” All the colleges are amazing too. College applicants must be the most easily amazed and awestruck people around.</p>
<p>Threekids, the thread was on another message board, not here on CC. I agree that the words are overused, but I think it is just the word of the day, so to speak, like groovy or gnarly, lol. Speaking of swim coaches, years ago I was at a conference with a great speaker, it may have been David Marsh, cannot remember for sure. He gave a talk about effective praise. He warned against using words like incredible, unbelievable, etc. because those types of words discount the hard work that goes into a great swim, like it was some sort of divine intervention not the hours and hours of training. It is one of the few things that really stuck with me from the many conferences I attended over the years.</p>
<p>I’ve used " cool" for 40 yrs. I save awesome for something " really cool, dude!"
;)</p>
<p>Especially when used in conjunction with “you guys”! Should be illegal…</p>
<p>You will struggle to get better than ‘not bad’ out of me.</p>
<p>Thanks for this amazing thread!</p>
<p>The Grand Canyon is awesome. A sunrise is awesome. A hurricane is awesome.
Justin Bieber is not awesome.</p>
<p>“Have a nice day” was trite enough, but now I’m beginning to hear people say “Have an awesome day”, mainly from people younger than 30, Ugh.</p>
<p>I love both. They show positie attitude. There are so many negativity everywhere. It is sad that negativity is getting spread toward such AMAZING and AWESOMEly positive words as “amazing” and “awesome”.</p>
<p>I agree with Miami - I like the words, too. My HS class (1980) took on “awesome” as its slogan. I remember seeing it painted everywhere.</p>
<p>Don’t really have much of an issue with the use of either word unless it’s used in an inflated way to describe what is objectively mediocre/subpar performance*.</p>
<p>Then again, if someone has a habit of using “awesome”, I’d wonder if they were from California and mentally picture them in California beach/surfwear. </p>
<p>*i.e. Someone listing “Awesome GPA” in parenthesis next to 2.0 cumulative GPA on their resume. Yes, we actually encountered such a resume at one workplace. HR colleague was so taken aback he circulated it to everyone in my department for our amusement.</p>