Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06346_Field_TCUP T1.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 1KB | 16 lines

     Jack Paar mentioned that he once had said to a young
friend, “Why do you kids use ‘cool’ to mean ‘hot’? The friend
replied, “Because you folks used up the word ‘hot’ before we
came along.” It is true that “cool” is often used nowadays to
mean what used to be conveyed by “hot.” Formerly a “hot
argument” meant one in which people were deeply involved. On
the other hand, a “cool attitude” used to mean one of
detached objectivity and disinterestedness. In those days the
word “disinterested” meant a noble quality of fair-mindedness.
Suddenly it got to mean “couldn’t care less.” The word “hot”
has fallen into similar disuse as these deep changes of outlook
have developed. But the slang term “cool” conveys a good deal
besides the old idea of “hot.” It indicates a kind of commitment
and participation in situations that involves all of one’s
faculties. In that sense, one can say that automation is cool,
whereas older mechanical kinds of specialist or fragmented