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The definition of cool

(71 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 08:32:01

A letter in the Guardian this morning giving what the writer thinks as a definitive list of what is cool and what is not cool.

I’ll list some

Cool

Less is more - I definitely agree
Monty Don and his jacket
Listening more when talking
Authenticity

Elder cool people include - Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, George Clooney

People who speak out against injustice.
People who care more about others
Love is cool
Forgiveness is cool

Not cool

Silence is not cool if it is cold
Destroying the planet for financial gain
Killing civilians
Killing children
Belief in supremacy
Hatred

Thanks to
Denis Baker
Nylon, Switzerland

Oreo Wed 05-Nov-25 08:40:08

Cool means fashionable and admirable or so I thought. So that list is very peculiar.

Georgesgran Wed 05-Nov-25 09:31:15

Sounds good to me W2

Surely those traits are ‘admirable’ * Oreo* - not sure about Monty’s jacket, but I get the gist. I don’t find them peculiar.

M0nica Wed 05-Nov-25 09:52:12

Sounds rubbish. most of the non-'cool' list have never been acceptable - and if they are uncool now, that implies that they have been cool in the past or will be in the future. killing children (!) hmmmm

'authenticity' is one of those rubbish words that mean nothing like 'lived' experience. How can you experience anything if you are not present and living your life?

Mollygo Wed 05-Nov-25 10:19:49

Sounds like someone trying to prove they’re cool and failing IMO.

Using not cool for things on the list, especially ^killing children^is sick.

But then sick was a compliment many years ago.

Of course one meaning of cool is

showing no friendliness towards a person or enthusiasm for an idea or project

Maybe the writer didn’t know that.

GoodAfternoonTea Wed 05-Nov-25 10:34:09

Isn't cool in the eyes of the beholder?! A lot of things I think are cool date back 50 years and more. Others would not agree. Occasionally, nowadays, I hear or see something 'cool' but mostly not.

Allira Wed 05-Nov-25 10:34:11

I thought using the word 'cool' was just not cool any more?
🤔

RosieandherMaw Wed 05-Nov-25 10:35:11

Elder cool people include - Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, George Clooney
Brad Pitt - elder????
Stopped reading at that point.
Too much virtue signalling - and tosh.

hollysteers Wed 05-Nov-25 10:38:26

I prefer Nicky Haslam’s tongue in cheek tea towels of what’s common and what’s not😁

Young Bryan Ferry was cool😍

Allira Wed 05-Nov-25 10:47:18

RosieandherMaw

^Elder cool people include - Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, George Clooney^
Brad Pitt - elder????
Stopped reading at that point.
Too much virtue signalling - and tosh.

Daniel Craig's even younger, at 57!

Of course, if the author is 20 then anyone over 50 is elderly!

TerriBull Wed 05-Nov-25 10:52:31

I often find myself reading lists about such things, but ultimately come away thinking they're subjective, such as interminable compilations of of places/ books/films etc., which must be read before you die. Really! my thoughts are maybe your definitive list, of the person that compiled it, but not necessarily mine. We're all individual enough to know what we like and don't like. Recommendations are good, but once those meander into the realms of you really must........I'm inclined to feel there's
no must about it, just shove your list!

Not cool "killing children" that's a bloody understatement, it's wicked. Wicked is a definite understanding of something really wrong. Love is too important to be described as cool, it, is for the overwhelming majority, an innate part of the human condition, so describing it as cool just sounds facile. The ills of the world, so many, cannot be alluded to as "not cool" that's just too fatuous for words.

Cool is a concept. Right now, well if the younger generation of our family is anything to go by, they regard "mid century furniture as cool" that's 1950/60s to us. Yeah it's ok, but we remember it from the first time around. Every generation has their "cool" often It's whatever is on trend. My cool growing up were mini skirts and hipster bell bottoms, my teenage granddaughter's is low slung baggy jeans/track bottoms showing way too much midriff what do I know, me and mine showed way too much leg. My cool music was rock, my kids, probably some of that, but drum and base emerged as their definitive cool.

I don't really look to celebs as being cool anymore, well put it this way imo the really cool ones are those who have the mystique, in other words the less we hear from them the cooler they are I don't care about your bloody politics, your nepo kids, just do what you do, act, sing, make your runny jam if you must then shut up and go away!

