Yosemite Sam
“Come on, people, would you please find another adjective besides ‘awesome’ to describe your enthusiasm? Don’t use ‘amazing’ either.”
The preceding quotation was a tweet I made out of simple desperation from my having just read Twitter, and noting 105 instances of the former descriptive adjective graced my ever-loving timeline. Eighty-five occurrences of the latter—which I find almost as abhorrent as the former— was used to describe excellence, brilliance, originality, pomposity, splendor, or even absurdity; but no, everything was “awesome”; and “amazing” was not far behind.
The usage of these two terms, awesome and amazing, is making more of a neurotic out of me. Can’t people understand? Perhaps they don’t realize it, expressing themselves like a youngster in elementary school. Merriam-Webster Dictionary is quoted as saying:
It has been estimated that the vocabulary of English includes roughly 1 million words (although most linguists would take that estimate with a chunk of salt, and some have said they wouldn’t be surprised if it is off the mark by a quarter-million).
The esteemed publication claims some 470,000 entries.
Another source estimated 500,000 words are in the English vocabulary, of which 100,000 are estimated to be adjectives, and new ones can be made by adding prefixes, suffixes, and making compound words.
So why is it “Awesome” and “Amazing” are in such common commodity and seething exploitation? Surely one can think up at least two or three synonyms for each. I’ll even help you.
A thesaural list from Merriam-Webster follows for awesome and amazing, as both words are synonymous with each other to begin with:
- astonishing
- astounding
- eye-opening
- fabulous
- miraculous
- portentous
- prodigious
- staggering
- stunning
- stupendous
- sublime
- surprising
- wonderful
- wondrous
- incredible
- unbelievable
- unimaginable
- unthinkable
- extraordinary
- phenomenal
- sensational,
- spectacular
- outstanding
- smashing
- striking
- mind-boggling
- exciting
- charming
- enchanting
- entertaining
- enthralling
- interesting
Then there are synonyms to express over-exuberance, jubilation, or downright niftyness (I don’t think that’s a real word), and slang if you will:
- A-OK
- bang-up
- beautiful
- boss
- bully
- boffo
- corking
- cracking
- cool
- dandy
- divine
- dope
- dynamite
- fab
- fantabulous
- first-rate
- gangbusters
- grand
- groovy
- heavenly
- keen
- lovely
- marvelous
- neat
- peachy
- primo
- radical
- righteous
- slick
- stellar
- swell
- terrific
- tip-top
- top-notch
- unsurpassed
I’m sure there are more. Now kindly memorize these lists, if only just three or four words from each group, and mix up your intros to tweets on Twitter or posts on Facebook, Linkedin, or whichever social-media site you use. Who knows, you might even feel inspired to never using the same adjective twice during one sitting.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and support.
Mike Slickster's Ramblings on the InterWebs 
Ever thought about Fandabbydozy . An expression used by the Crankies ( you might need to look them up of You Tube) . There’s also the Scouse expression ” it’s boss” meaning really good.
Apologies the Krankies start with a K. Now other ways people express themselves at being impressed is to say ” it’s wicked!” That’s a cockney phrase .
Thanks, Shirley Ann, for your additions. Now nobody has an excuse for a limited vocabulary.
when it comes to feeling tired, cheesed off and generally unwell with a rotten cold I can think of some expletives that one wouldn’t wish to publish for general circulation. However this too shall pass ! Let’s see — one is feeling a little ” delicate” at present to say the least
Sorry to read you’re not feeling well. I hope you get better soon. Drink a lot of OJ, eat some chicken noodle soup and get some rest.
An amazingly awesome article.
truly Plumtious! And adept at helping expanding the chuckle muscles
Thank you, Shirley Ann. You’re feeling less delicate today, I hope. Thank you, Jason, for pointing out the absurdity.