Empty Praise
There was a time when awesome really meant ”inspiring awe”—
events like the moon landing that made one drop one’s jaw,
sights of numbing beauty or achievements of great skill,
art pieces by the masters or achievements of great will.
Yosemite is awesome and so is Everest.
Those climbing it are “awesome.” You know they are the best.
But today the word has fallen into widespread use—
ubiquitous right to the point where it’s become abuse.
Rap music is most awesome, as is that way-cool blouse.
You drive an awesome car and live inside an awesome house.
My neighbor’s kids are awesome. So are her dog and cat.
Her tummy tuck is awesome, as is my purse and hat.
You might have guessed by now that awesome’s not my favorite word.
I think the overuse of it is frankly quite absurd.
This pizza is not awesome, though you may find me petty
for saying it is merely good, and so is the spaghetti.
Your child is lovely, so’s your dress, your silverware and smile.
But none of them are awesome—that word brings up my bile.
Please use some other word for it—some adjectival jaw full.
Because in my opinion, using awesome’s simply awful!!
Fandango’s prompt word for today is awesome, Since I wrote a poem five years ago about this very word, I’m reprinting it here with some minor changes.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
I enjoyed this thoughtprovoking poem.
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I totally agree! But, I think you may have switched around your prompters this morning, Fandango is awesome.
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I realized that when I came to posting my actual post for Ragtag!
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lol, I thought you might figure it out before I posted my message!
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At least I posted to the correct posts! Thanks for pointing out that I have it wrong in credits. Now corrected. Friends with an eye to detail often save my neck!!
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What are friends for.
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I remember the original post, and because of it I have monitored my use of the word. I would still make you cringe, but much less so. 🙂
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Ha!! Glad I’ve contributed to restoring the world’s reason! I was forced to use it myself today..once again.
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Not many have been reading my blog long enough to remember that original post! Thanks for hanging in there.
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Back atcha on being a long timer on my bloggy thing, too . . . even through all the shutterings.
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Definitely an overused word that has lost its awesomeness.
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Some good examples of how to use a word — and how not to use it! Apparently even Everest is becoming less awesome as the world decides t’s the place to congregate! I seldom use the word , and cringe when it’s the only word I can come up with!
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Good girl.
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