Cats are cool imo, they are the coolest species to walk the face of the earth, but some misguided people would say dogs are cooler, they're wrong it's there it's in the alliteration "Cool Cats"

GoodAfternoonTea Wed 05-Nov-25 11:02:48

hollysteers

I prefer Nicky Haslam’s tongue in cheek tea towels of what’s common and what’s not😁

Young Bryan Ferry was cool😍

And his music.

winterwhite Wed 05-Nov-25 11:03:46

So cool has now become a meaningless word. That's all.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 11:05:15

Non-cool people are those who grump, and dismiss the idea without giving a reasoned explanation.

Cool people are those that engage with the thread and give consideration to what the OP is suggesting like terriBull 😊

Cool for me has nothing to do with fashion or trend. It is a concept that for me means a person who is non-judgemental and confident and has the ability to make others feel comfortable and relaxed.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 11:06:40

And yes I can go with cats being cool. Mine would be if she wasn’t such a scare-dy cat😄😄

RosieandherMaw Wed 05-Nov-25 11:41:19

Whitewavemark2

Non-cool people are those who grump, and dismiss the idea without giving a reasoned explanation.

Cool people are those that engage with the thread and give consideration to what the OP is suggesting like terriBull 😊

Cool for me has nothing to do with fashion or trend. It is a concept that for me means a person who is non-judgemental and confident and has the ability to make others feel comfortable and relaxed.

Oh well that's us tell't isn't it?
I reserve the right not to waste my time engaging with something I regard as rather silly, while preserving my extremely cool street cred.
Don't tell me what I should or should not engage with! That's goady plus only your opinion.

ferry23 Wed 05-Nov-25 11:52:30

I shall take this in a light hearted fashion and stick to people and I gave myself just one minute to think otherwise I would have got carried away. Which would have been most uncool.

And yes Bryan Ferry was definitely on my cool radar.

Uber-super cool - Neil Tennant

Ordinary cool - Claudia

Bowie

Hendrix

Not cool - Katie Price

Gary Lineker

Dawn French

Lulu

Witzend Wed 05-Nov-25 11:59:40

I think of ‘cool’ as whatever is popular/fashionable among tweens/teens, which TBH is probably rather different from ditto among 20s/30s.
Over about that sort of age, how many of us give a flying F about what is ‘cool’? (OK, I know some still will and do…)

Doodledog Wed 05-Nov-25 12:01:56

I don't think WWM told anyone what to engage with - she just expressed her own opinion, which is no different from saying something is 'tosh'.

I think 'cool' people don't need to tell people they are cool - it's the sort of thing that is ascribed by others, and as soon as people claim it for themselves they lose it.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 12:03:05

ferry23

I shall take this in a light hearted fashion and stick to people and I gave myself just one minute to think otherwise I would have got carried away. Which would have been most uncool.

And yes Bryan Ferry was definitely on my cool radar.

Uber-super cool - Neil Tennant

Ordinary cool - Claudia

Bowie

Hendrix

Not cool - Katie Price

Gary Lineker

Dawn French

Lulu

Cheers ferry that’s a cool list!

Grump, grump, grump roses most uncool.

kittylester Wed 05-Nov-25 12:11:54

Young Bryan Ferry was cool😍

Beg to differ hollysteers - young Bryan Ferry was hot

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 12:16:40

My DH is the same age and people say he looked like Brian Ferry (I’ll try to get a photo) - so definitely hot😄😄😄. Well back then.

Mollygo Wed 05-Nov-25 12:16:46

RosieandherMaw

^Elder cool people include - Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, George Clooney^
Brad Pitt - elder????
Stopped reading at that point.
Too much virtue signalling - and tosh.

Yes but that means you’re cool.
On the other hand

Cool . . . is a concept that for me means a person who is non-judgemental and confident and has the ability to make others feel comfortable and relaxed.
This, from the poster who doesn’t fit the criteria quoted, is the coolest thing I’ve read today. 🤣🤣

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Nov-25 12:18:54

So does that mean I’m cool?😄😄😄 . Never in a month of Sundays tbh.

Greyduster Wed 05-Nov-25 12:23:25

Please don’t tell Monty Don he’s cool. A bit of good (preferably British) tailoring is cool, not the shabby linen ‘workwear’ jackets he keeps trotting out🙄!