Jumping the shark is colloquialism coined by Jon Hein and used by TV critics and fans to refer to the point in a television series, where quality starts to decline.
Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds
Ex. Do you like blue?
Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds
Ex. Go google great Gods
Alliteration: Repetition of initial consonants
Ex. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers..
Rhyme: A repetition of similar sounds in two or more words
The concept of cool, finding, and selling it, has become increasingly important in society, because it is what drives an entire generation to buy certain products instead of others. Cool can be defined as “fashionable and attractive at the time”. Cool is “a revolutionary force in the history of cultural and technological production”, which is now enforced by the media, allowing cool to be transmitted into millions of homes.
A really good defentition for the concept of cool is: “Distrispectful in a calm and self-confident way”.
Originally, cool emerged “as a series of movements, an unwavering stance of individuality”. Cool emerged in the 1950’s in Los Angeles and was driven by the music and record industries. One comes across hundreds of different definitions, which suggests that cool can’t be specifically defined. Generally, something becomes cool when it is available to a few but wanted by many. Other factors, of course, make a car, person, or party cool, but the appeal of something that is cool is almost always destroyed once everyone has access to it.
A slogan from an entertainment company got it just right: “If your neighbors are on it, it can’t be cool”.
When cool first emerged it was associated with James Dean etc. , who all contradicted the main stream. Nowadays, however, cool does not rebel against what is popular anymore, but supports it. Cool is now a marketing tool and whatever is cool at a certain point is sold to millions of people. Oddly, this globalization of the same cool contradicts the fundamental idea of cool, which was originally to stick out from the crowd.
Fast company has created a formula for coolness:
“5% aspiration + 95% self-perception + 10% public awareness + 46% individuality + 15% actions + 22% verbal + 99% what others think about you”. This doesn’t add up to 100% because there is no “real tangible coolness”, and cool is merely what you and the people around you think it is.
Although the idea of cool, not necessarily the word, has been around since the 50s, it has become a true obsession for the teen generation in the past 10 years. Websites such as www.whatiscool.org tell teenagers of different trends they can follow to be cooler. One of these advices being: “Smoking’s also pretty cool, and can make almost anyone look cooler”.
As a result of my research, I can conclude that cool is a measurement of attitude, behavior, appearance and style that are decided by the time period, or what is ‘in’.
Sources:
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=338
www.whatiscool.orgCool means to find something new and different, and show this “being different” with confidence. These ‘cool’ people have to be enthusiastic and inspire other people to follow their trends. Only this way, something will become popular and ‘cool’, which is, sadly, when the ‘cool’ is actually destroyed.
Cool came to Europe in the late 60s early 70s. Europeans were inspired by rock music and the hippy movement that was discovered in the early 1970s. Anything that came from America was considered new, rebellious, and cool
What was considered cool?
The Woodstock festival of 1969
o Introduced the trend of cowboy boots and long hair and a passion for living outdoors
The Hippy Movement that started in America
o Made road trips with RVs and protests against nuclear power plants something that was considered ‘cool’
Legendary world cup 1970
o Especially Italy-Germany and Brazil-Italy are remembered as some of the most inspiring and therefore cool games in history
The Harlem Globetrotters (world famous exhibition basketball team) came to Italy in 1972
o It was the coolest event of the year, and everyone who was an early adopter was there.
When did European teenagers become aware of cool?
Europeans, especially in Germany and Italy, first became aware of the conept of cool when the jazz and rock movement came from the U.S.. Concerts of famous artists like Neil Young and Bob Dylan first brought the ‘modern’ fashion to Europe.
My father was inspired by the rock music when he was 12 to 13. Having an uncle in the United States, he was the first in his school to have Converse All Stars. This was considered ‘ultimately’ cool.
