Awesome!

How was your date? He was just awesome!

How was the food at the Italian restaurant? Awesome!

How is my profile pic? You look awesome!

How does the Prof teach? He has awesome knowledge on the subject!

I bet you hear statements similar to the ones above every day. And this very fact tells me that either people lie or have a serious problem with either their vocabulary or expressing their emotions. I am fed up with people using (read ‘misusing’) the word awesome! My observation is- people who don’t use the F-word use this word as often! If diamonds were as abundant as pebbles, diamonds wouldn’t have been expensive. Women would have been seen wearing pebble-jewelry; men would have gifted pebble-necklaces to their lady-loves and wars would have been fought on sea-shores! If it’s the rarity of a thing that makes it precious, shouldn’t we restrain from overusing it?

But why do I claim this word to be ‘precious’? Awesome means ‘inspiring awe or admiration or wonder’ (This wasn’t looked up using the plump Oxford; my lackadaisical nature prevents me from doing so; I used the handy WordWeb). Awe means ‘an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration’ and overwhelming means ’so strong as to be irresistible’. I would drag it no further! It’s enough to help me make my point which is lame anyways (and assumes the authenticity of the version of WordWeb I am using).

If our emotions were, I repeat, ‘so strong as to be irresistible’ so often, I feel there’s an immediate need we reform them before they start controlling us and our ways. It’s high time we give up its frequent use or calmly wait for the word to lose its awesomeness.

PS.: There are people who think it would be an awesome idea to comment: “An awesome article!” I warn you against it!