What is cool?

Cool has two meanings. One relates to something having a slightly cold temperature. The other meaning is far more complex. The other cool originally played off the literal cool. It referred to someone who was laid back, maybe even a bit standoffish. However the meaning of cool has evolved. After a first change, cool came to refer to what was popular among teenagers, be it people, trends or objects. The cool kids were the popular ones who had nice cars, good looking girlfriends and a bunch of friends. In clothing there was one kind of cool style: what cool kids wore. If a cool kid said something was cool, it was cool and vice versa. However once the cool kids grew older, and new cool kids appeared on the scene, other kind of cools emerged.


Now cool is an adjective that describes being appealing to the individual who recites the word. Cool can refer to a person whose attitude, personality, actions and/or appearance appeals to you. Cool can also be used to describe an item that has certain characteristics that appeal to your individual taste. An event can also be cool by being enjoyable to your views. In colloquial speech, “it’s cool” is an assurance of peace in the context “hey, I’m sorry” and as a reply you could use “it’s cool”. Cool has changed from referring to being laid back, to now having generally positive meaning.