A friend was ordering a sandwich in her company’s cafeteria. When the server asked if she’d like lettuce added to the sandwich, she said “That would be awesome!” The server responded, “Awesome should only be used to describe God and nature.” My friend was startled by the response, but I don’t think she’s using the word as much as she used to. Who would have guessed that the vocabulary police were on patrol at the sandwich bar of a cafeteria?
Those thinking the word is overused complain that the original use of the word is reserved to describe something that causes a feeling of awe. I’ve had some great sandwiches, but I can’t say any generated a feeling of awe.
In defense of my friend, awesome has become a commonly used way to express excitement – about anything. Whether it’s adding lettuce to a sandwich, viewing a starry night, or experiencing the birth of your first child, all of these are considered “awesome” in today’s culture.
I believe that there are two types of complaints about the word. The first is a genuine feeling that the power of the word shouldn’t be diluted. The second is simply an irritation with the word being overused.
What is probably going on is the natural evolution of meaning that happens so often with words or phrases. Merriam Webster provides a convincing argument for this by comparing the use of the words “awesome” and “awful.”
“Many object to the use of awesome to describe something…that does not literally elicit feelings of awe. Yet the same people who insist that awesome should be used only of weighty subjects (Niagara Falls, man landing on the moon) will happily use the word awful in reference to something (such as a mess) that falls distinctly short of being ‘full of awe.’ This weakened sense was once considered improper – in fact, complaints about it persisted through the early decades of the 20th century.
“The change in meaning that awesome is undergoing may be more recent than that of awful, but both words are treading the same path. For evidence that such change is normal, we need look no further than awe, which originally meant ‘terror’ and now carries the weaker sense ‘wonder.’”
My conclusion is that using awesome to describe things – anything – is the new norm. But I do believe it’s a symptom of a bigger concern, which is the hyperbolic use of adjectives. More on this next time.
Awesome jumped the shark for me when my son's 8th grade "graduation" speaker proceeded to describe each and every middle school experience she had enjoyed as "amazing and awesome." The word has not been the same since.